Follow a Stranger

him?”

“I teach Pallas,” she explained. “I teach music at her

school, Cheddall.”

He shot her a sidelong look. “Ah, yes, Pallas. And do

you get on with her?”

“Very well,” Kate said. “That’s why I am here.”

“And ... the young man? He is your brother? Is that

why he is here? Because of Pallas?”

“They’re friends,” she said carefully.

Jean-Paul lit a cigarette, after offering them to her.

For a while he smoked in silence. Then he said, “Pallas

thinks herself in love with him, perhaps?” His tone was

diffident, almost embarrassed.

She shrugged. “I really couldn’t say. I don’t have her

confidence in this matter.”

He looked sharply at her. Kate met his gaze directly

and frankly.

He sighed. “I see. But perhaps you have your

brother’s?”

“No,” said Kate firmly, “I’ve never discussed her with

Sam. After all, it’s a very private subject.”

He laughed incredulously. “Love is never private,

Miss Caulfield. It is, above all else, a family matter. That

is why, as soon as I knew I loved Pallas, I spoke to her

brother upon the subject.”

She came to a halt and stared at him, with total

disbelief. “You love Pallas? But she’s only sixteen; years

younger than you. Almost a child, still.”

“She will be seventeen in two months,” he said. “My

mother was married when she was sixteen. I was born