The Tomb of Zeus Read Online Free PDF Page A

find.”
    They both peered again at the figurine, seeing clearly why it had been banished to the spare room.
    “I do wonder a bit about this artist's message,” said Letty thoughtfully. “I'm not at all sure that that's what this particular Europa is telling me. Who is the seduced here and who the seducer? This is a powerful little bull, with all his bits and pieces proudly on display, but if you allow your eye to wander, you can see his front feet are about to step into a snare. And the languorous Europa is smiling. She
knows.
She's well aware that her tumbling locks are spilling down over the bull's eyes, blinding him to traps, and that his horns are caught up in the golden net of her hair. Watch out, Zeus! You've taken aboard more than you can handle!”
    She replaced the statue on the table. “Spirited and lovely! A fresh and modern vision.”
    “So glad you like it! It was a great indulgence!”
    “Worth every franc!” said Letty stoutly. “Whatever it cost.
I've
never regretted spending more than I should.” She scrabbled in the satchel she had kept slung over her shoulder. “Thinking of frivolities—I brought you something.
Harper's Bazaar—
wonderful Erté designs—and the latest
Vogue.
The spring millinery number.” At that moment Letty caught sight of herself in the dressing table mirror and fought back a squeak of horror. “Gracious! I look like the victim of a Viking raid!”
    Phoebe eagerly accepted the magazines with murmured words of thanks and added: “I can't deny you look as though you've been gone over with a rake. But I'd have said, more poetically, the victim of the Sea God…toyed with for a moment and thrown back into the surf. And what does my stepson think he's about, involving a lady with his awful little toy?” She pointed accusingly to a smudge of engine grease across Letty's forehead. “I see George has been
initiating
you into its inner mysteries. He really has a very sketchy idea of what is appropriate to sex, age, class, or even
species,
you'll discover. He treats everyone the same. It can be jolly awkward—but it can be funny and it can be touching. Anyway—I apologise for him. Though—if he thought about it at all—George would consider my remarks condescending and presumptuous. He's a boy who will make his own impression!”
    “Oh, he already has,” said Letty and the two women laughed together in easy friendship.
    Hearing a clunking on the stairs, Phoebe moved to open the door for two manservants carrying up Letty's baggage. “Your things! That's a relief! You're a tall girl, Laetitia—I wouldn't have felt confident in offering you one of my cocktail dresses to wear. We don't stand on great ceremony here, you'll discover, but Theo likes to make a splash on the first evening at least. Tonight's meal will be quite formal, but the rest of the time it's come-as-you-are when the gong sounds, and the food is catch-as-catch-can. Have you brought a little dinner dress? Good. Oh, and I'd advise—do as I do! I put on a good pair of thick stockings and something warm to slip around the shoulders. This stone house can be as cold as the tomb these spring evenings.”
    Phoebe hesitated, perhaps wondering whether to speak further, decided against it, and then began to slip away with an invitation to come down in an hour's time for an aperitif before supper. “You'll find everyone gathered in the drawing room on the first floor or, as Theo insists on calling it: the
piano nobile.”
She excused his pretension with an indulgent smile. “Well, he's a stickler for tradition and it
was
the Venetians who built this echoing old mausoleum, after all…I'm just thankful they had the sense to leave out the canal under the window.” In the doorway she turned and said again, “So glad you're here, Laetitia!”

    Letty eyed with disfavour the chalky white mound of animal tissue folded in tightly curling waves and sitting in the middle of her plate. It looked like nothing so much as her