She laid the gloves in her lap, smoothed them with her small fingers, and
kept silence. Silence was characteristic of her. When she was in society
she sometimes sat quite calmly and composedly without uttering a word.
After watching her for a minute or two, Sir Donald said:

"You must know Venice very well and understand it completely."

"Oh, I've been there, of course."

"Recently?"

"Not so very long ago. After my marriage Fritz took me all over Europe."

"And you loved Venice."

Sir Donald did not ask a question, he made a statement.

"No. It didn't agree with me. It depressed me. We were there in the
mosquito season."

"What has that to do with it?"

"My dear Sir Donald, if you'd ever had a hole in your net you'd know. I
made Fritz take me away after two days, and I've never been back. I don't
want to have my one beauty ruined."

Sir Donald did not pay the reasonable compliment. He only stretched out
his lean hands over his knees, and said:

"Venice is the only ideal city in Europe."