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“ Adios, senorita . ”
    The car shot away, out of the driveway into the avenue that gradually twisted down into the town. Elfrida was gently smiling to herself, and Stephen, behind the wheel, was staring ahead.
    “ Senor Perez is quite nice, ” said Elfrida, as if mildly surprised at the discovery. “ The young man has his good points, too. How much longer are they staying on the island, Stephen? ”
    His response was noncommittal. “ They were about due to leave when we arrived. I sent Colonel Davidson a cable from Alexandria, and the senor was good enough to hang on till I came. ”
    “ Do you know the old man well? ”
    “ Fairly. I ’ ve met him in Spain and Morocco. I only saw the cub once before—in England. ” An instant ’ s pause. “ Straight to the hotel? ”
    “ Please. It ’ s getting toward lunchtime, and in this sticky atmosphere one needs to change often. ”
    “ Couldn ’ t we just take a quick look at the shops? ” pleaded Melanie.
    “ I can ’ t think what you find so fascinating about these dirty bazaars. We shall see enough of them in the weeks to come. ”
    “ But we haven ’ t strolled in the streets, yet. ”
    “ From what I ’ ve seen of it the town is best negotiated by car. ”
    “ Couldn ’ t I walk back to the hotel alone? ”
    “ No, ” said Stephen, in his well-known tones of finality, “ you couldn ’ t. ” He took the bend that brought them on the main shopping center. “ I have to call at an office on the Marine Drive. We ’ ll drop Elfrida at the hotel and you can go with me, if you like. You ’ ll be back within half an hour. ”
    This was so generous of Stephen that Melanie simply said, “ Oh, thanks, ” and subsided into her corner in an aura of self-congratulation. Elfrida lost her smile.
    At snail ’ s pace the car nosed through the multicolored crowds, avoided donkey carts and itinerant goats, and was peered into by inquisitive boys and the ever present beggars. When Elfrida had been deposited at the hotel, Melanie transferred to the opposite corner and peeped into the nearside shops as they passed. Much of the merchandise was rubbish bought in lots from trading ships, but an exclusive store that actually had plate-glass windows displayed bales of linen and silk, a few dusty pairs of new shoes, some handbags and raincoats.
    The Marine Drive was a semicircular thoroughfare edging the bay. Facing the sea were the government buildings and a string of offices and warehouses, and drawn up high above the gray-pink beach was a disorderly collection of sampans and dugout canoes.
    As Stephen pulled in, a dozen urchins cocked a hopeful eye and one of them brandished a filthy rag with which he proposed to clean the shining gray car. Stephen waved them off.
    “ Stay where you are, ” he bade Melanie. “ I won ’ t be more than five minutes. ”
    There was plenty to see. A sloping headland with tall, skinny palms at its foot where children played. The brown bodies of the fishermen who mended nets with raw ju t e, or lazily sharpened their spears. The Indian Ocean creaming over the sand, and a little way out a couple of bouncing flatboats with grass sails. Stephen came back too soon.
    As he slipped into his seat, Melanie leaned forward eagerly. “ Stephen, where ’ s the coral reef ? ”
    “ It practically surrounds the island. It ’ s been cleared here, for shipping. I daresay you can see it from the headland. ”
    “ May we go there now? ”
    The glance he turned upon her was sardonic. “ Agog for experience, aren ’ t you? If I were you I ’ d curb that impatience and take a rest between each lesson. ”
    “ Not if you were me, ” she said.
    “ Probably not. But if you aren ’ t careful that zest for discovery will land you in trouble. ”
    “ What sort of trouble? ”
    His eyes narrowed, critically examined her smiling face. “ You ’ re only eighteen, Melanie—a woman in some things but a child in others. Go slowly, little one. If you don