Follow a Stranger

dark hair was sleek and straight, drawn back from her

face in a chignon.

Her mouth was painted glistening red,

her chiselled cheeks almost classically perfect. Yet there

was a falseness, a coldness about her which made Kate

dislike her.

Mrs. Lillitos introduced Sam and Kate to them, and

Marie-Louise stared at her with insolence.

“A schoolteacher?” she repeated, then laughed, look-

ing at Marc. She turned her head aside and whispered to

him. Kate caught the words, “How irritating for you to

have to put up with them, mon cher.”

Marc did not reply. A man had come up the steps into

the house and stood, watching them all with a smile. He

was tall, dark and about twenty-four, with curly hair,

pleasant brown eyes and a relaxed air.

“Jean-Paul,” said Marc, “come and meet my sister’s

friends.”

Pallas sat like a frozen statue, staring at her feet. The

newcomer glanced at her, then at her brother, his brown

eyes enquiring.

Marc said Kate and Sam’s names. “This is Jean-Paul

Filbert,” he told them, “a cousin of ours.”

He smiled at them, but his eyes rested longest on

Sam, with curiosity and intentness. Sam was rather red,

Kate saw. She wondered, suddenly, if this could be the

man Pallas had told her about—the man Marc intended

her to marry when she left college. Surely not? she

thought. He’s much older than Pallas. But she knew

that, even these days, arranged marriages were common