Miss Stephanopoulos broke in on this disturbing thought by asking: ‘When do you propose that we should leave Athens?’
Startled, he stammered: ‘But … but I haven’t said I’d take you. I can’t, you know; really. I … I’ve as good as promised the job to someone else.’
‘As good as!’ she repeated angrily. ‘That doesn’t mean a thing. You must take me. You said you would before we came up to lunch. You can’t go back on that now.’
‘I said no such thing. I—’
‘You did! You did!’ Suddenly her voice changed to a high, pleading note. ‘Oh please, please! You are my only hope of getting out of Athens. If you don’t, any awful thing that happens to me will be your fault. You will have deliberately thrown me to the wolves. But rather than—’
‘Hush!’ Robbie implored her in a hoarse whisper. ‘For goodness sake, keep your voice down. People at the other tables are staring at us.’ But she ignored him and, tears of desperation welling up in her blue eyes, she hurried on:
‘Rather than let that happen, I’ll go down to the beach and swim out to sea and drown myself. And I thought you were so nice, so understanding. Mother has always told me that English gentlemen are the most chivalrous in the world. But that isn’t true. You’re just mean and horrid.’
Wittingly or unwittingly, she had hit Robbie on his soft spot. Like a pricked balloon, he caved in and said hastily: ‘All right; all right. You’ve no need to cry. Please don’t. People will think I’ve done something awful to you. Since you’re in such a mess, I’ll get you out of it.’
Like April sunshine after rain, her face lit up again. ‘That’s sweet of you. I knew you would the moment I saw you.’
‘I hope your driving is better than your shorthand,’ he said, a little glumly.
‘Oh, I drive quite well; and I suppose over long distances we’ll be taking it turn and turn about. What make of car have you?’
‘I haven’t a car. I’m hiring one from a garage. As a matter of fact, I don’t know the first thing about cars so I can’t even tell you what kind it was that I chose when I went there this morning.’
She regarded him in astonishment. ‘Does that mean you can’t even drive a car?’
He nodded. ‘That’s it. There will be no turn and turn about. The driving will be entirely up to you, and I’ll not be able to give you any help if we have a breakdown, either. It’s taking on quite a lot, and a girl like you must have some friends to whom she can turn when in trouble; so perhaps you would like to reconsider it.’
‘Certainly not.’ Her jaw hardened, and the momentary hope Robbie had had of escaping from this disturber of his peace flickered out. With another of her bewildering changes, she became extremely practical. ‘I may not have a willowy figure, but I was given staying power as a compensation. I’ll keep on driving you for as long as most men could. As for friends, of course I have friends; but none who could take me in and hide me for any length of time. It is true that I had a lunch date that I put off to meet you. But only with a girl who would have let me share her flat for a few nights, if I became absolutely desperate.’
‘I see. How about money? What sort of salary do you want?’
She shrugged. ‘Anything that suits you. Your advertisement said “all found”, so all I’ll need is a few pence to powder my nose. About this car, though. I think I ought to give it a trial run before we set off.’
‘That’s a good idea. When we’ve finished lunch, I’ll give you a note to the garage telling them to let you take it out this afternoon.’
‘Thanks. And when do we start?’
‘Tomorrow morning, if that’s all right with you.’
‘The sooner the better, as far as I am concerned. That is, after I’ve had a chance to say good-bye to mother and collect my clothes.’
‘Perhaps you’ll bring the car round to the British Embassy in the morning, at about ten o’clock, then?’
‘Yes, sir.’ Her teeth flashed in a sudden smile. ‘Am I to call you that, or Mr. Grenn or … my handsome rescuer from an awful fate?’
No girl had ever before called Robbie handsome. He flushed to the ears, and stammered: ‘Most … most people just call me Robbie. I … I’d like you to do that.’
‘Robbie it shall be,’ she cooed. ‘And you must call me Stephanie.’
The rest of their lunch passed very pleasantly, and somehow it seemed quite natural to him that, before they left Floca’s, he bought her a huge box of chocolates.
