e! You don't! You
don't!"

"How do you know that?" said Saltash.

She did not answer him. Her head was bent over the basket. She threw out
one thing after another with nervous rapidity, and once, as he watched
her, there came a faint sound that was like a hastily suppressed sob.

Saltash got to his feet with disconcerting suddenness and walked away.

When he returned some minutes later with a half-smoked cigarette between
his lips, she was sitting demurely awaiting him, the picnic ready spread.

He scarcely looked at her but he flicked her cheek as he sat down, and in
a moment she turned and smiled at him.

"I have found another cup," she said.

"So I see," said Saltash, and before she could realize his mood he picked
it up and flung it at the trunk of a tree some yards away. It shivered in
fragments on the moss, and Toby gasped and stared at him wide-eyed.

He laughed in his careless fashion at her amazement. "Now we shall drink
out of one cup!" he said.

"Was that--was that--why you did it?" she stammered breathlessly.

He blew a cloud of smoke into the air with a gesture of royal
indifference. "Even so,--_madame_!" he said. "One does these things--with
a wife. You see, a wife--is different."

"I--I see," said Toby.

CHAPTER IV

THE IDOL OF PARIS

It was dark when they returned to the hotel, but Paris shone with a
million lights. The hotel itself had a festive air. There were flowers in
all directions, and a red carpet had been laid upon the steps.

"Rozelle Daubeni is expected," said Saltash.

"Who?" Toby stopped short in the act of descending. Her face shone white
in the glare. A moment before she had been laughing but the laugh went
into her question with a little choked sound. "Who did you say?" she
questioned more coherently.

"Mademoiselle Daubeni--the idol of Paris. Never heard of her?" Saltash
handed her lightly down. "She is coming to a dance in the great _salon_
tonight. You shall see her. She is--a thing to remember."

Toby gave a quick shiver. "Yes, I have heard of her too much--too much--I
don't want to see her. Shall we dine upstairs?"

"Oh, I think not," said Saltash with decision. "You are too retiring, _ma
chere_. It doesn't become--a lady of your position."

He followed her towards the lift. The vestibule was full of people,
laughing and talking, awaiting the coming of the favourite. But as the
girl in her blue cloak went through, a sudden hush fell. Women lifted
glas