CHAPTER II

THE island came into view, early in the morning when a golden sunrise set on fire the eastern sky and reflected itself in the calm blue waters of the Mediterranean.

'That is Kypros.' A member of the crew, washing the deck, paused in his work and pointed to the misty silhouette that was the island of Cyprus. The man was short and swarthy, with thick black hair and darkened teeth,  a typical Greek, with the inevitable happy smile and friendly disposition.

'It seems quite close, but we shan't dock until lunchtime.'

'Lunch time?' In broken English the man spoke, and his brow puckered in a frown, Tessa pushed up her sleeve and indicated one o'clock on her watch, The broad smile instantly reappeared and the man nodded vigorously, 'We get to Kypros at thees time, as you say.' A pause, and then the question which Tessa knew would come. It always did, to a woman travelling alone in the East. 'You by yourself?'        

She nodded, trying to hide her smile. 'I'm alone, yes.'

'You go to Kypros to friends?'

'I have a  friend there.'

The man's face fell slightly. 'If you want to see the island I haf leave and could take you around.'

'It's kind of you, but as I've said, I have a friend there.'

'In Famagusta your friend lif?'

"No, not in Famagusta.'

.'Where does your friend lif, then?'

'In a tiny village in the mountains. Look, the sun's clearing the mist,' she added in order to change the subject. You can see the island quite plainly now.'

"Thees end, it is Paphos, Aphrodite used to lif there.' He turned from the contemplation of the island and looked at her. 'You know of Aphrodite?' He pronounced It in the Greek way of Aphrodity, and Tessa did the same.  

'Yes, I know of Aphrodite. She came out of the sea at Paphos.'

'That's right. She the goddess of love. Your friend, she is at Paphos, maybe?'

'My friend doesn't live at Paphos.' She could say' that with truth, for she was quite sure Paul would not have his home anywhere near the birthplace of the goddess of love.        '

They both turned as more deck hands appeared.

Within minutes the deck was flooded and Tessa moved away, round to the other side of the ship, where she saw a  young man she had met on boarding the ship at Piraeus two days previously. They had spoken and then been together practically the whole time. She had told him her name was Lucinda, for although at this stage her plans were vague, she decided to be Lucinda to anyone she might meet in Cyprus.

'I didn't expect you to be up so early,' she smiled on Joinig him at the rail. 'Have you seen the sunrise?'

'I was just too late. I didn't go round anyway, because the deck hands were working. They don't seem to mind If they drench you with those hoses.'

Which was not true, for Tessa's experience of ships was that the passengers were always shown every possible consideration.      .

'I must give you my address in Limasso.' Martin too a small book from his pocket and tore out a page. On it he wrote his address and handed it to Tessa. 'My phone numher's there, so don't forget to give me a ring. I know the island pretty well and would willingly take you around.'        

'Thanks, Martin, I'll keep that in mind.' Should she not find Paul, or should she falter in this half formed plan of hers, she might be glad of someone to take her around if she decided to stay a while on the Island, that was.

The ship docked at noon and Tessa booked in at a small hotel in Limasso.

It was kept by an English couple, and Tessa could not believe her good fortune when, after casually mentioning Paul's name" she saw 'them look swiftly at one another and then back at her.   

'Paul Demetrius?' Marylyn asked the question, but before Tessa could reply her husband spoke, 'He's a friend of yours?'

'I know him. I'd like to visit him. You know where he lives?'

'Not exactly, but his home's away in the mountains somewhere above Bellapais.' A small pause and then, from Clive, 'He's blind, I believe had a bad accident in a car when in England, that was.'

'Yes.' They were in the lounge; Clive had brought refreshments and Tessa fell silent as she took a drink of her iced lemon. 'Do you know anything about him?' she presently asked, looking up.

They both shook their heads. 'He's something of a mystery,' said Marylyn. 'He doesn't mix at all. Has a manservant who does for him, and that's about all we know. You met him in England?'

'I knew him in England, yes.'

