“Are you going to Rome now?” said Haller politely. It was the heavy politeness of an old man with a young fool.
“I go to Genoa,” said Banat.
“I understand,” said Graham, “that the thing to see at Genoa is the cemetery.”
Banat spat out a raisin seed. “That is so? Why?” Obviously, that sort of remark was not going to disconcert him.
“It is supposed to be very large, very well arranged, and planted with very fine cypresses.”
“Perhaps I shall go.”
The waiter brought soup. Haller turned rather ostentatiously to Graham and began once more to talk about the Parthenon. It seemed that he liked arranging his thoughts aloud. The resultant monologue demanded practically nothing of the listener but an occasional nod. From the Parthenon he wandered to pre-Hellenic remains, the Aryan hero tales, and the Vedic religion. Graham ate mechanically, listened, and watched Banat. The man put his food in his mouth as if he enjoyed it. Then, as he chewed, he would look round the room like a dog over a plate of scraps. There was something pathetic about him. He was-Graham realised it with a shock-pathetic in the way that a monkey, in its likeness to man, could be pathetic. He was not insane. He was an animal and dangerous.
The meal came to an end. Haller, as usual, went to his wife. Thankful for the opportunity, Graham left at the same time, got his overcoat, and went out on deck.
The wind had dropped and the roll of the ship was long and slow. She was making good speed and the water sliding along her plates was hissing and bubbling as if they were red hot. It was a cold, clear night.
The smell of attar of roses was at the back of his throat and in his nostrils. He drew the fresh unscented air into his lungs with conscious pleasure. He was, he told himself, over the first hurdle. He had sat face to face with Banat and talked to him without giving himself away. The man could not possibly suspect that he was known and understood. The rest of it would be easy. He had only to keep his head.
There was a step behind him and he swung round quickly, his nerves jumping.
It was Josette. She came towards him smiling. “Ah! So this is your politeness. You ask me to walk with you, but you do not wait for me. I have to find you. You are very bad.”
“I’m sorry. It was so stuffy in the saloon that …”
“It is not at all stuffy in the saloon, as you know perfectly well.” She linked her arm in his. “Now we will walk and you shall tell me what is really the matter.”
He looked at her quickly. “What is really the matter! What do you mean?”
She became the grande dame. “So you are not going to tell me. You will not tell me how you came to be on this ship. You will not tell me what has happened to-day to make you so nervous.”
“Nervous! But …”
“Yes, Monsieur Graham, nervous!” She abandoned the grande dame with a shrug. “I am sorry but I have seen people who are afraid before. They do not look at all like people who are tired or people who feel faint in a stuffy room. They have a special look about them. Their faces look very small and grey round the mouth and they cannot keep their hands still.” They had reached the stairs to the boat deck. She turned and looked at him. “Shall we go up?”
He nodded. He would have nodded if she had suggested that they jump overboard. He could think of only one thing. If she knew a frightened man when she saw one, then so did Banat. And if Banat had noticed.… But he couldn’t have noticed. He couldn’t. He …
They were on the boat deck now and she took his arm again.
“It is a very nice night,” she said. “I am glad that we can walk like this. I was afraid this morning that I had annoyed you. I did not really wish to go to Athens. That officer who thinks he is so nice asked me to go with him but I did not. But I would have gone if you had asked me. I do not say that to flatter you. I tell you the truth.”
“It’s very kind of you,” he muttered.
She mimicked him. “ ‘It’s very kind of you.’ Ah, you are so solemn. It is as if you did not like me.”
He managed to smile. “Oh, I like you, all right.”
“But you do not trust me? I understand. You see me dancing in Le Jockey Cabaret and you say, because you are so experienced: ‘Ah! I must be careful of this lady.’ Eh? But I am a friend. You are so silly.”
“Yes, I am silly.”
“But you do like me?”
“Yes, I like you.” A stupid, fantastic suggestion was taking root in his mind.
“Then you must trust me, also.”
“Yes, I must.” It was absurd, of course. He couldn’t trust her. Her motives were as transparent as the day. He couldn’t trust anybody. He was alone; damnably alone. If he had someone to talk to about it, it wouldn’t be so bad. Now supposing Banat had seen that he was nervous and concluded that he was on his guard. Had he or hadn’t he seen? She could tell him that.
“What are you thinking about?”
“To-morrow.” She said that she was a friend. If there was one thing he needed now, it was, God knew, a friend. Any friend. Someone to talk to, to discuss it with. Nobody knew about it but him. If anything happened to him there would be nobody to accuse Banat. He would go scot free to collect his wages. She was right. It was stupid to distrust her simply because she danced in night places. After all, Kopeikin had liked her and he was no fool about women.
They had reached the corner below the bridge structure. She stopped as he had known she would.
“If we stay here,” she said, “I shall get cold. It will be better if we go on walking round and round and round the deck.”
“I thought you wanted to ask me questions.”
“I have told you I am not inquisitive.”
“So you did. Do you remember that yesterday evening I told you that I came on this ship to avoid someone who was trying to shoot me and that this”-he held up his right hand-“was a bullet wound?”
“Yes. I remember. It was a bad joke.”
“A very bad joke. Unfortunately, it happened to be true.”
It was out now. He could not see her face but he heard her draw in her breath sharply and felt her fingers dig into his arm.
“You are lying to me.”
“I’m afraid not.”
“But you are an engineer,” she said accusingly. “You said so. What have you done that someone should wish to kill you?”
“I have done nothing.” He hesitated. “I just happen to be on important business. Some business competitors don’t want me to return to England.”
“Now you are lying.”
“Yes, I am lying, but not very much. I am on important business and there are some people who do not want me to get back to England. They employed men to kill me while I was in Gallipoli but the Turkish police arrested these men before they could try. Then they employed a professional killer to do the job. When I got back to my hotel after I left Le Jockey Cabaret the other night, he was waiting for me. He shot at me and missed everything except my hand.”
She was breathing quickly. “It is atrocious! A bestiality! Does Kopeikin know of it?”
“Yes. It was partly his idea that I should travel on this boat.”