II
“Miss Argyle? At the second desk there.”
Calgary stood for a moment watching her.
Neat, small, very quiet and efficient. She was wearing a dark blue dress,with white collar and cuffs¹. Her blue-black hair was coiled neatly² in herneck. Her skin was dark, darker than an English skin could ever be. Herbones, too, were smaller. This was the half-caste child that Mrs. Argyle hadtaken as a daughter into the family.
The eyes that looked up and met his were dark, quite opaque³. They wereeyes that told you nothing.
Her voice was low and sympathetic.
“Can I help you?”
“You are Miss Argyle? Miss Christina Argyle?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Calgary, Arthur Calgary. You may have heard—”
“Yes. I have heard about you. My father wrote to me.”
“I would like very much to talk to you.”
She glanced up at the clock.
“The library closes in half an hour. If you could wait until then?”
“Certainly. Perhaps you would come and have a cup of tea with mesomewhere?”
“Thank you.” She turned from him to a man who had come up behindhim. “Yes. Can I help you?”
Arthur Calgary moved away. He wandered round, examining the con-tents of the shelves, observant all the time of Tina Argyle. She remainedthe same, calm, competent, unperturbed. The half hour passed slowly forhim, but at last a bell rang and she nodded to him.
“I will meet you outside in a few minutes time.”
She did not keep him waiting. She wore no hat, merely a thick dark coat.
He asked her where they should go.
“I do not know Redmyn very well,” he explained.
“There is a tea place near the Cathedral. It is not good, but for thatreason it is less full than the others.”
Presently they were established at a small table, and a desiccated boredwaitress had taken their order with a complete lack of enthusiasm.
“It will not be a good tea,” said Tina apologetically, “but I thought thatperhaps you would like to be reasonably private.”
“That is so. I must explain my reasons for seeking you out. You see, Ihave met the other members of your family, including, I may say, yourbrother Jacko’s wife—widow. You were the only member of the family Ihad not met. Oh yes, and there is your married sister, of course.”
“You feel it necessary to meet us all?”

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