The Young Nightingales by Mary Whistler Read Free Book Online Page A

after a long day in the open air. As the Continental was the kind of hotel where people dressed for dinner the men mostly wore dinner - jackets, and the women were like bright butterflies with many different hair-styles and, in a lot of cases, a lavish amount of jewellery scattered about their persons.
    When she had been in Switzerland a little longer Jane was to make the discovery that Swiss women almost invariably carried a small fortune in jewels on their necks and arms—particularly the wives of prosperous business-men. And she was to recognise their beautifully coiffured blonde heads and elegant gowns and pick them out from the rest as soon as she entered a room or a public place where many of them were congregated.
    But on this first night of her arrival she felt shy and awkward as she followed a waiter to her table in the corner , and she kept her eyes averted from everyone until she had been seated for several minutes and had had time to consult the menu.
    The waiter was most helpful. He recommended several dishes, and as he was young and impressionable found it a comparatively simple matter to keep his eyes fixed on Jane. He thought she had the air of being English and was exceptionally attractive with her perfect skin and shadowy blue-grey eyes, and despite the fact that her only adornment was a neat row of pearls could not have appeared to greater advantage.
    She had chosen a black dress for the occasion, and, like all her clothes, it was expensively simple and fitted her beautifully. Apart from the waiter other men in the room eyed her quite openly as she kept her head slightly bent and her eyes glued to the tablecloth; and when at last she looked up and about her they were fascinated by the flutter of her thick dark eyelashes, and by the faint air of melancholy that looked out from between them.
    Most of the women had escorts, and the fact that she had none no doubt increased her attractiveness in the eyes of the impressionable males. She began to feel their persistent glances on her, and decided to hurry through her meal and return to her own room as quickly as possible, for she was not in the mood for masculine admiration ... and she most certainly did not wish to risk being accosted by any one of the gentlemen present as soon as the first opportunity presented itself to him.
    As she left the dining-room she saw a party of people enter it from a door on the farther side, and they were all so splendidly dressed—particularly one woman who was also young and exceptionally beautiful in a fair and arresting fashion—that she actually glanced up to observe them before making her way to the reception desk to gather information from one of the clerks.
    “Can you tell me how far the Villa Magnolia is from here ? ” she asked the young man on duty.
    He was only too eager to deal with her query.
    “The Villa Magnolia? Now let me think — ” He was turning to consult one of his colleagues when she added the information:
    “A Mrs. Bowman, an Englishwoman, lives there.”
    “Mrs. Bowman? Ah, yes, mademoiselle !” he exclaimed, light apparently dawning on him immediately. “We know Mrs. Bowman very well. She comes here sometimes for dinner, or when she has friends she wishes to entertain for lunch. There was a time when she came here quite often, but she is not nowadays—how do you say?”
    “She is very elderly and not very strong,” Jane helped him out.
    “Ah, yes, mademoiselle !” He leaned across the counter and beamed at her. “That is, I am afraid, very true. Madame Bowman cannot nowadays get about as much as she once did, but she is a so very charming lady all the same ... Very charming !” he added, as if he wished her to be in no doubt about his personal opinion of Madame Bowman, who was as English as the young woman confronting him.
    Jane looked surprised. From the little Roger had disclosed to her about his aunt she had not gathered that charm was the most noticeable thing about her. Autocratic