‘My dear,’ Karl said generously, ‘you should have come earlier. Stelios has been the hero of the hour. Nikos has agreed that we should take the statue and erect her in the square next to the harbour.’

‘Won’t she get stolen again?’

‘No,’ insisted Stelios. ‘The people of Kyri will respect her.’

‘And I will arrange for her to go to the Archaeological Museum at night,’ Nikos added.

Andreas and the others tenderly carried the statue from the speedboat to the van, where Nell created a cosy nest of blankets to protect her from being knocked against the walls. They slipped her carefully in.

One of the fishermen mumbled something to Stelios that made him laugh out loud.

‘What did he say?’ asked Nell.

‘Roughly translated, that he is extremely glad she is in two parts. But he said it with a little more emphasis.’

‘I’ll bet he did! I must admit, she looks very happy there,’ commented Nell with a grin.

‘If you’d been buried for four hundred years, only to be dug up and threatened with being dumped into the deep waters of the Aegean, you might like being wrapped in a nice warm blanket too.’

‘Poor lady. I’ve just had a thought,’ Nell exclaimed. ‘Ariadne will be over the moon. She’s the one who most wanted her goddess back.’

‘Let’s go and get her, then,’ Stelios said. ‘Come on, Karl. Climb in the front with Andreas.’ He turned to Nell. ‘At least you’re not in the path of his driving this time.’ He slipped a quite unnecessary arm round her.

‘It’s not me that you need to hold on to,’ Nell commented wryly. ‘It’s the Venus.’

Unfortunately, Stelios seemed to have gone temporarily deaf.

A quarter of an hour later, they arrived in the square and began to unload the marble couch.

Stelios, Nikos and Karl toured round the square looking for the idea position, while Nell rushed off to get her friends. They wouldn’t want to miss this for the world.

The spot they finally chose was right outside the hotel, next to the stone wall of a flower bed, where the goddess would get a good view of the harbour and there would be space for a crowd to gather – just as it was already doing.

The fishermen heaved the statue onto the couch where she had once lain for centuries, smiling with an extraordinary sensuality and holding the apple that had eventually caused the Trojan War. Her hand had been thoughtfully restored to her by the people who wanted to sell her to the highest bidder.

By now Moira, Penny and Dora had all hurried to the scene with Nell. Along with Stelios, Karl and Nikos, they stared at the Venus in silence.