He gave a great sigh of relief, and was just about to thank her for her promise to return it to him,, when she exclaimed: 'What on earth's the matter with the car? What have you been doing to it?'
'I—nothing,' he protested. T took it out for about two hours this morning, to practise along flattish roads on my own; then, after lunch, I drove it out to the factory. It went perfectly and I had no trouble at all.'
Stephanie's question had been caused by a cloud of steam which had suddenly issued from the bonnet. Looking quickly down at the dashboard, she saw that only a few inches of the chain working the radiator blind was hanging from its V. Turning on to Robbie, she stormed: 'You imbecile! You've been running her with the radiator blind nearly full up. Now she's blown a core plug and if I keep her running the engine will seize up.'
She drove the care into the side of the road. They both got out and, having confirmed the cause of the trouble, she said angrily: 'I don't suppose Nisio will be able to make us another core plug under four or five hours at the least.'
'Who is Nisio?' Robbie enquired.
'He is the mechanic at the Spap; and, thank goodness, it can't be much more than a mile away. It was Nisio who drove me into Pirgos yesterday. I bribed him, too, to telephone me if you either took out the car or hired one. That's how it was that Barak was all ready to receive you this afternoon. Nisio also telephoned about your taking out the car this morning, but we felt sure that you wouldn't try anything until the siesta hour.'
'Well,' Robbie shrugged, 'since we are stuck for the night, at least we are lucky to have broken down so near the Spap. As it can't yet be half past twelve, I expect it will still be open; although your friend Nisio is pretty certain to be in bed.'
'Then we must get him out,' Stephanie declared. 'If Barak does come after us later in the night and notice the Zephyr abandoned by the roadside, he'll guess at once that we are at the Spap and lie in wait for you when we leave tomorrow morning.'
Robbie got Stephanie's case out of the boot and, leaving the car lights on, they set out for the hotel. When they reached it, there were still lights on in a few of the windows. Up in the lounge, a yawning waiter was watching four guests playing a final rubber of bridge. Nisio was roused and appeared with an overcoat over his pyjamas. He agreed to go out and tow in the Ford, but jibbed at Stephanie's suggestion that he should work on it during the night.
When Nisio had gone off to get it and the tired waiter had produced brandies and ginger ales, Robbie said to her: 'I know you want to get me to Athens and out of the country as quickly as you can; but, if we don't leave here until after lunch tomorrow, we'll stand much less risk of running into Barak at Tripolis or somewhere further along the road where, if he has chased us, he may have pulled up.'
She nodded wearily. 'Perhaps you are right. If he does by-pass us, the longer lead he has the better. In fact, in the long run, our breakdown may have turned out all to the good.' Then, finishing their drinks, they went to bed.
In the morning, Robbie was woken by a sharp knocking on the door of his room. Tumbling out of bed, he pulled on his dressing gown and opened the door, to find Stephanie standing outside. She was fully dressed, but had no make-up on and her hair had not been done.
T got up early,' she said, 'to find out about the car. Nisio says that, with servicing the cars of the other guests, there's not a hope of getting ours done till three o'clock, and it may even be four or five before he's through.'
Robbie blinked at her sleepily. 'Except that we'll have to do the last part of the mountain road to Argos after dark, 1 don't see that that matters much. If Barak did give chase, he's missed us, although he can't know that. He must be in Tripolis or even further off by this time.' As he spoke he was gingerly feeling his chin, where Barak had hit him, for on his waking it had begun to throb painfully.
'You are probably right,' she agreed thoughtfully. 'But Barak is no fool. As soon as it became daylight, he would start enquiring at the villages through which they passed for someone who had seen the Zephyr go through. When he has drawn several blanks, he'll guess that we are not ahead of him after all. Then he'll think one of two things: either that we took the other road, in which case he will drive on to Athens; or that we deliberately put up here for the night, hoping to fox him. If he does think that he's by-passed us, he won't need to stop somewhere to sleep, because it is certain that he will have Cepicka with him, and they'll be driving turn and turn about. They'll turn round and come back, hoping to meet us on the road this morning. They won't, of course, but, when they get as far as this without meeting us, they are sure to stop here to make enquiries.'
'Well, what if they do learn we're here? They daren't come busting into this place as though it were a saloon in a Western, and shoot me dead. Even if they got away with it for the moment, there would be a hue and cry after them in no time. All the odds are that they would be caught, and there would be lots of people to identify them as my killers.'
'That's true. But if they do find out that we are here, they might hang round outside on the chance of getting a shot at you. For example, if they spotted you having another look round the ruins, and there was no one about. That's what I came to say to you. I've told them at the office that you've got a tummy upset, so will be staying in bed most of the day. Your meals will be brought along to you but, of course, only something light.'
'Oh dear!' Robbie exclaimed ruefully, 'and after yesterday I am as hungry as a hunter.'
'You are very lucky to be alive,' she said sharply, 'and, if you want to make sure of remaining alive, you had better do as you are told. After lunch, pack your things and be ready to leave at three o'clock. As soon as the car is ready, I'll come up for you.'
Robbie turned in again, but he spent a miserable morning. The previous night, after the twelve hours of acute strain he had passed through, he had been too exhausted to think much about his defeat; but now the knowledge that he had failed so lamentably greatly depressed him.
He was, too, most unhappy about his new relationship with Stephanie. By a miracle, as it seemed to him, after he had accepted that she had passed out of his life for good, she had returned to it. But she was not the Stephanie he had known. She was as lovely as ever in his eyes; but no longer his gay, sweet-tempered companion. He was well aware that he owed his life to her, yet could not believe that she had lifted a finger from any personal feeling for him. He felt sure that her action had been inspired by a reluctance to have it on her conscience that a man who had fallen into a trap she had laid had been murdered, and that she would have taken nearly as much risk to save a dog. Moreover, the fact remained that it was through her lies and treachery that the only undertaking he had ever ventured upon of his own accord, and one that was to make him in his own eyes and the eyes of others a man who could hold his head high in any company, had come to an ignominious end.
After he had eaten a disappointingly meagre lunch, brought to him on a tray, he got up, packed and dressed; then he sat down to wait for Stephanie. Three o'clock came; then four and half past, the time dragging by wearily. At last, at about ten to five, a bang on his door brought him quickly to it, to find her there with a luggage porter behind her. With a frown she said:
These country mechanics are hopeless. Nisio ought to have been able to make a new core plug in five hours; but of course he wouldn't forgo his siesta, and it's taken nearly ten.' Thrusting a paper into Robbie's hand, she went on: 'I had your bill made up and looked through it. As far as I can judge it's correct; so pay it on your way out, and we'll get off as quickly as we can.'