Limassol Was on the south of the island, Bellapais on the north. Should she wait until tomorrow, She had booked in at the hotel and unpacked a few of her things. No, she could not wait, and after repacking her suitcase she paid for  the bed she had never used and took a taxi to Nicosia.             ...,

From this attractive city, lying in the centre of the great Messaoria Plain, she took another taxi to Lyrenia

and then a taxi to Bellapais, where she booked in at a small hotel room by two Greek Cypriots, Maroula and

Spiros.             .           .

'You come from England ' Maroula took Tessa's suitcase and carried it up to her room. 'My son he at university in England.'        

'Where?' asked Tessa, showing polite interest. It was I surprising how many people she had met in her travels who had sons in universities in England.

'London, of course.'

'Of course.' To these people London was England.

'He do very well.' A broad smile appeared on Maroula's brown face. 'He write to me this day and say he engaged.'

'To an English girl '

'Yes, that's right. This room, it get all the sun and the mountains are there for you to see, and the sea at the other side. Come out on to the balcony.'

'Those houses ... .' Tessa's eyes travelled slowly over the vast limestone ridge of the Kyrenia Range. Away in the distance was a very large house. It would not be that, she thought, out asked about its owner.

'That one it belong to Lady Shine.'

"There are many English in Bellapais?'

'Oh, madam many English. They have the new houses. Very expensive. You buy a house'

'No.' I 'don't want to buy a house. That one—' She pointed away to where a white villa nestled on a ledge  of the mountainside. 'English people live there ?'

'Yes. Mr Sheridan. You look for an Englishman?'

'No, I'm wanting to find a Mr Pavlos Demetrius. Do you know him Does he live around here?'

Maroula's brow furrowed, and she slowly shook her head. 'Spiros—he know everything. He in soon; gone to

Kyrenia shopping.'

'I'll see him later, then. Thank you, Mrs Melissas.'

'Call me Maroula. I like this.'

'Very well, Maroula.'

'Your name?' .

'Blane, Miss Blane.'

'Your first name, madam?'

'Lucinda.'

'Madam Lucinda, I call you.' She smiled. 'Madam Lucinda, you are welcome to Bellapais.'

'Thank you very much, Maroula.'

'You like my English?'

'It's very good.' Tessa went back into the bedroom and Maroula followed.      

'Maroula never been to school.'

 'Never?'

'Few years school in Bellapais—no good. I never go to the gymnasium. But I learn from books, slowly, slowly. Not quickly, madam, 'but slowly, slowly. Little each day, and it is good. I show you book?'

'When I come down, Maroula. Yes, I'd like to see your book.'            

'Very good book. I learn slowly, slowly. Right!'

'Right.'             .

Was Maroula typical of the Cypriots  Tessa wondered. She was, certainly a friendly, happy person. Spires her husband was at first morel reserved than Maroula had been, serving the dinner with a rather stolid expression on his dark face and saying, each time he removed a plate, 'Madam, it was good?'

'Very good, thank you.'

A large glass of wine was brought; eyeing it, full to the brim as it was, Tessa wondered how she would avoid drinking it without offending Spiros. She looked round. Several plants in pots but the wine might kill them!

'You not drink your wine?' and before she could reply, 'Drink it. It is good!' in a most peremptory tone.

'I don't usually drink wine,' Tessa began. 'And in any case, it's too much for me. Could you take half of it away?'

He looked amazed. Where was Maroula? Tessa wondered desperately.

'You drink, madam, it is good, very good. Drink!' She sipped it; perhaps it was good to some palates, but not to hers.

'I'll take it to my room,' she said when, her dinner finished, Spires looked at her wine glass and then rested his stern eyes upon her.

'You not like?'

'No,' she said apologetically. 'I scarcely ever drink wine.'

'Scarcely? What is that word?' he asked, diverted.

'It means hardly.'         '

He shook his head. 'I learn from book. This word?' Eventually Tessa was able to make him understand. And when she had finished the barrier was broken down and he was like his wife, all smiles.

Maroula came into the dining room and sat down at the table. 'Madam Lucinda, she wants find her friend. His name—'

She looked at Tessa, who repeated it for Spiro's benefit.

'Yes ... Pavlos Demetrius. He—What do you say? He not look?'

'He's blind.'

