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I

An old woman in a faded blue frock and black head-square paused in the shade of Mario&039;s awning and nodded good-day She sap-toothed smile A bulky, slouch-shouldered youth in jeans and a stained yellow T-shirt -a slope-headed idiot, probably her grandson - held her hand, drooling vacantly and fidgeting beside her

Mario nodded good-naturedly, sreaseproof paper and caive it to her She clasped his hand, thanked hio

Her attention was suddenly arrested by so she saw across the road She started, cursed vividly, harshly, and despiteof the hatred in her tone &039;Devil&039;s spawn!&039; She said it again &039;Dog! Swine!&039; She pointed a shaking hand and finger, said yet again: &039;Devil&039;s spawn!&039; before n hich the Italians ward off evil To do this it was first necessary that she drop her salted bread, which the idiot youth at once snatched up

Then, still , /ocacc/a- the street and disappeared into an alley One word that she had repeated over and over again stayed in h the as new to me, I took it for a curse-word The accent she put on it had been poisonous

I sipped at roni, remained seated at the s and stared at the object of the crone&039;s distaste It was a motor car, a white convertible Rover and this year&039;sslowly forward in a strea at if only for the girl behind the wheel The little man in the floppy white hat beside her - well, he was soht just a gliht it was soets looking at a beautiful girl Not after Linda

And yet-

She was young, say twenty-four or -five, some three or four years my junior She sat tall at the wheel, slim, raven-haired under a white, wide-bri that of her coh to pour over peaches I stood up -yes, to get a better look - and right then the traffic came to a momentary standstill At that moment, too, she turned her head and looked at me And if the profile had stunned irl was simply, classically beautiful

Her eyes were of a dark green but very bright, slightly tilted and perfectly oval under straight, thin brows Her cheekbones were high, her lips a red Cupid&039;s bow, her neck long and white against the glowing yellow of her blouse And her slance, at first cool, becary, until finally, seeing my confusion - that smile And as she turned her attention back to the road and followed the strea on the creaone

Then, too, I remembered the little reat deal of hiiven me the creeps He too had turned his head to stare atin my mind&039;s eye an ient in the shade of his hat He had stared at me for only a moment, and then his head had slowly turned away; but even when he no longer looked at ht ahead, it seemed to me I could feel those raven&039;s eyes upon me, and that a query had been written in them

I believed I could understand it, that look Heat hiirl His look had been a threat in answer to my threat - and because he was practised in it, I had certainly felt the lish was excellent &039;She has soainst expensive cars and rich people?&039;

&039;Who?&039; he busied himself behind his bar

The old lady, the woman with the idiot boy&039;

&039;Ah!&039; he nodded &039;Mainly against the little man, I suspect&039;

&039;Oh?&039;

&039;You want another Negroni?&039;

&039;OK - and one for yourself(t, won&039;t you?&039;

&039;If you like - but you&039;re only interested in the girl, yes?&039; He grinned

I shrugged &039;She&039;s a good-looker&039;

&039;Yes, I saw her&039; Now he shrugged That other thing -just old lish Dracula, eh?&039;

Transylvanian Dracula,&039; I corrected him

&039;Whatever you like And Necros: that&039;s the name of the spook, see?&039;

&039;Necros is the name of a vampire?&039;

&039;A spook, yes&039;

&039;And this is a real legend? I mean, historical?&039;

He uess Ligurian I remember it from when I was a kid If I was bad, old Necros sure to co, &039;it&039;s forgotten&039;

&039;Like the bogey But why did the old girl go on like that?&039;

Again he shrugged &039;Maybe she think that old man Necros, eh? She crazy, you know? Very backward

The whole faend go?&039;

&039;The spook takes the life out of you You grow old, spook grows young It&039;s a bargain you ets what he wants What he wants is your youth Except he uses it up quick and needs more All the tiain is that?&039; I asked &039;What does the victiet out of it?&039;

&039;Gets what he wants,&039; said Mario, his brown face cracking into another grin &039;In your case the girl, eh? If the little ot on with his work and I sat there sipping ht no more about it -until later