When she left him a few minutes later, he was, for a time, quite bemused. The absurd bow of blue veiling perched on the crisp chestnut curls had hardly bobbed out of sight among the crowd before he began to wonder whether the whole episode had not been one of his daydreams. It seemed almost impossible to believe that he had spent nearly two hours with a pretty girl and that, after the first ten minutes, his shyness had entirely left him. Of course, she had been looking to him to save her from a terrible situation, so the circumstances were exceptional. Even so, it seemed a miracle that he should have found his tongue to such a degree that he had kept her laughing happily through the greater part of a long meal.
For over half an hour, he wandered the streets aimlessly, savouring again snatches of their conversation and recalling the swiftly changing expressions of the golden-brown face, still so vivid in his memory. Then he gradually came down to earth and began to think about preparations for their departure. He was just about to turn back towards the Embassy, when it occurred to him that he had not yet had a chance to thank Luke Beecham for his sound advice, and that he also owed it to Luke to let him know of his new plan; so he made his way to the United Kingdom Petroleum Company’s office.
It was just opening for the afternoon session, so he caught Luke coming in, and was taken straight up by him to his comfortable room on the first floor. As Luke closed the door behind them, he smiled and said: ‘So all went well. I felt pretty sure it would; and if it hadn’t, I’d very soon have heard about it.’
Robbie grinned back. ‘Yes, your “Masterly Policy of Inactivity” proved a winner. On the whole, too, H.E. behaved very decently. He said he couldn’t let me stay on permanently at the Embassy, but gave me till the end of this week to pack up.’
Luke lit a cigar, perched himself on the corner of his desk, and said: ‘I see. And where do you intend to go?’
Sitting down, and stretching out his long legs, Robbie divulged his plan for continuing his investigation, under cover of gathering information for his book, by making a tour of the places in which the Czech groups were soon to be stationed.
‘But I thought you couldn’t drive a car,’ Luke remarked. ‘Isn’t that going to be an awful handicap?’
Robbie gave a happy laugh. ‘I’m hiring a car and I advertised for a chauffeur-secretary. As a matter of fact, I’ve just come from giving lunch to the one I’ve settled on, and she’s a jolly pretty girl.’
Luke’s brows contracted slightly, and he asked: ‘Is that wise, Robbie?’
‘Why? What have you got against it?’ Robbie countered defensively. ‘She’s driven several makes of car, and can type my manuscript. What’s more, she will make a very pleasant companion.’
‘I don’t doubt that.’ Luke’s voice was a shade cynical. ‘But have you thought that your going off into the blue like that might lead to quite a nasty scandal?’
‘I don’t see why it should. In the places to which we’re going, it’s unlikely that we shall run into anyone we know. Anyhow that didn’t seem to bother her, and it certainly doesn’t me.’
‘I suppose you have taken up her references?’
Robbie did not feel that he ought to divulge Stephanie’s private troubles, which would have put the matter of references, even if he had thought of it, out of the question; so he shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t think it necessary.’
‘But, my young friend, it is,’ Luke insisted. ‘You are a rich and eligible bachelor. Surely you realise that by taking an attractive young woman off with you to stay
in a series of hotels, you are laying yourself open to blackmail. This girl will only have to say that you seduced her on a promise of marriage, and you’ll find that you have landed yourself in the hell of an expensive mess.’
This argument came home to Robbie with sudden force when he recalled the photographs of enticing-looking ladies he had received in the post that morning. But again he shook his head. ‘No, really Luke, I’m sure you’ve no need to worry about that. This girl is related to the Greek Foreign Secretary, Stephanopoulos, and she’s highly respectable. Besides, although she is a good-looker, she’s got her feet firmly on the ground. She’s not at all a “come-hither” girl, but the practical type. Even if I tried anything on her, which I don’t intend to, I wouldn’t mind betting that I’d get a box on the ear. We shall be good friends, that’s all.’
