Having opened several, he soon saw the reason. The idea of carrying out light secretarial duties for a young gentleman, and at the same time making a motor tour of the Peloponnesus, clearly held a strong appeal for a lot of young women in Athens. Even a number who already had jobs were prepared to sacrifice them in Robbie's interest, and several enclosed photographs.
This took him by surprise for, when he had drafted his advertisement, the idea of employing a woman had never entered his thoughts. Had he been a more sophisticated young man, he might have decided from the first to have a woman drive him and, when picking the most attractive applicant from a number of pretty girls, all sorts of interesting possibilities might have crossed his mind.
But the prospect of having a young woman as his sole companion, perhaps for several weeks, scared Robbie stiff. All girls held a frightening, if attractive, mystery for him that he still lacked the courage to explore. He had wanted a man to whom he could talk, and experience told him that when left alone with an attractive woman he usually dried up within a quarter of an hour. To have to strive to find things to say to a girl, day after day, would prove positive torture. On looking through the photographs, too, another aspect of the matter struck him. Perhaps, while picnicking in some lonely spot, he might be overcome by one of those urges he sometimes felt and, as he saw it, there being little chance that the lady would be willing to respond to his caresses, a most shaming and miserable situation would ensue.
Reluctantly, he put aside all the letters from women applicants, and went more carefully through those from men. These formed barely a fifth of the pile, and were very disappointing. Nearly all of them admitted either that they could not take shorthand, or were 'a bit out of practice'. A few could not even type, but asserted that they would make quick learners. Most of them were garage hands. The only applicant whose letter was obviously that of a well-educated man, stated that he would greatly enjoy making such a tour but, owing to his arthritis, could not undertake to drive more than fifty miles a day. Not one came anywhere near fulfilling Robbie's requirement of a good driver, not too far removed from his own age, who would prove a pleasant companion. And, as he had to be out of the Embassy by the end of the week, he could not delay, even for twenty-four hours, in making his choice.
Turning back to the letters from women, he went through them again, and found one from a Mrs. Papayannis. She stated that she had been driving for thirty years without one accident, knew the Peloponnesus like the back of her hand from having been hunted all over it during the war while an officer in the Women's Resistance, could type at 80 and took shorthand at 150. She was out of a job at the moment only because her chief, a distinguished scientist for whom she had worked for the past nine years, had recently died.
It was clear that she must be in the neighbourhood of fifty, an educated woman, but a real old battle-axe. Robbie felt he would be able to talk to her without humiliating diffidence and be free of all temptation to attempt the sort of thing that might cause him bitter regret. Pushing aside the other letters, he put hers in his pocket and decided to take her on.
She had given him her telephone number in her letter, adding that she had an engagement for that morning; so, if he were interested, would he phone her in the afternoon?
After breakfast, he went round to the garage he patronized and got a quotation for hiring a medium-sized car by the week. Next he went to his bank, obtained a letter of credit and drew out a considerable sum in cash; then went for a stroll round the old quarter of the city to the west of Constitution Square. Its narrow streets with groups of shops that sold nothing but buttons, or materials, or embroidery always intrigued him, and for the whole way along Eolou Street, at which the section ended, he could look up at his beloved Acropolis dominating the city.
He returned to the Embassy a little before one o'clock. As he entered the hall, the butler was holding the telephone receiver, and called out to him: There's a lady on the phone for you, Mr. Robbie. She has already rung up twice this morning, but you were out.'
|Who is she?' Robbie asked is surprise. . /It's a Miss Stephanopoulos,' the butler replied. 'She says that it's urgent and she must speak to you personally.' Then he turned back to the instrument and said into it in Greek: 'Hold on, Miss. Mr. Grenn has just come in.'
Having no option, Robbie took the instrument from him and said a shade suspiciously: 'This is Robert Grenn. What did you wish to speak to me about?'
About your advertisement in the Kathimerini,' a soft, slightly breathless voice replied. 'It's the very thing I'm looking for, and I'm sure that I could do all you want perfectly.'
'No!' said Robbie hastily. 'No! The post is already filled.'
'But it can't be!' The voice rose in the suggestion of a pathetic wail. 'You can't have had any applications for it until this morning.'
'That's true,' he admitted. 'But I've settled on the person to whom I mean to give the job.'
'Then unsettle it. Oh please, please!' The imploring note sounded to Robbie as if the girl on the other end of the line was actually getting down on her knees. 'You see, I've been counting on this since yesterday, and I've burned my boats. I must have it. I simply must!'
'No, really,' Robbie protested. 'I'm terribly sorry, but the fact that you have been counting on it is nothing to do with me.'
'Oh, but it is! You'll be responsible now if the most terrible things happen to me. You can't really be such a brute. You said in the advert, you were young, and so am I. You ought to be able to see my point of view.'
'Hang it all, I don't even know what trouble you are in,' Robbie cried desperately.
'That's soon remedied.' The voice dropped back again to a breathless coo. 'I'm telephoning from Floca's. I'm much fatter than I'd like to be, but people say I've got a pretty face. I'm wearing an absurd bit of blue veiling as a hat. You see, it matches my eyes. And a bunch of stephanotis. You'll find me at a table just on the right at the bottom of the stairs. Come round so that we can talk this over.'
'No! Really! No!' exclaimed Robbie. 'I couldn't possibly.'
'You must,' came the quick reply. 'I'm starving. And I've already cut a date, counting on you to give me lunch.'
Next moment, the line went dead. In vain Robbie kept shouting into the instrument: 'Hello! Hello! Are you there?' Then, realizing the futility of further efforts, he hung up.
Frowning, he looked about him. That a girl should try to foist herself on him like that was intolerable. The cheek of it. What were her troubles to do with him, anyway? Give her lunch and listen to some mess she had got herself into! Why should he? Certainly not. She had no claim on him. He didn't even know her. Let her stew in her own juice.
At that moment, Euan crossed the hall on his way to the dining room. With a casual glance at Robbie, he said: 'What are you standing there looking so scared about? Come on in and have some lunch.'
'I'm not scared of anything,' Robbie muttered. Then something suddenly clicked in his brain and, picking up his hat, he added with apparent casualness, 'but I'm not lunching in today. I happen to be giving lunch to a very pretty girl at Floca's.' Then, after one glance at Euan, he walked towards the front door.
As he crossed the threshold, he thought: 'Goodness only knows what I'm letting myself in for. But, by God, the sight of Euan's face was worth it.'
11
Enter the Lady
Instead of hailing a taxi, Robbie walked to Floca's. This famous cafe, the smartest in Athens, is at the Constitution Square end of Venizelou Street; so it was not far, and he needed a little time in which to think. The sudden eruption of a strange young woman into his plans had left him temporarily dazed, but within a few minutes he was feeling as angry as it was ever in his mild nature to be: angry with her for assuming that he had only to come to the meeting she had had the cheek to demand for her to make him do as she wished, and angry with himself for having become committed simply to score a cheap victory over Euan.