"First you will go round the lake," said Madame Wolsky to the driver,
"and then you will take us to the Pension Malfait, in l'Avenue des
Acacias."

Under shady trees, bowling along sanded roads lined with pretty villas
and châlets, they drove all round the lake, and more and more the place
impressed Sylvia as might have done a charming piece of scene-painting.

All the people they passed on the road, in carriages, in motor-cars, and
on foot, looked happy, prosperous, gay, and without a care in the world;
and where in the morning there had been one boat, there were now five
sailing on the blue, gleaming waters fringed with trees and flowering
shrubs.

At last they once more found themselves close to the Casino. A steady
stream of people was now pouring in through the great glass doors.

"This sort of thing will go on up till about nine this evening!"
said Anna, smiling grimly. "Think, my dear--a hundred and twenty trains
daily! That room in the Casino where I first saw you will be crammed to
suffocation within an hour, and even the Club will be well filled, though
I fancy the regular habitués of the club are rather apt to avoid Saturday
and Sunday at Lacville. I myself, when living here, shall try to do
something else on those two days. By the way--how dreadful that I should
forget!--have you had a proper _déjeuner_?" she looked anxiously at
Sylvia.

Sylvia laughed, and told something of her adventures at the Villa du Lac.