'That's right.' His brow furrowed in thought.' 'He live somewhere right up in the mountains very far up. He not like people very strange man.' Spiros glanced swiftly at her. 'Friend of yours?'

'He's a sort of friend, yes.'

'Tomorrow I take you. Okay?'

'That will be fine. Thank you very much.'

There was no sleep for Tessa that night, and at four o'clock she was out on the balcony, clad only in her nightdress and a thin negligee, for although it was only April, the weather was hot. This was unusual, even for Cyprus she was later to learn from Maroula, 'It usually rain, but not this year.'

Spires had an old boneshaker of a van; this he used for everything from moving around his fields to taking skins to Nicosia, for by trade he was a butcher. 'You comfortable?' he inquired imperturbably as the van bumped along the road.

Tessa said yes, she was most comfortable. She had earlier suggested she pay him for some ' petrol, and had instantly closed up, for his expression was enough.

'Petrol! You not buy petrol; I take you for nothing.'

'You're very kind, Spires.'

'No kind! I like take you for 'nothing!'

She said no more and they had moved off from the hotel, with Maroula, bright and spotless in a printed cotton dress, standing on the forecourt waving to them until, turning a bend in the narrow mountain road, they became lost to sight.

'I think this is it. But it might not be.'

'This.'' Looking all round Tessa saw nothing but mountains on her left and the sea on her right, with in between lemon and olive groves and fields ablaze with crimson poppies mingling with the dazzling yellow of masses and masses of small chrysanthemums, the lovely crown daises that grow so abundantly on the island.

'Not here yet I mean this house that I speak of.'

'I see. We are not there yet?'

'Not there, no. It a long way up in the mountain.'

The road became even narrower until finally it was a mere cart, track of bare brown earth, baked hard and strewn with small boulders.  Then she saw the house. White and low, with a panoramic view of mountain and sea .... Emotion filled her; she swallowed, Over and over again, but the tightness in her throat remained. They drew closer and at last Spiros pulled into the dnve which itself was similar to the road, having never been finished apparently. But of course, if Paul never went out, no car was required.

'You go and see if this is your friend and I shall wait.'

She stood there looking at the house. No sign of life. Turmng, she glanced down the mountainside

'How long will it take me to walk?'

'Back to my hotel?' He looked amazed. 'I wait, Madam Lucinda, for it take you nearly half hour to walk back.'       

'Half an hour? Is that all? I'll walk, then, Spiros. Don't wait and thank you very much for bringing me.'

'Not thank mel You sure you walk?'

'Sure, thank you, Spiros.'        .

'Okay.' He accepted her decision cheerfully and she watched as the van disappeared down the earthen track in a cloud of red brown dust.

And then she turned, and looked at the house again. So white that it appeared dazzling against a background of green forest trees on the mountainside. The windows, large and all leading out on to balconies, were at present closed, and the green and yellow shutters closed also. But there were flowers everywhere.' roses, carnations and hibiscus sweet peas perfumed flowers. And lemon blossom, Was ever there a more wonderful perfume? and it was always present, for the lemons cropped all the year round. So on the one tree would be lemons right from tiny green to rich yellowish green, and at the same time, blossoming.

For a long while she stood there, and during those moments of uncertainty she many times half turned, as if to go away from here, to abandon her plan. But eventually she managed to walk to the front door, and to her astonishment her hand was quite steady when at last she pressed the bell.

No sound, except an echo of the bell through the house. Beside her on the steps were glorious flowers in pots—all perfumed. She pressed the bell again and the door was instantly opened. The man must have been there all the time. He was small and swarthy, with an unsmiling face and a low frowning brow. His sudden opening of the door had made her start and her voice quivered nervously as she said, 'Mr.Pavlos Demetrius does he live here?'

The man looked her up and down curiously .. 'He does, madam,' he answered in perfect English. 'But what is it you want? Mr. Pavlos, he does not have visitors.'

'I think he'll see --- allow me to see him.'

'Your name, madam?'

'My name is my name is Lucinda .... ;

'Madam Lucinda? I will tell him.' He opened the door wider. 'If you will step inside?'

