Though she had to wait nearly half an hour for her meal, the time passed
quickly; and when at last déjeuner was served to her well and deftly by a
pleasant-faced young waitress dressed in Breton costume, each item of the
carefully-prepared meal was delicious. M. Polperro had not been chef to a
Princess for nothing.

Sylvia Bailey was not greedy, but like most healthy people she enjoyed
good food, and she had very seldom tasted quite such good food as that
which was served to her at the Hôtel du Lac on this memorable June day.

She had almost finished her luncheon when a fair young man came in and
sat down at a small table situated at the other end of the dining-room,
close to the window overlooking the garden of the Villa du Lac.




CHAPTER IV


As the young man came into the dining-room he glanced over to where Mrs.
Bailey was sitting and then he looked away, and, unfolding his table
napkin, paid no more attention to the only other occupant of the room.

Now this was a very trifling fact, and yet it surprised our young
Englishwoman; she had become accustomed to the way in which Frenchmen, or
perhaps it would be more true to say Parisians, stare at a pretty woman
in the streets, in omnibuses, and in shops. As for the dining-room of the
Hôtel de l'Horloge, it always seemed full of eyes when she and Anna
Wolsky were having lunch or dinner there.