So I’d been right and I had walked straight into the trap. I suddenly wanted to hit her. I got up quickly and went over to the window, flinging back the heavy shutters. I heard a gasp from the bed as the lurid glare of Vesuvius invaded the room. I stared out across the balcony to the flat land below that showed quite clear and saffron-tinted, part moonlight, part glare of the mountain. It was like the sunset glow on snow. I saw figures moving by the outhouses. They were searching for me down there. I turned back to the bed. I had control of myself now. ‘Did he ask you to bring me here?’
‘Yes.’ Her voice was scarcely audible. Her eyes were very large as they stared up at me out of the pallor of her face.
‘And you were to get me drunk?’
‘Yes. Please, Dick. I couldn’t help—’
‘I thought you hated the man?’
‘I do. I do. But—’
‘Why did he want me here? Was he going to kill me? Was he afraid I knew—’
‘No, no. He was not going to hurt you. It was only that he wanted something.’
‘Wanted something?’ I had caught hold of her arm again. ‘What did he want?’
‘I do not know.’