An Italian Prince, rich and the real thing, wanted to marry her; but just at the critical moment a good-looking step-son turned up, and Lily was silly enough to flirt with him while her marriage-settlements with the step-father were being drawn up.

Some people said the young man did it on purpose.

You can fancy the scandal: there was an awful row between the men, and people began to look at Lily so queerly that Mrs.Peniston had to pack up and finish her cure elsewhere.

Not that SHE ever understood: to this day she thinks that Aix didn't suit her, and mentions her having been sent there as proof of the incompetence of French doctors.

That's Lily all over, you know: she works like a slave preparing the ground and sowing her seed; but the day she ought to be reaping the harvest she over-sleeps herself or goes off on a picnic." Mrs.Fisher paused and looked reflectively at the deep shimmer of sea between the cactus-flowers.