What had happened? Why had he felt like that? Even as Sir Robert asked himself the question, he heard Violet calling Him. She was ready. They must go to the Casino. He felt a great yawn of weariness and boredom welling up inside him. The sun was shining, it would be hot and stifling at the Casino.

He had a sudden longing for the breeze blowing along the sea shore or, better still, the wind blowing across the parkland at Cheveron.

‘Robert! Robert! I am ready!’

Violet was waiting. He turned from the window and crossed the room. As he did so, he thought that the grey of Mistral’s dress was just the colour of the mist which hung over the lake at Cheveron in the early morning.

10

Chrissie opened her eyes and could not for a moment remember where she was. Then the softness of her bed, the silk spread which covered her and the sunshine coming through the Venetian blinds, which cast variegated patterns on the walls, told her clearly that she was still in Monte Carlo.

She had been dreaming that she was back in London, and for a moment after waking she still seemed to hear the shrill voices of dirty children playing outside in the street and smell the inevitable stink of stale cabbage and bad drains which seemed to impregnate the atmosphere of every lodging house.

No, she was still in Monte Carlo. She lay still, sensuously enjoying the unaccustomed luxury and comfort of her surroundings. Then her sensation of satisfaction was supplanted almost immediately by one of irritation. She remembered why she had come to lie down in the middle of the day. It was Stella’s fault – Stella, whose stupidity and foolishness had made her so angry that it had brought on one of the agonising headaches with which she was periodically attacked, especially after her feelings had burst the bounds of self-control.

Yes, Stella was to blame for her headache. It had been a bad one and only when she was almost blind and practically speechless did Chrissie give in and go to bed at what she called ‘the wrong time of day’.

She had slept and the headache was gone, but the cause of her irritation still remained. At times Chrissie would say and believe that Stella’s idiocy would drive her insane if she did not break a blood vessel in the meantime through sheer unbridled rage. But Stella would only smile and say she was sorry, and what, Chrissie asked in disgust, could anybody do with a person like that?

The row at luncheon time had started because Stella let slip the information that the Rajah had given her some money to gamble with at the Casino the evening before, and having lost part of it, she had given him back what was left.

‘How much?’ Chrissie had snapped across the table.

Stella looked uncomfortable.

‘Not much,’ she replied.

‘How much?’ Chrissie insisted.