If one is not in love the partner does not matter very much because there is the magic of the star-coined sea, the salt breeze, the perfume of massed flowers which are conveniently tethered where they will provide half-sheltered spaces for pausing and gazing, and the music blending with the wash of waves below the rail. But to savour such rapture even impersonally, it is necessary to have peace of mind. Juliet’s mental equipment that evening was by no means peaceful.However, she danced with Mario and with several other young men, and she was drawn aside by the diplomat, Don Manuel Verrar, who no doubt considered it wise to be attentive towards the least of foreigners in Spain. Later, she noticed the man dancing sedately with Inez de Vedro, and she wished, despairingly, that he would waft the woman away somewhere for a long, long time. Long enough, at any rate, for Juliet Darrell to be on her way to England before the senora could show up again.But nothing of the kind happened. Two o’clock came, and the first contingent was taken ashore.
