CHAPTER I.
SUMMER LIGHTNING It was Mr.Ricardo's habit as soon as the second week of August came round to travel to Aix-les-Bains, in Savoy, where for five or six weeks he lived pleasantly.

He pretended to take the waters in the morning, he went for a ride in his motor-car in the afternoon, he dined at the Cercle in the evening, and spent an hour or two afterwards in the baccarat-rooms at the Villa des Fleurs.

An enviable, smooth life without a doubt, and it is certain that his acquaintances envied him.
At the same time, however, they laughed at him and, alas with some justice; for he was an exaggerated person.

He was to be construed in the comparative.

Everything in his life was a trifle overdone, from the fastidious arrangement of his neckties to the feminine nicety of his little dinner-parties.