Follow a Stranger

She found Pallas and Sam playing a strenuous game of

tennis, and watched them until Sam won. They wandered

towards her, flushed and panting.

“I am exhausted!” Pallas puffed, throwing herself down

on the grass.

Sam grinned at her. “Weakling! I could play another

game and still win!”

Pallas grimaced at him. “The conceit of him! Did you

hear that, Kate? Your brother is absolutely the most

conceited boy I ever met!” She aimed a lazy blow at his leg

with her racquet, not intending it to land. “Take that, you

scoundrel!”

Sam danced out of reach nimbly. “You’re just jealous,” he

observed loftily. “Women aren’t called the weaker sex for

nothing.”

Pallas howled at him, “Male chauvinist pig!”

“Language, language!” Sam teased.

Kate interposed lazily, “Children, children, don’t

squabble!”

The remark had the desired effect of silencing them both.

She looked from one to the other of them, smiling. Their

behaviour strongly confirmed her belief that there was no

romantic attachment between them. Only a brother-and-

sister relationship could explain the squabbling, the

rudeness, the teasing. They were too casual with each other

for anything else.

“I just had a chat with your mother, Pallas,” she said.

Pallas sat up, tossing back her long black hair. “Oh, yes?”

“She tells me that she has decided to send you to Paris to

study music.”