5: Mitsouko
IT was ten minutes past three when Vallon stopped the car on the grass verge opposite the entrance gates of Ladycourt. He got out of the driving seat slowly; turned off the lights; sat on the near-side wing. He lighted a cigarette and thought that nothing tasted so awful as tobacco when you were tired.
He got up; stretched; walked slowly across the road, through the entrance gates, into the courtyard of Ladycourt. As he approached the wide Tudor doors he saw the crack of light showing through the side window of the drawing-room.
So she was up! Vallon grinned. He pulled the handle of the door-bell. He waited, leaning against the door-post, the cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, his hands in his jacket pockets.
The door opened. Querida Gale stood, framed in the
