Dangerous Inheritance Read Online Free PDF Page B

let us talk of something else.’
    As a result of their night of love-making, followed by their excursion that morning, both Truss and Fleur were feeling distinctly part-worn; so after lunch they went to their rooms and slept the deep sleep of youth so soundly that they had to be roused for tea.
    Much refreshed by their slumber they then decided to go down and bathe. From the road below the villa a path led to the shore. There was no beach, but ledges of rock a few feet under water provided a shallow area until some forty feet out they ended abruptly and the water became many fathoms deep.
    Fleur was a good swimmer and, having waded to the edge of the ledge, she struck out in a fast crawl. Turning on her back when she had covered a hundred yards, she saw that Truss, submerged up to his armpits, was still standing on the ledge.
    â€˜Come on!’ she cried. ‘What are you waiting for?’
    He shook his head. ‘Sorry I can’t join you; I’ll have to splash around close in.’
    Swimming back to him, she blew the water from her mouth andasked, ‘Why? Can’t you swim? I thought you were a surf-rider.’
    â€˜Sure I am,’ he smiled. ‘But surfing is done over the waves when they break in shallow water. And I can swim well enough, but I’ve got a thing against going in deep.’
    â€˜What sort of thing?’
    â€˜I’ve had it since I was ten. It was one time when we were down in Jamaica. I was well out of my depth when I suddenly got cramp. A bunch of folks were playing with a big ball on the beach and kicking up a din, so no-one heard my shout. I went under and was darn’ near drowned. By luck my old man missed me and he’s the tops under water. He struck out for the place he’d seen me last and near bust himself trying to locate me. He did, but only just in time. And don’t you ever believe what they say about drowning being a pleasant death. That’s all baloney. Ever since, I’ve been scared stiff I’d get the cramp again and there’d be no-one handy strong enough to pull me out; so I’ve made it a habit to stay put in the shallows.’
    To the south side of the place where they were bathing there was a rocky promontory crowned by the ruin of an old Venetian fort. A narrow path led up the cliff face to it and when they had had their bathe they decided to explore the ruin. The way was steep and in places the drop from it sheer into deep water, but after a quarter of an hour of laboured climbing they reached the crumbling walls.
    The spur of rock jutted out about half-way along the east coast of the island, so was a splendid vantage point from which they could see the whole sickle curve of Corfu from the north, where it approached Albania, to the south where it nearly touched Greece. They could also see, about a mile away, round the corner of the height on which the villa stood, a great white palace among tall cypress trees.
    â€˜That must be the Achilleion,’ Truss remarked, ‘the place the Empress Elizabeth of Austria built.’
    â€˜Yes,’ Fleur agreed. ‘Poor woman, she had a rotten life, what with such an old fuddy-duddy for a husband, her only son going nuts about a tart and committing suicide with her at Mayerling, then ending up by being stabbed to death by some awful anarchist in Geneva.’
    â€˜But Rudolph’s girl friend wasn’t a tart; she was a Czech Baroness.’
    â€˜What’s the odds? That wouldn’t have made it any less ghastly for his mother.’
    â€˜You’re right in that. I gather that later the Kaiser bought this villa and used to spend his vacations here. I’d like to go see it some time.’
    â€˜All right. Since you’re interested in that sort of thing we’ll go tomorrow morning.’
    But that evening they learned that for next day Marie Lou had planned an expedition. Except for the Duke they were all to drive across the island to