Flamingo Moon [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONECÉLESTE had said not to come to the farm, and now that she was actually here, standing in front of it, Eve Reston began to wish she had taken her advice and stayed away. It probably wouldn't have strained the last remnants of her patience overmuch to have remained at the hotel a little longer in the hope that Céleste would eventually contact her. The DuBare ranch, or manade, as such places were called in the Cam-argue area of France, had a singularly formidable look about it, an air of distinct hostility which seemed to linger around its heat-hazed precincts. If there had been notices posted stating that strangers were unwelcome, Eve wouldn't have been at all surprised !She had left her car beside a cluster of low scrub, a short distance behind her near the road. Why, she had no very clear idea as she certainly felt quite vulnerable without it, and half hidden as it was, it definitely wasn't handy for a quick getaway should the need arise. Maybe instinctively she had known the necessity for a more silent approach than a noisy little engine allowed.The car she had hired from Mrs Wood, the hotel proprietress, who had owned and ran the large estabUshment with the help of a competent staff since her husband died. An enterprising woman who also kept a small fleet of cars which she rented to guests who came without one.Eve was aware that Mrs Wood's curiosity was probably no greater than any other hotelier's would have been regarding a young English girl who appeared to do nothing but sit in her room all day. - 'It will do you good to get out, Miss Reston,' Mrs Wood had remarked pointedly, coming into reception just in time