“Maybe you’ll come and see her first,” said Jake.  “I should like you to see the stud, sir.  We’ve got some stock that I think would interest you.”

“That would be delightful,” Sheila said, in her gracious way.  “We are here for another fortnight.  I had no idea it was such a lovely place.”

“Have you seen Burchester?” asked Bunny.

She turned to him.  “Never.  I want to see it.  Lord Saltash said something about it the other day, so I am hoping there is a chance of doing so.  You are very fond of it, Sir Bernard?”

“Yes.  It’s my job just now.  I’m head keeper,” laughed Bunny.  “Miss Larpent thinks I’m very inefficient, but I do my best.”

“I never said so,” said Toby.

She flushed at his obvious intention of drawing her into the group; but Sheila Melrose at once held out a welcoming hand.

“Miss Larpent, do you know I can’t help feeling that I’ve seen you somewhere before.  Yet I can’t quite remember where.  Could it have been at Valrosa?”

“Oh, no,” said Toby.  “It couldn’t possibly have been there.”

“And yet I can’t help thinking it must have been,” said Sheila, looking at her with knitted brows.  “Were you at that fancy-dress affair at the Casino Hotel?  I have a feeling I have seen you—­somewhere—­in fancy dress.”

“Never!” said Toby with decision.  “You must be thinking of someone else.”

Sheila still looked at her with puzzled eyes.  “Wait!” she said.  “I shall remember in a moment.  It was someone exactly like you.  I know—­someone dressed as a boy.”

Toby made a sudden sharp movement and clapped her hands excitedly.  “Look!  Look!  There goes the bottle!  I hope she’ll manage to break it!”

Sheila’s attention was instantly diverted.  The crowd surged forward.  Maud, with Saltash on her right and Larpent on her left, stood by the rail.  She held up a bottle that gleamed golden in the sun.

Saltash was laughing.  He stood bareheaded, his dark face alight.  Toby’s eyes went to him in a single flashing glance and remained fixed.  Bunny, looking at her, was for the moment curiously moved.  It was as if he looked from afar upon some sacred fire that had suddenly sprung into ardent flame before a distant shrine.  Then came Maud’s voice, sweet and clear, speaking the name of the yacht, and like a golden flame the bottle curved through the pearl-like ether and crashed upon the bows.

A murmur went up and then a shout.  The bottle had broken and the wine rushed in a sparkling cascade to the water.

Something impelled Bunny.  He gripped Toby by the elbow.  He almost shook her.  “Hooray!” he yelled.  “It’s done!  She’s off!”

Toby looked at him with the eyes of a dreamer—­eyes in which a latent fear underlay the reverence.  Then, meeting his eyes, she seemed to awake.  Her features contracted for a moment, but she controlled them swiftly, and laughed.  Laughing, she drew him away.