She did so, raising a trembling hand to her lips. What had she done? The lock clicked and she actually jumped at the sound. As the man moved away she stared fascinatedly at the door. Somehow, the sight. of that closed, door gave her a feeling of impending doom.

Putting a firm check on her fears, and determinedly making an effort to gain control of her fluttering nerves, Tessa looked around. It was very dark, for here also the shutters were up against the windows, but through them filtered enough light to show her the furnishings of the hall. They were very sparse; just a few chairs and a table. On this stood a huge vase of roses, filling the air with their perfume,

Footsteps .... Her trembling began again, for these footsteps did not belong to the man who had let her into the house. Slowly, reluctantly, she turned.

Paul. ...

Framed in the wide doorway he stood tall and lean and very dark. He wore grey linen slacks and an  open necked shirt of gleaming white, the sleeves rolled up above his elbows. Tessa looked at his eyes and caught her breath. Just the same. Expressionless, of course ... but how odd it was that they could appear just the same, with their darkness and depth strangely at variance with the glaze that now covered them. lt seemed impossible that he could not see. Her gaze shifted to his hands. One was at his side, the other held a stick. Much of the skin was discoloured and Tessa thought that, were his skin white, this discolouration would be highly pronounced. Being naturally dark, the brown of the damaged skin blended, so that there was nothing even unsightly about his hands, much less were they repulsive, as Lucinda had implied. Nevertheless, it could be seen at a glance that he had suffered severe burns and Tessa suspected the evidence would remain for the rest of his life.

'Lucinda .... '

That beloved voice!

'Paul, I've come,  as you said I could, to ask  to ask—' Impossible! God, what should she do! Such a deception was beyond her, and her instinct was to turn and flee. But that would be too cruel. 'Paul, I'm so sorry, but I'm not—'

'Sorry .. ?' His voice was quiet, incredulous ... and yet, watching his face, Tessa experienced an odd feeling of danger. Was it imagination, or had his voice been edged with bitterness? He spoke again, and instantly the impression was dispelled. 'You've come back to me?' A great sigh left his lips, coming so it seemed to Tessa, right from the very heart of him. 'You've come back to ask—To ask what, Lucinda? You didn't finish what you were saying.'

Tessa could neither move nor speak, for there was an unreality about the situation which left her wondering if she would soon awake from this fantastic dream to find herself in bed, her pillow damp, as had happened on so many occasions during the past two years.

'Why have you come, Lucinda?'

'To ask your pardon. You said you'd forgive me.''

'I did say that.' The merest trace of a hesitation. 'And I meant it.'

'You're still willing to forgive me  to take me back?' Dazed by the way the words now fell without difficulty from her lips, Tessa was again struck by the unreality of the situation. It was as if someone else were speaking, or rather as if someone were putting the words into her mouth.

'I'm willing to forgive you, Lucinda.' The voice, as strong and firm as ever, but giving the impression that he too was dazed by these happenings, 'I've wanted you to come back to me have even willed it at times—but I never really thought you would.' Unerringly he put his stick on a chair near by, and then held out his hands. 'My dear and beautiful Lucinda! Let me hold you in my arms.'

Tessa gave him her hands, and he pulled her gently to him. For the first time she thrilled to his embrace, responded eagerly to his kisses. What did anything matter now? Exultation replaced every other emotion. She could carry out the deception  Happiness was hers; and oh, how happy she would make Paul! His affliction was there for life, but with her love she would smooth his way; she would' care for him and tend him. Her eyes would he his.    '

But tears leapt to them now, for never in her wildest imaginings had she thought to find happiness such as this. And Paul, touching her features with tender gentle fingers, discovered these tears and said, 'Remorse, Lucinda?' and she leant away. What was this indefinable thing which brought a strange disquiet to mar her moment of supreme joy? As before, it was in his voice, and something made her say, in pleading, frightened tones, 'You have forgiven me, Paul? You ... still love me?'

'I've forgiven you, my dearest love.' His lips found hers and he tenderly kissed away her fears. 'We'll have a wonderful life together, Lucinda. Everything in the past must be forgotten.'

