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the side of the patio and not in full view of anyone approaching. A figure appeared, dimly at first, moving slowly into the open. Then he was silhouetted against the sky as he surveyed the patio and accustomed his eyes to the light. He saw Minella, and came forward.
    ‘I was hoping you would be here,’ he said, in a sort of stage whisper. .
    If he had sprung at her gangster fashion it couldn’t have surprised her more than hearing herself addressed by someone who knew her. He didn’t come full into the light immediately, and it took several seconds for her to recognise the intruder. When she did, she laughed.
    ‘Vasco! Why are you creeping about as if you’re afraid of being seen? Sam’s indoors. Shall I call him?’
    ‘No, no, no.’ Vasco crouched down beside her sunbed, keeping his head low and his voice even lower. ‘He doesn’t like me coming here, but Benita sent me with a message. I give it to you instead and you can tell him.’
    ‘But why?’ Minella was puzzled. He was such a nice boy, and surely the nephew of his housekeeper would be welcome in Sam Stafford’s house. It was taking the solitude business a bit far if he excluded everyone. She had never come across a genuine hermit before, but Sam was beginning to fit the description. ' I'm pleased you’ve come, and I’m sure Sam won’t really mind.’
    Vasco put a finger to his lips. ‘He is a strange man with things to hide. I think he is afraid of people asking questions. I wish Benita had brought you to our house, but there is no room. We have my grandfather sick.’
    ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I hope it isn’t serious.’
    ‘He is an old man with a heart that goes boom-boom.’ He put his hand to his chest dramatically, but then a grin spread across his face and though the pitch of his voice remained the same, the timbre changed. ‘And I am a young man whose heart goes boom-boom when I look at you. I would care for you very well at our house, o senhora. I do not like you being alone with . .. him.’ A jerk of his head in the direction of the door indicated that he meant Sam.
    The black wavy hair on a level with her nose smelled strongly of perfume, and his handsome features were etched in bold lines and shaded by the lamplight. Black eyes glittered. She would be about as safe with Vasco as she had been clinging to her lifebelt all night.
    ‘Tell me, why doesn’t he like questions?’ Minella asked, partly to change the subject, and partly because her curiosity was aroused and she wanted to hear everything he knew about Sam Stafford. The man was becoming more intriguing by the hour. She, too, spoke in a whisper, as if it was a conspiracy.
    ‘There is not time now. I will tell you things tomorrow, or the next day, when he is not here.’ He let his eyes dwell on her, and their message was clear.
    ‘But I’m leaving in the morning.’
    He was desolate. ‘You cannot do that! I must get to know you first. I do not even know your name and already I think I am in love. I will die if you go away so soon.’
    Minella burst out laughing. She’d heard of Latin lovers working fast and being outrageous flirts, but this was ridiculous. She would have to be careful not to give him the slightest encouragement. Yet she couldn’t help liking him.
    ‘Sam calls me Sparrow,’ she said.
    ‘And that is your name?’
    ‘No. It’s just what he calls me.’
    ‘Then I will not use that word the same as him.’ Indignation made his voice rise, and he was leaning closer. Minella flattened herself back against the cushion, wishing he would stand up and behave normally. At home she could handle infatuated boyfriends, and there had been one or two, but this gorgeous, impetuous young man was an unknown quantity. If she rebuffed him he might become even more temperamental, but she couldn’t allow this charade to continue.
    She was on the point of calling for Sam as a last resort when a single word was spoken behind them, cutting as a whiplash.
    ‘Vasco!’ Sam was