Follow a Stranger

course. But time will show you the truth.”

He took her hand, stopped and held it up to stare. “Your

ring? You have lost your engagement ring!”

“I’m no longer engaged,” she said, flushing.

He looked appalled. “Ma chere, I hope this is not my

doing! I would not have done that for the world ...”

“It has nothing to do with you. My fiancé did not even

know of your existence. It was a mutual agreement. We just

did not suit.”

He looked a little embarrassed. “I see ...”

She looked up at him and laughed. “Really, Jean-Paul,

you are quite irrelevant, I assure you. I am not in the least

attracted to you, which is what you are afraid of, I think?”

Very red, he met her teasing eyes. He laughed, a little

shamefaced and embarrassed. “Pardon! I was nervous for a

moment. The freedom of English girls astounds me. You are

so ... forthright!”

She grinned. “Well, it clears the air to know how you

stand, doesn’t it? Shall we go in to dinner?”

Dinner was, oddly, a very gay occasion at first. Marc was

in volatile spirits, keeping up a barrage of teasing humour,

his eyes constantly dancing.

But as the meal went on his mood seemed to deflate a

little. Kate, who was quietly talking to Jean-Paul most of

the time, was curiously aware that Marc’s smile came less

and less, and that he was more and more silent. She

wondered if he were feeling the effect of his very late night.

Had he slept at all since?

When she glanced furtively at him she saw shadows

beneath his eyes and tension lines around his mouth