'You're so good—Oh, Paul, how can you forgive so easily?' Only now did it strike her how swiftly he had dismissed the terrible injury done to him by Lucinda, lovingly taking her back without even one word of blame or reproach. How he must love her.

'If I don't forgive, my darling, how can we be happy?' His fingers travelled over her face, caressing her chin and her cheeks and her mouth. She held her breath. Blind people had a most sensitive touch ... would he discover how different were her features from those lovely bone structures and contours that made Lucinda what she was? But presently she relaxed; Paul was smiling as his fingers touched her hair then caressed her cheek. 'Your tears, my sweet, what are they for?'        .

'I'm so happy,' she murmured, pressing close and holding him lovingly.

'You've been very unhappy?'

'Life has held no meaning for me since I since I went away from you.'            

'You could have come sooner, you know. It's over a year.'     .

A tense moment. Tessa's heart beats quickened uncomfortably .. 'I 'didn't think you'd want me.'

'Afraid I didn't mean what I had said? But I did, my love. I wanted you to come to more than anything in the world I wanted you to be my wife.

Tessa closed her eyes. How could Lucinda cast away so great a love? '

'I care for you dearly, Paul' She hesitated, having difficulty in framing her next words. 'I swear, no matter what has happened, that I've always loved you. And I'll spend my life trying to make up for the pain you've suffered.'

'I believe that, Lucinda. And I know you must love me, to come here, willingly taking on a blind man for a husband. Yes,' he murmured softly, so softly that Tessa almost lost the words. 'Yes, your love for me

must be very great.'

He held her close, and all the while her confidence grew. He adored her, lavishing on her his tender kisses and words of endearment. Tessa was so sublimely happy she could have stayed there in his arms forever. It did not seem to matter that all this was really for Lucinda. On making her decision she had known whatever she received from Paul would be secondhand, but she did not care. She was with him; he was hers to cherish and love and to serve. Tessa 'wanted nothing more than this.

As neither desired to waste any more time, they were to be married on the Tuesday, less than a week after Tessa made her first appearance at the lovely villa on the mountainside. The days preceding their marriage were a revelation to Tessa. Before meeting Paul she had, like every other girl of her age, imagined herself in love, trying to form a mental picture of the change which the advent of a lover would bring to her life. But this was enchantment beyond her wildest hopes and dreams; she felt sure that heaven Itself could hold no greater bliss. Already she was  seeing for him, as they walked together in the gardens or took to the lane beyond.

'This is good, Lucinda, to come out.' It was April and the air smelled freshly of rain. 'I've rarely been out much since coming to Cyprus, Takis is not much of a Guide, I'm afraid, so I've contented myself with sitting in the garden.'

'There's a grassy bank here, Paul, by a tiny spring. Shall we rest awhile?'  She had brought their lightweight mackintoshes, for on starting out there had been clouds, and these she put down on the bank, one on top of the other.       .

"The spring sounds nice. Is there much water coming from it?'

'Not much.' Tessa sat down beside him and he took her hand in his. 'It's coming out of the mountainside, all sparkling in the sunshine, and quivering like a silver ribbon moved by the breeze. And the flowers, Paul, they're magnificent. I had no idea so many wild flowers grew here.'

'The island is very rich in flowers.' Absently he moved his fingers over the back of her hand. 'What are these you can see?'

'I don't know the names but the slopes above us are covered with pink and white flowers—Wait, I'll get you one.'

She handed it to him, watched his almost tender examination of its petals before he said,  'Cyclamen, you'll see drifts of these on the mountainside near Kantara Castle. Perhaps we shall go some time though I expect these flowers will be over by then.'

'We'll go next year.' she said happily. There would be many years for them, with all the time in the world in which to explore the island.

'What other flowers can you see'

There were poppies in profusion, growing in the fields below, and with them the brilliant chrysathemums that splashed their gold beneath the misted green of the olive trees. On the side of the rough uneven lane grew masses of dainty purple bindweed and the deeper, more bluish purple anchusa.

'The colours blend so well,' she said, on describing to him what she could see. 'But nature always does

things right, doesn't it?'             

'Yes, Lucinda, nature always does things right.

