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been promised an exciting climb to the heights of the Eisenhorn, and then a long run down it on the treacherous eastern face. It was to have been an afternoon full of thrills, a challenge to her who loved challenges, but Alex had called it off because he hadn’t liked the look of the banked-up masses of cloud, with their threat of further snow.
    “And even if we’d run into a blizzard I wouldn’t have minded,” Lou declared, as she tied the sash of her bathrobe and stalked into the bathroom. “There are always plenty of climbing-huts, and we could have taken refuge in one of those. Everyone knows they’re well stocked and provisioned, and we could have hung out for days.” Her eyes sparkled at the thought of the experience that might have been hers, and then grew petulant because she had been thwarted. “Alex can be terribly obstinate when he feels like it, but he’s taking me to see his schloss as soon as the weather settles again. We’ll probably spend a week-end there, and you can come along as chaperon. It might be a good plan if Alex invited the Haversham man to give you a bit of support.”
    Make certain I don’t intrude in any way, Valentine thought swiftly — unusually intuitive. Although it was never very difficult for her to read Lou’s mind.
    If the American girl had thought it a wise policy she would have gone off to the schloss without Valentine. But it was marriage she was after, and despite her wealth one had to be very careful when one was aiming at marriage. It was a high goal, particularly when it carried with it a title, and the man was just a little matrimony-shy. Just a little, she had discovered.
    For although he was as old as Giles Haversham, he had not so far been trapped ... in spite of constant financial difficulties. Possibly occasional crises!
    There came a soft flurry of snow against the windows, and later that night it was snowing quite heavily. Yet shortly after midnight the stars were as bright as ever, and the frozen peaks stood out clearly against the violet-blue sky. The Baron von Felden’s knowledge of the district, and his weather-sense, had not failed him, but if he had been expecting a continuous blizzard he had been wrong.
    Neither he nor Lou would have come to any harm on the Eisenhorn that afternoon, and they could have been back in the warmth and comfort of the hotel long before the weather broke. They would not have been driven to seek shelter in any mountain hut.
    Yet when a man did know the possibilities of his own area he was wise not to take risks. Better to mar the afternoon of someone like Lou, and hang about on the safe slopes ... Where Valentine herself was performing!
    He had actually watched Valentine siding, and approved her performance!
    As she lay in bed and watched some lights twinkling on a snowy plateau on the other side of the valley Valentine tried to force herself to stop thinking about Alex von Felden. He was a whimsical young man ... a creature of moods. His eyes betrayed the fact that he was seldom in the same mood for any length of time, and his reasons for doing anything were probably incalculable.
    An unknown quantity, Haversham had called him.
    Valentine shut her eyes, and determined to stop thinking of the Baron. But she couldn’t imagine him afraid of a blizzard ... a gentle blizzard. And there were always the huts, as Lou had said.
    “You did very well, but you’ll do better with practice,” he had said. She would if she had anyone like him to instruct her!

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
    The next day the weather definitely broke, and the mists came swirling down the mountainside, followed by more snow.
    Inside the hotel the central heating worked overtime, and the imprisoned guests gazed from their windows at a wall of vapour that refused to lift — except for those occasions when it dissolved into a howling blizzard — and there was no hope of any outdoor exercise, or even a glimpse of the sky. Nothing but a sensation of being completely cut off