The Demetrios Virgin

‘Are you all right?’ she asked in concern as she reached him. ‘You don’t look well.’

To her relief he answered her in English, assuring her, ‘It is nothing...the heat—a small pain. I have perhaps walked farther than I should...’

Saskia was still anxious. It was hot. He did not look well, and there was certainly no way she could possibly leave him on his own, but there was still no sign of her driver or anyone else who might be able to help, and she had no idea how long it would take them to get to the airport.

‘It’s very hot,’ she told the old man gently, not wanting to hurt his pride, ‘and it can be very tiring to walk in such heat. I have a car...and...and a driver... Perhaps we could give you a lift?’ As she spoke she was searching the street anxiously. Where was her driver? Andreas would be furious with her if she was late for their flight, but there was no way she could leave without first ensuring that the old man was alright.

‘You have a car? This car?’ he guessed, gesturing towards the parked limousine.

‘Well, it isn’t mine,’ Saskia found herself feeling obliged to tell him. ‘It belongs to...to someone I know. Do you live very far away?’

He had stopped holding his side now and she could see that his colour looked healthier and that his breathing was easier.

‘You are very kind,’ he told her with a smile, ‘But I too have a car...and a driver...’ His smile broadened and for some reason Saskia felt almost as though he was laughing a little at her.

‘You are a very kind girl to worry yourself so much on behalf of an old man.’

There was a car parked farther down the street, Saskia realised, but it was some distance away.

‘Is that your car?’ she asked him. ‘Shall I get the driver?’

‘No,’ he said immediately. ‘I can walk.’

Without giving him any opportunity to refuse, Saskia went to his side and said gently, ‘Perhaps you will allow me to walk with you to it...’ Levelly she met and held the look he was giving her.

‘Perhaps I should,’ he capitulated.

It took longer to reach the car than Saskia had expected, mainly because the old man was plainly in more distress than he wanted to admit. As they reached the car Saskia was relieved to see the driver’s door open and the driver get out, immediately hurrying towards them and addressing some words to her companion in fast Greek. The old man was now starting to look very much better, holding himself upright and speaking sternly to the driver.

‘He fusses like an old woman,’ he complained testily in English to Saskia, adding warmly, ‘Thank you, my dear, I am very pleased to have met you. But you should not be walking the streets of Athens on your own,’ he told her sternly. ‘And I shall—’ Abruptly he stopped and said something in Greek to his driver, who started to frown and look anxiously up and down the street.

‘Yannis will walk back with you to your car and wait there with you until your driver returns.’

‘Really, there’s no need for that,’ Saskia protested, but her new-found friend was determinedly insistent.

‘There really is no need for you to come with me,’ she told the driver once they were out of earshot of the older man. ‘I would much rather you stayed with your employer. He looked quite poorly when I saw him in the street.’

To her relief, as she finished speaking she saw that her own driver was getting out of Andreas’s car.

‘See, there is no need to come any further,’ she smiled in relief, and then frowned a little before saying anxiously to him, ‘Your employer... It is none of my business I know...but perhaps a visit to a doctor...’ She paused uncertainly.

‘It is already taken care of,’ the driver assured her. ‘But he... What do you say? He does not always take anyone’s advice...’

His calmness helped to soothe Saskia’s concern and ease her conscience about leaving the older man. He was plainly in good hands now, and her own driver was waiting for her.