She glanced at him, all attention, but nothing  was revealed in the firm line of his mouth that could in anyway strengthen the idea she had gained  that his voice held a touch of cynicism. Yet it was almost as if he had added,

'It is only man who makes mistakes.' And with that he could have meant woman ....

'Paul,' she said urgently, 'I love you very much.'

'And I love you, Lucinda.' He turned and rubbed his face against hers; all her world became rosy and the idea of his being cynical was dispelled as, raising her hand, he touched it with his lips.

'Tell me some more, my darling .. Can you see the sea?'

'Yes, far down below us. It's a beautiful turquoise close to the shore, but then it shades to a dark blue, with here and there a lighter colour which I imagine is caused by the reflection of the clouds in the water.'

'There are clouds over the sea?'

'They're only slender wisps of cloud, and the brilliant blue of the sky is far more evident. Then farther out still in the sea, I mean the blue becomes violet tinted a sort of indigo, and then you get the line where the sky and sea meet. You have no impression of vast width, and could almost imagine it' were possible to throw a stone from the shore to the horizon.'

'The sea appears as a narrow strip?'

'In a way, yes and yet—There's a ship, a beautiful white ship, Paul, and this of course gives you the true perspective and you realize just how vast the sea is, for the ship appears as a mere matchbox toy—' She broke off as something moved by the stone at Paul's feet. 'Oh, look, there's a lizard!  just about nine inches long '. Isn't it beautifully streamlined? And that gorgeous colour of green with such beautiful markings, emerald and brown Watch ... it's cocking its head on one side to take a good look at us! There, on that stone by your foot  can you see ... .'' Her voice became a whisper and her hand in his quivered. 'Paul, I--  '

'Yes, darling, I can see it. It's gone on that stone to get the heat.'

She looked at him uncertainly, but he was smiling, 'It's still watching us,' she whispered. They sat very still, but presently the lizard darted away and they began to talk again. After a while another appeared and Tessa told him about it. Different from the other in appearance, it was not nearly so attractive .. looking in fact rather like some prehistoric monster in miniature. It was a tree lizard, Paul informed her. 'The first was a gecko,' he went on. 'They like walls or hot stones, but often they come into the house.'

'They come in the house?' Although she owned to their attractiveness Tessa gave a little shudder at the idea of finding one in her bedroom.

'They're very good to have in the house; they eat all the insects.'

'The gecko, Paul, he's back—Hush, here's an  other!'             ,            

'I wasn't making a sound,' he returned with a hint of humour, and Tessa laughed.

'It's I who am doing all the talking, isn't it? Have you had sufficiency of my chatter?'

'Your voice is like music, Lucinda. And apart from that, you describe things so beautifully. You know, darling, I never noticed this before.' He paused and then added strangely, 'I wonder why?'

Fear touched her heart.

'But there weren't such interesting things to describe,' she hastily reminded him, and to her relief he nodded his agreement.

'The sun's beginning to go down, my love. Do you want to move?'

'If you do.' What did it matter where she was so long as she had Paul beside her? 'You're not cold?'

'No, dear, I'm certainly not cold. Nevertheless, I think we'll make for home. A cup of tea would be very welcome.'

They rose; Tessa picked up the mackintoshes, but Paul now knew she had them and he took them from her. Then she held his hand and together they made their way along the stony track that served as a road. It had been cut out of the mountainside and there was a sheer drop to Tessa's left. Walking was safe, she decided, but she felt it would be quite terrifying to drive a car over this road. And yet she had seen one or two cars, for farther along, though unseen from Paul's villa, was the house of a retired English businessman. Paul had told her this when she inquired about the car she had seen passing.

'Friends visit him, so you'll see other cars,' he had said.           

'You don't have him call on you?' she had asked hesitantly.

'I have no visitors.' The first sharp note She had heard since coming, and Tessa intended to avoid a repetition. Basically Paul was strong, with a vigorous personality and an air of arrogance and self-possession that set him high above the ordinary run of men she had known. But his blindness made him weak. To be dependent on another, to have assistance with almost every little task attempted .... In private, yes, for there was no alternative, but Tessa could well understand why he admitted no outsiders to his home.

