The wind had changed, dispersing the mist and drying the decks, and whipping little waves across the surface of the swimming pool. They were past the steamy tropic belt, and riding through exhilarating sub-tropic breezes which, perhaps a hundred miles to the east, were tossing palm fronds and blowing sand into the iron-roofed bungalows of Portuguese West Africa.Lisa felt lethargic but vaguely happy. She ate a piece of toast and drank some coffee, brought by the stewardess, and when Nancy returned she helped her to set out the edges of a jig-saw puzzle. Purposely, she waited till twenty minutes to ten before going along to Astra’s stateroom.Her knock was answered lazily, and she let herself into the cabin. Astra, in a leaf-green sharkskin negligee about the collar of which her hair hung girlishly, looked rather like a ballerina presenting Autumn; for in the merciless morning light her hair had a burnt sienna hue with rust at the curling tips.Her face was ageless; she could have been twenty-five or thirty-five.