Luke shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t like to risk it. Still, it seems that you have made up your mind, and it’s your affair.’
After a moment, Robbie said: ‘Look, there’s an idea which occurred to me while I was on the way here. As I’ve told you, my cover for this job will be collecting information for my book. Fortunately, there are ancient temples and things scattered all over the Peloponnesus, but it may turn out that one of these groups will start to operate in a place quite a long way from anything of that sort. If so, I’ll require another kind of cover, and since they are supposed to be prospecting for oil, I don’t see why someone else shouldn’t too. I wouldn’t want any pay, of course, but I was wondering if I could carry some form of credentials from you that would enable me to make all sorts of enquiries as though I were an oil man.’
Luke was silent for a moment, then he shook his head. ‘No, Robbie. I’m afraid I couldn’t do that. The snag is that, although you have no official connections, you will be acting as a secret agent. That has already led you into taking illegal action, and may easily do so again. If you were caught and had a document on you accrediting you to my Company, we couldn’t laugh that off. It would be said that United Kingdom Petroleum had abused its position here to cover espionage. If that happened, my chiefs in London might quite well give me the sack.’
Robbie’s face showed his disappointment, but he said at once: ‘I hadn’t thought of that. If I had, I’d never have dreamt of suggesting it.’
‘Wait a minute.’ Luke gave a wave with his cigar. ‘I believe I see a way to handle this. I could give you some of our cards. They are engraved simply with the name of the Company, this address and telephone number, and underneath “represented by …” followed by a blank space in which any member of the staff sent out on some odd job can write his name. You could use those for your enquiries. If you were caught with some of them on you, we should still be in the clear. There would be nothing to show that you were employed by us. I should deny all knowledge of your activities, and say that you must have either managed somehow to pinch the cards or had had them printed yourself.’
‘That’s marvellous!’ exclaimed Robbie, jumping to his feet. ‘Are you quite sure, though, that it couldn’t possibly get you into trouble?’
‘Quite certain. I’ll give you a packet of cards before you go.’
For another ten minutes, they talked of Robbie’s proposed programme; then, with Luke’s good wishes for his success, and a packet of fifty cards in his pocket, he left the office.
With buoyant step he walked back to the Embassy, then cheerfully set to in earnest to sort out the things he intended to take with him. Yet, now and again, he felt a twinge of anxiety. He had still to break it to his uncle that, instead of returning to England, he intended to stay on in Greece, and he feared that Sir Finsterhorn might take that rather badly.
He had already learned that there were to be people coming both for drinks and a small dinner party at the Embassy that night, so he expected that he would have to bottle himself up for the whole evening before a chance came for him to get the unwelcome news off his chest. But he was spared that by a piece of luck.
When he came down to the big drawing room he found Euan there, and that, contrary to his custom, the Ambassador was also present, although there were still at least ten minutes to go before the first guests were due to arrive. Moreover Robbie did not even have to open the subject, for Sir Finsterhorn said at once:
‘What is this I hear, Robbie, of your having advertised in yesterday’s Kathimerini for a chauffeur-secretary?’
Normally, called to book as he felt sure he was about to be, Robbie would have hesitated and floundered; but he was amazed to find that since lunch he had acquired a new confidence in himself. Looking his uncle straight in the eye, he replied:
‘That’s right, sir. I decided that it would be a pity to leave Greece without seeing some of the most famous temples; so I’ve hired a car and a chauffeur to take me on a tour of the Peloponnesus.’
To his surprise, Sir Finsterhorn nodded quite amicably. ‘That’s a good idea. You should be able to pick up some useful local colour for your book; er … that is, if you mean to go on with it.’
‘Oh yes. More than half of it is written now, and I hope anyway to get the rest of it roughed out while I’m on this trip.’
For some minutes they talked of the most important places for him to visit and Euan, his professional interest as an archaeologist aroused, for once showed no malice. He even offered to get out a list of things at each place that should not be missed and, when he learned that Robbie intended to leave at ten o’clock next morning, promised to have it ready by then.
