Follow a Stranger

“How is my mother, Jake?” Pallas asked, leaning

forward.

The driver turned his head to smile reassuringly at her.

“Oh, she’s okay! Just dandy, Miss Pallas—you know she

always gets better in the spring!”

Pallas looked relieved and sat back with a sigh. The car

glided along the beach, on a winding road, and mounted

beneath dark cypress trees. Below them the airfield

spread out like a green handkerchief beside the beach, and

the air was filled with a fresh, salty tang.

“Is it far to your home?” Sam asked. He was rather

pale. Kate suspected that the flight had left him feeling a

little sick, but he had not mentioned it.

“A ten-minute drive,” Pallas told him. “Our house is at

the top of a cove, but we have to go up before we can reach

it, as the cliffs cut it off from the airfield. My brother

intended to build a large hotel near the airfield, but he

hasn’t got round to it yet. We don’t really want strangers

on Kianthos at all.” She was looking rather strained

herself, today, and Kate guessed that she was nervous

about the family reaction when she got home.

“Will it be just your mother and your brother who are

at home?” she asked her.

Pallas shrugged. “Perhaps, but then Helene might be

there—she often comes for Easter, with some friends. Or

Marc may have business friends of his at the villa. He

uses it often, you see, to put them into a good mood before

concluding a deal.”

“Nice work if you can get it,” Sam said, a little gruffly.

Pallas flushed and looked hurt, but Kate could see that