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He realised she was talking

‘It looks so closethe Acropolis!’

‘It’s quite some distance away, really—it looks close because there are no high-rise buildings between here and it,’ he replied ‘Many buildings have a view over it—my apartment does,’ he said

He started to tell her about the extensive ruins of classical times, both on the Acropolis and at its base, and then went on to describe soraphy of the city itself—the different areas froma Square

She listened with interest, asking questions, increasingly relaxed as their dinner arrived, sipping at her wine

‘I uide book,’ she said A shadow crossed her face ‘It see about a city that I should have known all my life—’

She broke off, took another mouthful of her wine

‘It isn’t too late to learn to love your Greek heritage,’ Xandros said quietly

He left it at that—let the thought gel, take root He left unspoken, for now, the corollary If you marry me

Throughout dinner he kept the conversation and the mood casual, easily friendly, and it served his purpose well For all the privations of her deprived upbringing she was obviously not unintelligent—just ignorant of a great deal of what he took for granted But she held her own, asked good questions, showed a sensitivity that he appreciated

‘I know there’s a fuss about the Elgin Marbles being in the British Museum,’ she ventured, ‘but I don’t really understand why’

‘Because,’ Xandros inforin” Marbles at all—they are the Parthenon Marbles! The probleood faith—but from an authority that did not own theovernment of Greece at the time’

She wrinkled her brow ‘Ottoman?’

‘The foreign empire from Asia Minor that conquered the Middle East and the ancient Byzantine Empire in the fifteenth century—and ruled Greece for four hundred years until we finally shook them off! It was a dark time for Greece A dark time,’ he added, ‘for my family’

She looked at hily