or the fireworks that soon started to shoot across the heavens.
“Perhaps,” he suggested a little tentatively in her ear, “you might care for that walk to the village? Or, at any rate, to a point of vantage where you can see things a little better!”
But Cassandra declared she had a horror of snakes, and even if he assured her there were no snakes, she would be terrified of treading on one.
“Take Miss Harding,” she said, looking through the velvet gloom at Felicity. A note in her voice suggested that it had only just occurred to her that Felicity might be missing something that she could enjoy: “I’m sure she’d simply love to see the village at night, and she’s not as timorous as I am,” with a soft laugh that made a mockery of the final statement. For Cassandra was not timorous about anything.
Whitelaw looked a little doubtfully at Felicity, but before he could issue an invitation his employer spoke for him — crisply, incisively, just as he had spoken once before about something that concerned Felicity.
“Not tonight, I think, Harry! Remember that Miss Harding had only just arrived, and it’s quite a walk to the village. Another night, perhaps. And now may I suggest that you two ladies would do well to retire early? Don’t imagine that we’re anxious to get rid of you, but tomorrow you’ll feel more like concerning yourselves with the affairs of the islanders.”
Upstairs in her own room, while Felicity closed on e of the windows under her direction, Cassandra moved to her dressing table and stubbed out a cigarette in a crystal ashtray that reposed on it. The room was all pale golden warmth; in it Cassandra’s brilliant hair flamed, and the sequins that clung to her black net dress looked like fireflies that had found entrance and were concentrating on the litheness of her body.
“There’s something I’d like to say to you, Felicity, before you carry out our host’s instructions and go to bed!” Cassandra said. She lifted her head, and the graceful outline of it looked arrogant, and her eyes were hard green glass in the golden light.
“Yes?” Felicity turned to her, and looked expectant
Cassandra studied her coldly.
“I would like you to understand that I am not normally very interested in men — that is, I have become a little bored with most of them — but our host is unlik e anyone I’ve ever met before! I’d say that he’s not interested in women — possibly because of what happened two years ago — but at his age it’s absurd to have renounced everything that makes life worth living, and having got back his sight I feel that there’s something else I could give him! Anyway, I mean to try ... I know now why I suddenly decided to come here — it was Fate, if you care to call it that, and having been brought here by Fate I don’t intend anyone to spoil things for me. Least of all you, my dear Felicity!” Felicity looked as if she was quite uncomprehending — which she actually was.
But Cassandra explained rather crudely: “I think I’m going to fall in love! ... And if I don’t fall in love, at least it will be exciting. But you must keep in the background, my dear. I’m not trying to flatter you that you’re easily noticed, but in order to escape from something — shall we say a woman who could attract him violently? — Paul Halloran, may turn to you. He may appear interested in you, but you can take it from me you are not the sort of woman to attract a Paul Hallo r an. And I strongly suspect that his heart is in the grave with that woman who died! But, wherever it is, it’s nothing to do with you! ... Do you understand?” Felicity could find no words to answer. But she wa s conscious of a distinct sensation of shock.
Cassandra went on, in an equable voice: “Learn to melt into the background a little more than you do at the present time, my dear, and don’t look across the dinner table into the eyes of a man you’ve only just met as if he fascinates
“Perhaps,” he suggested a little tentatively in her ear, “you might care for that walk to the village? Or, at any rate, to a point of vantage where you can see things a little better!”
But Cassandra declared she had a horror of snakes, and even if he assured her there were no snakes, she would be terrified of treading on one.
“Take Miss Harding,” she said, looking through the velvet gloom at Felicity. A note in her voice suggested that it had only just occurred to her that Felicity might be missing something that she could enjoy: “I’m sure she’d simply love to see the village at night, and she’s not as timorous as I am,” with a soft laugh that made a mockery of the final statement. For Cassandra was not timorous about anything.
Whitelaw looked a little doubtfully at Felicity, but before he could issue an invitation his employer spoke for him — crisply, incisively, just as he had spoken once before about something that concerned Felicity.
“Not tonight, I think, Harry! Remember that Miss Harding had only just arrived, and it’s quite a walk to the village. Another night, perhaps. And now may I suggest that you two ladies would do well to retire early? Don’t imagine that we’re anxious to get rid of you, but tomorrow you’ll feel more like concerning yourselves with the affairs of the islanders.”
Upstairs in her own room, while Felicity closed on e of the windows under her direction, Cassandra moved to her dressing table and stubbed out a cigarette in a crystal ashtray that reposed on it. The room was all pale golden warmth; in it Cassandra’s brilliant hair flamed, and the sequins that clung to her black net dress looked like fireflies that had found entrance and were concentrating on the litheness of her body.
“There’s something I’d like to say to you, Felicity, before you carry out our host’s instructions and go to bed!” Cassandra said. She lifted her head, and the graceful outline of it looked arrogant, and her eyes were hard green glass in the golden light.
“Yes?” Felicity turned to her, and looked expectant
Cassandra studied her coldly.
“I would like you to understand that I am not normally very interested in men — that is, I have become a little bored with most of them — but our host is unlik e anyone I’ve ever met before! I’d say that he’s not interested in women — possibly because of what happened two years ago — but at his age it’s absurd to have renounced everything that makes life worth living, and having got back his sight I feel that there’s something else I could give him! Anyway, I mean to try ... I know now why I suddenly decided to come here — it was Fate, if you care to call it that, and having been brought here by Fate I don’t intend anyone to spoil things for me. Least of all you, my dear Felicity!” Felicity looked as if she was quite uncomprehending — which she actually was.
But Cassandra explained rather crudely: “I think I’m going to fall in love! ... And if I don’t fall in love, at least it will be exciting. But you must keep in the background, my dear. I’m not trying to flatter you that you’re easily noticed, but in order to escape from something — shall we say a woman who could attract him violently? — Paul Halloran, may turn to you. He may appear interested in you, but you can take it from me you are not the sort of woman to attract a Paul Hallo r an. And I strongly suspect that his heart is in the grave with that woman who died! But, wherever it is, it’s nothing to do with you! ... Do you understand?” Felicity could find no words to answer. But she wa s conscious of a distinct sensation of shock.
Cassandra went on, in an equable voice: “Learn to melt into the background a little more than you do at the present time, my dear, and don’t look across the dinner table into the eyes of a man you’ve only just met as if he fascinates
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