Chapter 9.
Marta was about preparing omelette for lunch when Melissa knocked.
'Marta', Darling, may I come in?
Today, Marta noticed the caftan was green, and she was carrying lulu tucked under her arm.
It all looks like nice. She cast an appraising glance around her . Does it feel like home ? Not yet I must say . She seated herself in a swirl on one of the dining chairs. Lulu wriggled to get down , then trotted over to the sofa and jumped up beside Mary's , circling twice on hir chosen cushion, then settling down with a sigh.
'Finally , Melissa said with smile . 'You've been given an official welcome. Isn't that nice.
Marta was bound to agree as she stroked lulu's fur , and found herself observed by a bright dark eyes.
'But what I really came for , is this. Melissa laid a large key on the table. 'Now that you're a resident, you have the right to use the garden. This key unlocks the main gate.
'Really ?. Marta's broken heart lifted slightly as she remembered the magical green wilderness she'd spied from Royal's window. That's... Amazing.
'And this are the communal rules . Melissa put a typed written sheet besides the key m 'Just go through them when you can. Now I must dash . I have to take lulu for his constitutional before my bridge party, and as usual I'm running late.
' I can take him for you later. That's if you don't mind , Marta suggested . 'After all , it seems a bad idea to disturb him when he's s comfortable.
'I can't ask you to do that, Melissa protested. ' it's sudj an impostion.
'No', Marta said firmly. 'I'd enjoy it. She hesitated. Plus . 'I haven't a great deal else to do.
Melissa gave her a swift , shrewd glance, then nodded briskly . Okay then , darling. Here's his lead and also a key to my flat. Just pop him into the kitchen when you bring him back, and then drop the Key by the window side.
'Are you sure about this?' Marta accepted the key, brows raised. ' After l , you barely know me.
' Call it instinct. Lulu trusts you. Melissa smiled suddenly, almost mistily . 'And my beloved would have liked you too. Have fun. And in a whirl of emerald she was gone.
Marta returned to her crossword she found herself wondering who Melissa's beloved had been.
I'll finish the puzzle by the time lulu decided he was ready for his walk . He pranced ahead of her up the steps and along the road to a pair of iron gate, which Marta used her key to open , then locked it behind her.
As soon as she stepped inside, the peace of the place seemed to wrap itself around her . Even the incessant traffic noise faded to a distance.
Marta began to walk along the gravelled path, glancing shyly around her , half expecting to be challenged. The fine weather had bought the residents out in force , she noticed. They spilled out of their houses and flats on to their rear steps , or the nearby grass, chatting together, playing with their children, drinking and picnicking. All of them were too occupied to pay her anything but passing attention, although some of them seemed to recognize lulu and gave her a half smile.
Suddenly, lulu turned off the main path , choosing a track through the towering shrubs which Marta guessed was his preferred route . It was rather like trying to unravel a maze , she thought as he ran ahead of her, following some scent or other .
' I only hope you know your way back, she told him.
Eventually she found herself in a massive lawned area with a large central pond . Lulu however, pulled her across it to where a gap in the surrounding shrubbery was Marked by an ornament arch, decorated with climbing roses.
A narrow path led to a small clearing, a patch of grass with a sundial at the center, and one elderly wooden seat , sheltered, and very peaceful, Marta thought.
She walked across the sundial, and read the inscription.'TIME MAKES LOVE PASS. Now there's a cynical viewpoint,she thought, wandering back to the seat and subsiding on its aged seat.
Lulu was getting restive, so Marta bent down and slipped him off his leash. ' Don't wander off, she adjured him. And saw , as she straightened,a movement in the bushes. A cat .
She grabbed at Lulu's collar . But it was too late, he was off , his legs a blur , pursing the fleeing cat through the shrubs with Marta flying after the pair of them. Marta hurled herself through the bushes, guided by another flurry of barking and an angry feline yowl, and arrived panting on the gravelled walk, just in time to see Lulu's hindquarters disappearing up a flight of stone steps and in through some open french windows.
Oh, no, she groaned, and started after him , she was half way up when Royal walker appeared at the window. Lulu in his hands, licking his face frantically.
Royal looked at Marta, hid mouth tightening inimically.
'Miss Wellman, he said coldly . 'Now why am I not surprised? If you are here looking for Hermes, he's not yet back.
'I'm not, Marta said, silently cursing the day she was born .
He was wearing a white robe, she noticed and his feet were bare. His hair was damp, as if he'd just got of the shower, and she found herself wondering if last night's lady slept over.
Not, she told herself, that it had anything to do with her.
She walked up to him, and took the little dog from him . I didn't mean to disturb you . Lulu was chasing a cat . I.. just followed his barking through the bushes.
'you seem to have brought a fair bit of them with you. Royal reached out and removed a twig and some leaves from her hair. It was the last thing she'd expected him to do , and an odd shivers ran through her at his touch...
Did Royal walker just touched me ? .
TBC.