Free Island of Mermaids by Iris Danbury Page A

were hidden by a curve in the path. Then she turned towards Cristo, whose outline she could barely distinguish in the darkness, except for the blur of his face. ‘ I ’ d prefer you not to accompany me back to the villa. ’
    ‘Y ou are very angry, but I have known many other girls who pretended to be angry when I kissed them, but afterwards, oh, they were very glad and happy. ’
    ‘ You can spare me the account of your love life. ’ She marched ahead of him, not even caring if she stumbled, although then he would have had the excuse to pick her up and that might have led to further trouble.
    Cristo followed in silence until they came to the terrace of the Villa Stefano. ‘ Buona note,’ he called, but Althea was too angry to answer.
    The outer door of the ‘ gingerbread house ’ stood ajar, for which Althea was immensely thankful. To walk through some of the main part of the villa to reach the connecting corridor would have been too much.
    She went straight into her bedroom, but her father called, ‘ Is that you, dear? ’
    ‘ Coming, Father, ’ she replied, stopping only to tidy her hair. As she went into the sitting-room, it occurred to her that she had not met Kent on the return journey to his own villa. A blessing in disguise, of course, she reflected, but had he gone home the other way round by the road or been invited in? If the latter, then what explanation could Carla give?
    Althea dismissed these thoughts impatiently. She was becoming altogether too interested in Kent ’ s goings and comings.
    Her father glanced up and handed her one of the English newspapers.
    ‘ So apparently we ’ re losing Cristoforo for a while, ’ he observed. ‘ I can ’ t say I ’ m particularly sorry to see the back of him for a while. ’
    ‘ I find him—rather tedious on occasions ,’ she admitted.
    ‘ I hope Emilia won ’ t invite him here too often. He seems to have only two topics of conversation—cars and women. ’ Althea laughed. ‘ In that order? ’
    ‘ Naturally. What else would you expect? ’
    After a few moments Althea said, ‘ You know I have to accompany Carla tomorrow on her first lesson in Naples with the professor? ’
    ‘ Well, it will make an outing for you. ’
    ‘ I hope I don ’ t have to go every week, though. This chaperone business seems rather ridiculous to me. If both Carla and I chose, we could skip off anywhere we liked, as long as we came home on the evening steamer. ’
    ‘ Then for your own sake hope that Carla doesn ’ t have as much imagination as you have, ’ was her father ’ s grim warning. ‘ Don ’ t put ideas into her head. ’
    ‘ If I could see the ideas she has there already, I ’ d probably be startled, ’ Althea said with a laugh.
    She was considerably surprised next day when Cristo accompanied her and Carla down to the Marina Grande for the mid-morning steamer.
    ‘ I thought you were going by helicopter to the mainland, ’ she told him coldly.
    He gave her a dazzling smile. ‘ I changed my mind. I couldn ’ t let us part in such a state of enemies. ’
    ‘ We ’ re not enemies, ’ she objected. ‘ I ’ m just not interested in casual lovemaking. ’
    ‘ But I ’ m madly in love with you. I want a chance to prove it. ’
    She smiled. ‘ Wait until you get back to Rome. There you can be surrounded with girls who might appreciate you more than I do. ’
    At the harbour in Naples Carla bade her cousin a most affectionate farewell, kissing and embracing him as though he were off to South America. When at last they released each other, Cristo lifted Althea ’ s hand and raised it to his lips.
    ‘ Forgive me, carissima , ’ he whispered, ‘ if I am too impulsive and show my love too hastily. ’ He brushed her cheek with a light kiss, picked up his suitcase and walked off towards the car park where he had left his car during his holiday.
    At the professor ’ s house, Althea was received with due ceremony and ushered into the practice room. To