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CHAPTER ONE
THE garden of the hotel was di in a faint sea breeze blowing up fro jewelled circles of red and yellow on the paths, the fringed palarden a new fairy-tale prettiness it somehow lacked by day Now and then, when the wind blewthe blue water of the swies of colour, as if suddenly filled with exotic little fish The gay umbrellas beside the pool, their function unnecessary at this hour, fluttered and flapped over their little white tables The stone terrace running beside the pool was eht water
Fro hard to i only in patches, occasionally the genuine echo of their oailing rhythular drum-beats of the modern dance
Marie had fled from the dance floor to escape the too-insistent attentions of a rather dull young nise polite refusals when they were given For five days he had haunted herrude, and had decided it would be wiser to hide froue Discretion, as her father was fond of saying, is the better part of valour
She leaned on the low stone wall, staring down at theto the lowthe curve of the little bay, round to the insistent beat of the hthouse stood on a pro out a steady red bea red path across the bay which relassSo, warning of fog far out in the distance
It had been a mistake, after all, to come here The brochure had promised her a world more ancient, more mysterious than her own, and it had been in search of that that she had flown here, only to find herself i, hot water and fitted carpets, unable to reach the teelimpsed in her visit to the Kasbah Their visit had been a brief one, closely supervised by a nervous guide who had not permitted them to wander far from the path he chose and who had constantly looked over his shoulder with visible anxiety as if expecting every moment to be attacked From the main street they had followed, Marie had seen dark huddled alleys leading away into a tortuousaith lowered heads, olive-skinned, striding h the crowds, their dark eyes passing over the little huddle of excited Europeans without interest For a brief ination kindle, only to be led away by the guide, whispering to her of uni in the shadows
Soht in the mysterious desert had become yet another seaside holiday in a luxury hotel, and she was bored with the whole thing She was tired of carpets and soft beds, expensive food that ed to taste the same every tiht just as well have gone to the South of France or even solish seaside resort It was true that the desert lay there, beyond the town, but the constrictions of the hotel seemed to impose a barrier between it and the holidayh she rapped in transparent plastic, hygienically protected froerous world beyond
She sighed Suddenly a voicein surprise, she found Mrs Brown beside her, her freckled, healthy face alight with pleasure
'Isn't this marvellous? Look at that view! Ro such a lovely time here' The enthusiastic, breathy voice made Marie envious Mrs Brown and her quiet husband, Don, had never been out of England before and were ecstatic over their trip They had eeks at the hotel in a coood luck After forty-five years of sedate English holidays, life had taken on alustre for them both
'I' at her She liked Mrs Brown They had shared a seat on the coach trip to local Roman ruins and become friendly over the sand-buried stone coluion city
'You're enjoying it, aren't you?' Mrs Brown gazed at her curiously
'Of course,' said Marie, trying to sound sincere
Mrs Brown's hazel eyes skiirl wore, enviously guessing at the price of such nificence The other visitors to the hotel could not but be aware that Marie was the daughter of James Brinton, the head of a vast electronics firirl possessed was of the sarace Mrs Brown, on first seeing her, had been nervous of her, but on closer acquaintance had found that Marie was more approachable than her outward manner indicated Mrs Brown's own blue chiffon seeinal charhed
'You're so lucky to have travelled all over the world, I do envy you Don and I have never been able to afford to go beyond England—there were the children to consider Our Joanne was never a good traveller, even a trip in the car made her sick, and she could never fly anywhere Mind you, kids prefer the seaside anyway They never et travel brochures and read the for faraway places Now that we're on our oe could get away, but soh There's always so more important than a holiday'
'You must have been thrilled to win that coly
'Oh, I was over the moon! My dreams come true'
'And it's all lived up to your expectations?'
'Oh, yes,' said Mrs Brown eagerly
'I'ine the life Mrs Brown had led, the quiet, busy days in her home with her children, the dreams and excitements of travel always at the back of her mind to comfort her It was a totally different world fro to her as the exotic desert world she had co as a drea out beyond the confines of its surroundings to grasp new con
cepts, new horizons
'What about you?' Mrs Brown asked 'You enjoyed that trip to the Kasbah, didn't you? I noticed how excited you looked as we got on the coach Mind you, I was a bit nervous, I don'tyou Some of those Arab stallholders looked a bit sinister I mean, they say there are still slaves in some parts of the Arab world You couldn't be too careful out here If you went too far away froht happen?'
Marie laughed 'I think I would rather enjoy getting away fro pool, drinking a glass ofaround in an air-conditioned coach looking out at this world through plate-glass s… I've half a o off and explore on my own, find out what it's really like here…
Mrs Brown looked horrified 'I shouldn't do anything like that, dear I irl That fair hair of yours makes you obviously European I noticed so at you in a very furtive way If I were you, I'd stay where I was safe…'