II

Of course, I should have been in Italy with Linda, but I had kept her &039;Dear John&039; for a fortnight before shredding it, gettingThat had been a o The holiday had already been booked and I wasn&039;t about to miss out on my trip to the sun And so I had coood, life was easy and the food superb With just two days left to enjoy it, I told myself it hadn&039;t been bad But it would have been better with Linda

LindaShe was still on ht as I sat in the bar of ainvillaea-decked balcony that looked down on the bay and the seafront lights of the town And maybe she wasn&039;t all that far back in ht there in front - or else I was just plain daydrea Whichever, I missed the entry of the lovely lady and her shrivelled conise the their seats at a little table just the other side of the balcony&039;s sweep

This was the closest I&039;d been to her, and-

Well, first iirl was beautiful She didn&039;t look quite as young as she&039;d first seee, maybe - but beautiful she certainly was And the old boy? He must be, could only be, her father Maybe it sounds like I was a little naive, but with her looks this lady really didn&039;t need an old man And if she did need one it didn&039;t have to be this one

By now she&039;d seenit, she smiled and blushed at one and the same time, and for a moment turned her eyes away - but only for a moment

Fortunately her cos at once; for as she looked at ain - fully upon me this time - I could have sworn I read an invitation in her eyes, and in that same moment any bitter vows I otten God, please let hi a few tooolives and potato crisps froirl as best I could, if only for common decency&039;s sake Butall the time I worried frantically at the problem of how to introduce myself, and as the minutes ticked by it seemed to me that the most obvious way must also be the best

But how obvious would it be to the old boy?

And the dalance since her original - invitation? Had Ifor me to make the firstMartinis, slowly; he drank a rich red wine, in solasses and charge it to me I had already spoken to the bar steward, a swarthy, friendly little chap from the South called Francesco, but he hadn&039;t been able to enlightenresident myself I was already pretty sure of that

Anyway, my drinks were delivered to their table; they looked surprised; the girl put on a perfectly innocent expression, questioned the waiter, nodded in ave me a cautious smile, and the old boy turned his head to stare athis eyes, which were like coals now, sunken deep in his brorinkled face Tiirl spoke again to the waiter and he caentle lady thank you and request that you join the I had dared hope for - for theup, I suddenly realized how much I&039;d had to drink I willed sobriety on myself and walked across to their table They didn&039;t stand up but the little chap said, &039;Please sit&039; His voice was a rustle of dried grass The waiter was behind me with a chair I sat

&039;Peter Collins,&039; I said &039;How do you do, Mr - er?-&039;

&039;Karpethes,&039; he answered &039;Nichos Karpethes And this is my wife, Adrienne&039; Neither one of them had made the effort to extend their hands, but that didn&039;t dismay me Only the fact that they were married dismayed me He must be very, very rich, this Nichos Karpethes

&039;I&039; a sht I heard you speaking English, and I-&039;

Thought ere English?&039; she finished it for inally I am Armenian, Nichos is Greek, of course We do not speak each other&039;s tongue, but we do both speak English Are you staying here, Mr Collins?&039;

&039;Er, yes - for one ed and put on a sad look, &039;- back to England, I&039;m afraid&039;

&039;Afraid?&039; the old boy whispered &039;There is so to fear in a return to your homeland?&039;

&039;Just an expression,&039; I answered &039;Ito an end&039;

He s his face up like a little walnut

&039;But your friends will be glad to see you again Your loved ones-?&039;

I shook my head &039;Only a handful of friends - none of them really close - and no loved ones I&039;m a loner, Mr Karpethes&039;

&039;A loner?&039; His eyes glowed deep in their sockets and his hands began to treripped the table&039;s rim &039;Mr Collins, you don&039;t-&039;

&039;We understand,&039; she cut hiether, we too, in our way, are loners

Money has made Nichos lonely, you see? Also, he is not a well man, and time is short He will not waste what time he has on frivolous friendships As for ether, Nichos and I They pry, and I withdraw And so, I too, am a loner&039;

There was no accusation in her voice, but still I felt obliged to say: &039;I certainly didn&039;t intend to pry, Mrs-&039;

