was red but healing, and other lacerations showed no sign of infection. “Which is lucky,” James remarked to the ceiling, knowing that he could never have come the long miles to Montalia if he had been more badly hurt. The other two reporters had not been so fortunate: one had been shot in the crossfire that wrecked the jeep and the other had been crushed as the jeep overturned.
This was the first time James had been able to remember the incident clearly, and it chilled him. How easy it would have been to have died with them. One random factor different and he would have been the one who was shot or crushed. With an oath he got out of the tub, and stood shaking on the cold tiles as the water drained away.
“I have brought you a robe,” Roger said a few minutes later as he returned. “Your other garments are not much use any longer. I believe that there is a change of clothes in the armoire of the room you used to occupy.”
“Hope I can still get into them,” James said lightly in an attempt to control the fright that had got hold of him.
“You will discover that later, Mister Tree.” He helped the American into the bathrobe he held, saying in a steady manner, “It’s very late, Mister Tree. The sun will be up soon, in fact. Why don’t you rest for now, and my master will see you when you have risen.”
“Sounds good,” James answered as he tied the sash. He wanted to sleep more than he could admit, more than he ever remembered wanting to. “I … I’ll probably not get up until, oh, five or six o’clock.”
“No matter, Mister Tree,” Roger said, and went to hold the door for James.
James woke from fidgety sleep not long after sunset. He looked blankly around the room Madelaine had given him so many years before, and for several minutes could not recall how he had got there, or where he was. Slowly, as if emerging from a drugged stupor he brought back the events of the previous night. There at the foot of the bed was the robe, its soft heavy wool familiar to his touch. Memories returned in a torrent as he sat up in bed: how many times he had held Madelaine beside him through the night and loved her with all his body and all his soul. He felt her absence keenly. At that, he remembered that Saint-Germain was at Montalia, and for the first time, James felt awkward about it. It was not simply that he was jealous, although that was a factor, but that he had never properly understood the man’s importance in Madelaine’s life.
He got out of bed and began to pace restlessly, feeling very hungry now, but oddly repulsed at the thought of food. “Rations,” he said to the walls in a half-joking tone, “that’s what’s done it.” Telling himself that he was becoming morbid, he threw off the robe, letting it lie in a heap in the nearest chair, and dressed in the slightly old-fashioned suit he had left here before returning to America. The trousers, he noticed, were a little loose on him now, and he hitched them up uneasily. He had neither belt nor suspenders for it, and might have to ask for one or the other. The jacket hung on him, and he reflected that he had not gone in for much exercise in the last few years until he had come back to Europe four months ago. He looked in vain for a tie and recollected that he had disdained them for a time. He would have to find something else.
At last he found a roll-top pullover at the bottom of one of the drawers, and he gratefully stripped off jacket and shirt to put it on. It was of soft tan wool, with one or two small holes on the right sleeve where moths had reached it, and it felt lovely next to his skin. With shirt and jacket once more donned, James felt that he presented a good enough appearance to venture down into the main rooms of the chateau.
He found his way easily enough, although the halls were dark. His eyes adjusted readily to this, and he told himself that after all the nights when he and Madelaine had sought each other in the dim rooms and corridors, he should be able to find his way blindfolded. For the first time