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| One day Pierre is out by the lake admiring the sunlight on the water and Nils, the leader of the sailing club, invites for a ride in a speed-boat. Once again, the object seems to be to destroy the boat, this time by going very fast. Pierre, terrified, tries to take the wheel from Nils and succeeds only in capsizing the boat. In the water Nils grabs Pierre by the collar of his coat and tells him that he must get Laure away from her aunt. |
| Suddenly Pierre understands what he has been seeing: Laure's mysterious meetings with the members of the sailing club, the undisguised resentment she shows at her aunt's attempts to do little things for her, her abrupt and unexplained fits of pique. Laure is with the sailing club. Her aunt has come to the same hotel only by chance. For some reason, the aunt's presence is a source of extreme mental discomfort for Laure and, as the days go on, she is drawing ever closer to complete nervous collapse. Nils' plan is that Pierre and Laure must pretend to elope. |
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