Follow a Stranger

round, talking of the weather, Kate’s sunburn, the world

situation and other very natural subjects.

Dinner that evening was a far more lively occasion.

The two new arrivals, Helene and Marie-Louise, talked

to Marc throughout the meal, ignoring everybody else.

Pallas and Sam ate silently, and Jean-Paul devoted

himself to Kate.

Their frank discussion had left them on a compara-

tively intimate level of friendship. He had discovered a

shared love of Bach, and discussed various recordings

with her, with almost professional enthusiasm and

knowledge.

Kate felt Marc’s eyes upon them from time to time,

probing, curious, watchful. He was flirting lazily with

Marie-Louise most of the time, fencing easily with her

when she tried to provoke a show of jealousy by referring

to her many admirers in Paris.

Her boasts of her conquests made Kate wonder if Marc

were wise in not marrying her quickly. She could not

believe that Marie-Louise did not desire to marry him.

Everything she said, every look, said that she was ready

and eager to be his wife. But was Marc not content,

perhaps, merely to own the lovely French girl? Did he

want to be certain of her fidelity? Perhaps he took her

boasts of conquests too seriously, not seeing them for

what they were—a blatant attempt to make him declare

himself jealously.

After dinner Marie-Louise put a sleepy record on the

turntable and she and Marc danced in the lounge, her

black head upon his shoulder, leaning close to him.