That evening, Robbie found himself quite exceptionally loquacious. The hours passed quickly for him and, when he went up to bed, he gave his mind over to happy dreams. But he woke early, and was suddenly taken with a fit of the jitters. All that had happened to him in the past eighteen hours seemed too good to be true. Reconsidered in the light of early morning, could Stephanie’s story really hold water? Surely, in these days, parents did not still force girls of twenty-four into marriages repugnant to them, and threaten to throw them on the streets if they refused to obey? Perhaps the whole thing was a cruel hoax and she had been laughing at him all the time.
But why should a strange young woman, who could not possibly have anything against him, use her abilities as an actress to make him look a fool? There could be a reason, though. Someone who had seen his advertisement, and knew what a simple-minded chap he was, might have put her up to it. It was possible that they had induced her to do it by offering her a big bet with long odds in her favour if she could afterwards say that she had landed the job.
Suddenly, he thought of Euan. It was strange that the previous evening Euan had not made a single reference to his taking a girl out to lunch. For once, he could not have been nicer, and surely that must have sinister implications? Euan knew so many people in Athens. It might well be that he knew Stephanie, and that it was he who had put her up to this. If so, and she failed to turn up, Euan would be on hand to witness the outcome of his joke, so that he could laugh with his friends afterwards while describing Robbie’s bitter disappointment. That would be the final humiliation.
Miserable and worried almost silly, Robbie got up, did his final packing and went down to breakfast. Sir Finsterhorn was in a pleasant mood and Euan gave the impression of being in unusually high spirits; a fact that Robbie registered with a sinking feeling that it confirmed his worst fears. Yet it was now impossible for him not to go through with the drill to which he had committed himself.
After breakfast he took leave of his uncle, and thanked him with the best words he could find for having had him to stay at the Embassy for so long, adding that he would write his gratitude to Lady Grenn for all her kindness to him. He then made the round of the house to say good-bye to the staff, and was deeply touched by the regrets they expressed that he should be leaving.
At a quarter to ten, Loadham brought his suitcases down to the hall. Opening the front door, Robbie stood on the threshold, still desperately hoping, yet hardly daring to accept the possibility that Stephanie might drive up a
nd carry him away. The next ten minutes were an agony. Then, at five to ten, his heart gave a bound. The car that he had selected—which he later learned was a Ford Zephyr—came hurtling into the semi-circular drive. With admirable precision the brakes were applied, bringing it to a halt opposite the door. Stephanie, now bareheaded and dressed in a neat tweed suit, was driving it.
With a glowing face, Robbie ran forward to greet her. Calling to Loadham to stow his bags in the boot, he walked quickly back into the hall to collect his raincoat. At that moment, Euan appeared. Thrusting a big envelope into Robbie’s hand, he said:
‘Don’t go without this. It’s the list of things you must not miss.’ Then his glance lit on the car outside and in it the finely chiselled profile crowned by chestnut curls of the girl sitting at the wheel.
His mouth dropped open, and he swung round on Robbie. ‘I say! So that’s your chauffeuse-secretary! Well, I’ll be damned! You secretive old devil. I’d never have thought in a thousand years that you would get hold of a peach like her to drive you round Greece.’
Robbie’s smile was seraphic. This was unalloyed triumph. Yet he might well have hesitated to get into the Ford, could he have foreseen the end that the gods had decreed for it.
12
Making Hay while the Sun Shines
Robbie was still blissfully savouring the cloud of glory in which he had departed, when he was roused from it by Stephanie’s asking: ‘Do you want to get to Patras for lunch?’
On the previous day he had told her that the big port on the Ionian Sea was the first place at which he wished to make a stay. However, he had not even hinted at his real reason for this, and the Bratislava, with the groups of Czechs on board, was not due to dock there till Monday. So he replied: ‘Oh no! I doubt if we could, anyway. It must be well over two hundred kilometres.’
Mayhem in Greece Page 19