&039;Adrienne,&039; she smiled &039;Please No, of course you didn&039;t I would not want you to think we thought that of you Anyway I will tell you e are together, and then it will be put aside&039;

Her husband coughed, seeled to his feet I stood up and took his arht - but Adrienne had already signalled to a waiter

&039;Assist Mr Karpethes to the gentleood Italian &039;And please help him back to the table when he has recovered&039;

As he went, Karpethes gesticulated, probably tried to say soain and reeled as he allowed the waiter to help hi what else to say

&039;He has attacks&039; She was cool &039;Do not concern yourself I am used to it&039;

We sat in silence for ato tell otten It is a syood life he can give me, and he needsmy youth We supply each other&039;s needs&039; And so, in a way, the old wo after all A sort of bargain had indeed been struck Between Karpethes and his wife As that thought crossed my mind I felt the short hairs at the back of my neck stiffen for a moment Goose-flesh crawled on my arms

After all, &039;Nichos&039; was pretty close to &039;Necros,&039; and now this youth thing again Coincidence, of course And after all, aren&039;t all relationships bargains of sorts? Bargains struck for better or for worse

&039;But for how long?&039; I asked &039;I ed &039;I have been provided for And he will have hed, cleared h &039;And here&039;s me, the non-pryer!&039;

&039;No, not at all, I wanted you to know&039;

&039;Well,&039; I shrugged, &039;- but it&039;s been a pretty deep first conversation&039;

&039;First? Did you believe that buying me a drink would entitle you to more than one conversation?&039;

I almost winced &039;Actually, I-&039;

But then she smiled and my world lit up &039;You did not need to buy the drinks,&039; she said &039;There would have been soly &039;Solish or not&039;

&039;Oh!&039;

&039;Here comes Nichos now,&039; she s He&039;s not well Tell me, will you be on the beach tomorrow?&039;

&039;Oh - yes!&039; I answered after a moment&039;s hesitation &039;I like to swim&039;

&039;So do I Perhaps we can swim out to the raft?&039;

&039;I&039;d like that very much&039;

Her husband arrived back at the table under his own steaer now, not quite so shrivelled soripped the back of his chair with parchers, knuckles white where the skin stretched over old bones &039;Mr Collins,&039; he rustled, &039;-

Adrienne, I&039;m sorry&039;

&039;There&039;s really no need,&039; I said, rising

&039;We really &039; She also stood &039;No, you stay here, er, Peter? It&039;s kind of you, but we can e Perhaps we&039;ll see you on the beach&039; And she helped hi back

III

They weren&039;t staying at my hotel, had sih I would have preferred to think that she had been looking fortourist-class while theirs was soh on the crest of a Ligurian spur where a smaller, much more exclusive place nestled in Mediterranean pines A place whose lights spelled ht, whosedown fro elementals of the air

If I was poetic it was because of her I irl and that weary, wrinkled dried-up walnut of an old , I was sorry for him And yet in another way I wasn&039;t

And let&039;s make no pretence about it - if I haven&039;t said it already, let ht now - I wanted her Moreover, there had been that about our conversation, her beach invitation, which told ht of it kept ht

I was on the beach at 900 am - they didn&039;t show until 1100 When they did, and when she ca cubicle-There wasn&039;t a male head on the beach that didn&039;t turn at least twice Who could blairl, in that costume, would have turned the head of a sphinx But -there was so, different about her A maturity beyond her years? She held herself like a model, a princess But as it for? Karpethes or ht summer suit and sunshade hat as usual, but he see Unlike ht&039;s sleep While his wife had been changing he had made his way unsteadily across the pebbly beach tothe seat directly opposite me; and before his wife could appear he had opened with: &039;Good ,&039; I answered &039;Please call me Peter&039;

&039;Peter, then,&039; he nodded He see walk over the beach or a certain urgency which I could detect in his et down to it&039; manner

&039;Peter, you said you would be here for one ht,&039; I answered, for the first tiarden gnome half in the shade of the beach umbrella &039;This is my last day&039;

He was a bundle of dry wood, a desiccated prune, a small, umber scarecrow And his voice, too, was of straw, or autumn leaves blown across a shady path Only his eyes were alive &039;And you said you have no faland?&039;