The Dragon's Cave Read Online Free PDF Page A

beginning to recover now. She wants to come and live in England—’
    ‘It’s natural she should want to be with her own people,’ Megan interposed.
    ‘She hasn’t got any ! ’ Pilar said cheerfully. ‘Only us ! ’
    ‘Oh, I see,’ said Megan, more mystified than ever.
    ‘Anyway, Carlos says she’ll only be more miserable than ever on her own and it’s so difficult moving money about from one country to another. She might not be comfortable or able to have all she wants, or she won’t be able to find a maid, or something devastating like that, and then what would she do?’
    Megan blinked. ‘A maid?’ she repeated.
    ‘You see,’ Pilar went on sagely, ‘ if she had lived all her life in England, she would be used to managing things in the English way, but she’s been living in Spain for twenty years! Papa simply doted on her, of course, and she never had to lift a finger in the house. Now, I don’t suppose she’d know how ! ’
    ‘Oh,’ said Megan again.
    ‘Carlos says—’ Pilar began, and stopped. ‘ No, I’d better not say that. Carlos will want to tell you himself. I wasn’t sure when he first said he’d met you, but now I’ve seen you, I’m all for the idea ! Mama will love it!’
    ‘ Love what?’ Megan asked blankly.
    ‘Carlos will tell you ! ’ Pilar said mysteriously. She looked curiously about her. ‘ How did you meet Carlos? He wouldn’t tell me anything about how you met ! Not that he ever tells me anything anyway.’
    Megan was amused. ‘I don’t suppose he tells anyone much,’ she said.
    ‘No,’ Pilar agreed bitterly. ‘ If you’re going upstairs to change, may I come with you?’
    It was Megan’s first experience of the Spanish habit of doing everything together. Pilar sat on her bed and admired her possessions as naturally as if she had known her all her life. Megan, who was used to doing things on her own, soon began to realise that Pilar, on the other hand, was hardly ever alone. If she went out, her mother or a friend accompanied her. If she visited another member of her family, someone would take her and collect her or, on the rare occasions when she used public transport, the entire family would turn out to buy her ticket and to cheer her on her way, providing chocolates and magazines and other tokens of affection, no matter how short the journey.
    ‘What are you going to wear?’ Pilar asked curiously, obviously dying to peek into Megan’s wardrobe.
    ‘ I haven’t much here,’ Megan answered.
    ‘No?’ Pilar sounded surprised. ‘Then where are all your clothes?’
    ‘In London. I share a bed-sitter with another girl.’
    ‘ By yourself ?’
    ‘ Why not?’ asked Megan.
    ‘Carlos would never allow me to live anywhere but at home,’ Pilar sighed. ‘I think you are very lucky ! ’
    Megan smiled. ‘I suppose so,’ she said uncertainly. ‘It’s a bit lonely sometimes. The girl-friend I share with does temporary work and she’s away almost as much as she’s there.’
    ‘But you must get lonely !’ Pilar exclaimed sympathetically. ‘Perhaps you have your family nearby ?’
    Megan shook her head. ‘ I have another school friend who lives a couple of streets away, but—’ She trailed off, not knowing quite how to explain about Alice and her own natural reluctance to visit her very often.
    ‘ She is affianced, I expect?’ Pilar put in.
    ‘Something like that,’ Megan agreed thankfully.
    Pilar gave her a naughty look. ‘Ah ! You do not approve of her, but you like her a little . Do your parents know? Mine would blow a fuse if they knew I was going about with anyone like that ! ’
    Megan couldn’t help laughing. ‘ I don’t know if they know or not,’ she admitted.
    ‘Life is very unfair .’ Pilar went on with feeling. ‘ Carlos knows many people, women, who are not quite respectable, but he doesn’t allow me to know any at all ! ’
    ‘How do you know that he knows them?’ Megan asked, a little put out that Carlos should have