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got the faint drift of sandalwood spray cologne for men.
    'I'll—I’ll be in the lounge, just off the pool,’ she told him, ‘and what time—seven?’
    'Six-thirty,’ he said. ‘I want you to myself for a while.’ Jade went back to her woman’s world of masses of silk and fine cotton curtaining in shades of hibiscus-pinks, apricot and cinnamon-gold, plunge-pools, avacado-green tiles and subterranean sounds, saunas, towels and powder, beautiful Creole girls trained in the art of massage, arches and louvred doors and exotic potted plants, and her mind was full of Laurent Sevigny.
    The salon she was to work in offered tranquillity with its rose-tinted mirrors and subdued lighting.
    Although she had performed this kind of work in London and, for a short time, in Australia, there was a touch of unreality in it now. It was difficult to believe that she was on this island with Its vivid sunsets, palms, beautiful beaches and the sea almost every colour in the palette, depending on the mood of the weather. What was even more difficult was the fact that she had come to the island to marry Marlow Lewis, a man she hardly knew. After her marriage it had been arranged by them in their letters that she would keep on with her work as a beauty therapist.
    While she continued to work with oils and creams her mind kept flitting away to Laurent Sevigny. At the moment the upturned face of her client was very still, the eyes closed. Like most women who had booked in at a plush health clinic, she was alone, although, from what Jade had gathered, there were a number of couples with weight, health or tension problems who were making this their holiday at the hydro. Suddenly the lips moved. ‘That's heavenly,’ the woman said. ‘Do you know, you have a marvellous touch?’ The eyes remained closed.
    ‘Thank you,’ Jade murmured politely. ‘I’m pleased you’re enjoying your facial.’
    ‘In fact, I'm enjoying my entire stay here. I did have a slight weight problem, but nothing serious.' The eyelashes fluttered. ‘What I did need, though, was human warmth and contact. My marriage is cracking up and I decided to get away. I hopped on a plane and came here. I’d heard so much about it. You see, I married a man so much older than myself.’
    Jade felt herself tensing at the words.
    ‘He’s become so—so set in his ways. I notice it more than ever now that the children are teenagers. I was just thinking a moment ago as you worked on my face that your kind of work is unique, really, because you’re working with—well, let’s say unique material—that is, human material. I guess we all have problems—the women who come here. Some of them are lucky—they come with their husbands and make it a kind of holiday, but not all of us are so fortunate. However, at the end, I guess you could say we go back to whatever it is we’ve left, ready to cope again.’
    ‘You should go back feeling much more relaxed,’ said Jade. ‘That should help.’ She did not know what to say, but in any case, she thought, she was here to listen, after all.
    While she went on working and, in view of what her client had told her, she thought about Marlow. After the plane crash in which Jeffrey and Elisa had been killed, she and Marlow had turned to one another for consolation. She could see that now. When Marlow stated that he wanted to quit Australia for Mauritius, she had felt sheer despair and loneliness, and then he had written from the island, asking her to marry him, and with her grief and loneliness to guide her, she had written back, accepting. At a later date Marlow had mentioned the clinic and had suggested that she might well like to work there. Comtesse Nicole de Speville, he had written, looked forward to her application. Well, she had made application and here she was, to find that Marlow was away on a business trip. He had written to say that he was going away to a sugar congress and unfortunately Would be away at the very time she arrived in