'You're right about that tea, Paul. I'm feeling quite thirsty.'

'Have we far to go?'

'About half a mile still. We'll be home before the sun goes down.'

'We can have tea on the verandah and you can describe the sunset to me.'

Takis had the tea laid in the hall, and the front door was thrown wide open, so they had their tea there, going out on to the verandah afterwards.'

'It's sinking,' she said. standing close to him and slipping her arm through his. 'It's a great fiery ball you can quite easily imagine the flames hundreds of miles high coming from it. And the sky ... It s crimson and gold and amber.  And, the streaks of cloud are ablaze .... How quickly it goes; you can watch it moving.'

'. . And yet it's really we who are moving.

'I find it difficult to imagine that.' She paused as the sun touched the rim of the earth. 'Part of it has gone now, Paul, so quickly it has moved. Now there's only half ... .' Within minutes the remaining curve had sunk below the horizon, leaving its trail of fire behind it. 'That's the last, until tomorrow. Oh, but Paul, the sky! There's violet in it now, and vivid orange Right across it is, this stretch of colour'.'

He gently took her arm from his, so that he could draw her into his embrace. With a sigh of sweet contentment she leant her head against his shoulder. For a long while they stood there, out in the soft evening air, with all around them the perfumes of flowers mingling with the more heady scent of the lemon blossom. A faint breeze blowing down from the fretted heights of the Kyrenia Range rustled the leaves of the olive and carob trees; from far below drifted the melodious echo of the crickets and occasionally the fretful, protesting bray of a donkey. Tessa felt Paul's hand touching her hair, and measuring its length.

'You've let Your hair grow,' he commented. 'It's much longer than before. '

'The fashions change, Paul.'

'Yes, I suppose they do.' A faint smile touched his lips, and this time there was no mistaking the bitterness it held. 'It's odd, but the fashions will always be as I knew them a year ago. '

'No darling,' she told him hastily. 'I shall describe them to you.'

'Of course you will.' He bent and kissed her lips, and after a little while they went inside. 'Read to me, my love,' he requested as he heard her snap on the light. Just for a short time, and then I'll go to bed.'

'So early?' She looked at him in dismay. Every moment away from him was wasted.

'You don't want me to go?' .

'If you're tired ... ',

'Read to me,' he said again, and so engrossed did they both become in the book that it was nine o'clock before Tessa exclaimed, 'Paul, do you know what time it is?'

'No, darling.' But he had on a watch of braille and his fingers were lightly running over it. 'Good gracious, how it flies."

'Would you like some supper ?'

'Not much, dear. Tell Takis to bring me a little wine, and a biscuit, that's all.'

'It's a beautiful night,' she said as she came back from the kitchen. 'As we missed tea on the verandah, shall we have supper there ?'

'That's a good suggestion, Lucinda.'

They sat outside, with the dark silhouette of the mountains behind, and the indistinct sweep of the sea away in the far distance below. Palms stirred in the soft balmy air, looking like gigantic spiders as their fronds swayed against the moonlit vault of the sky.

'The moon's different here,' said Tessa, careful not to reveal that she had seen many enormous moons during her travels in the East. 'In England it's much smaller.'

'There's a special quality to it here, so I'm told.'

 'Yes, it's like a great disc of blue ice as if it's the sun, but frozen. The lighting effect of the sky s different too. There's a sort of sapphire glow, which adds to the impression of coldness.'          .

'How well you describe it, Lucinda. I can see It all quite plainly. It's ... disturbing, rather, because there  something positive about it.'         .

She stared at him in disbelief. That was her Impression, How, without words, had she managed to convey this to Paul?

He did not after all go to bed early, for they sat outside until nearly midnight. And when at last they went into the house, and left each other by his bedroom door, Paul took her gently in his arms and said, 'Just a few hours, my darling, and then you'll be mine.' He kissed her with infinite tenderness, yet with a hint of fervour that excited her.

'That's all I want, Paul ... to be yours.'

Sleep eluded her and at two in the morning she was sitting up in bed, writing to her father.

'I feel I've been transported in to heaven,' she finally wrote. 'I'm so happy that I'm frightened.'