The Silver Dragon by Jean S. Macleod Page B

destination in view. Cap Ferrat can be as pleasant as anywhere along the Mediterranean coast in early spring.
    J ohn hesitated. It was obvious that he did not want to stay and equally obvious that he could not desert Adele if she needed him. Subconsciously she made a little pleading gesture toward him.
    “I’ll stay,” he agreed without further demur.
    “Excellent!” Dixon Cabot prepared to fill their glasses once more. “That means that you will have to return to your hotel for your luggage,” he suggested. “We have two hours before dinner. You could easily manage Nice and back in that time.”
    John rose to his feet and Adele noticed that, standing, he was disconcerted by the other man’s superior height, as many stocky people are when they seek to gain an advantage.
    “I won’t be long,” he said brusquely. “I seem to be inaugurating a ferry service between here and Nice!” His host saw him to the door and Adele went slowly toward the staircase. Somewhere on the floor above Maria was busy, and she fled up the stairs, guided by the caretaker’s tuneless singing.
    “Maria,” she said when she came on her in one of the rooms, “will you prepare a bed for Dr. Ordley? He will be staying with us for a day or two.” There was sudden blessed relief in the thought. “Mr. Cabot will tell you which one to use,” she added, greatly to the servant’s surprise.
    “I get this room ready for the master,” she explained, looking back into the bedroom she had already prepared. “He says it is the one he will use.” Maria gave her a dark, almost an accusing look. “You have the one there, next door.” She pointed, shrugging expressively. “Too big a room for one person,” she added decisively.
    Adele escaped to where she could see shaded wall lights burning through an open doorway and her suitcase lying on a chair between two long windows, which led onto a balcony overlooking the terrace and the bay.
    Swiftly she drew the curtains, shutting out the oncoming night. Then, since she had the best part of two hours to await John’s return, she began to unpack.
    A chambermaid had put her things together at the hotel. They were all meticulously folded and she laid them automatically in the drawers that had been pulled out for her use. Then, suddenly, she was searching among the few remaining items still in the suitcase, looking for something she knew should be there.
    The green morocco leather jewel case. It was as if a light had been switched on close above her head. She could not remember seeing it at the hotel. Certainly she had not unpacked it there.
    Her hands dug down among the filmy silk underwear, but they did not encounter any hard object, and she searched each pocket without result.
    Flustered, she turned toward the door to find Dixon Cabot standing there, looking in at her.
    “You look distressed,” he suggested. “Have you mislaid something?”
    “My jewel case,” she told him shakily. “It was here, in the suitcase, when I left the clinic and now I can’t find it anywhere.”
    He came into the room, so slowly that she wanted to shriek.
    “What was in it of value?” he asked.
    She thought for a moment.
    “I don’t think there was anything very valuable in it,” she decided. “Oh! Except my wedding ring... ”
    He smiled grimly at the rather naive remark.
    “You weren’t wearing it?” he asked. “But perhaps that was understandable.” Then, before she knew what was happening, he had taken her by the shoulders, turning her to face the light. “What else was in the case?” he demanded.
    “A string of pearls and a jade bracelet.” Her voice sounded very far away to her own ears. “I think they were both artificial ... ”
    His strong fingers tightened their grip.
    “About as artificial as your amnesia,” he suggested calmly, although there was a flicker of returning anger in his eyes. “You don’t surely expect me to believe in it?” he added scathingly. “Why have you come