Dallas stared at him disbelievingly. ‘Don’t be so callous,’ she cried. ‘Jane is only a baby!’
‘Well, don’t expect me to mother her when she comes to live with us,’ remarked Charles. ‘She’ll soon be shown the door if she misbehaves in Maidenhead. There are too many people there who know me—–’
‘What!’ Dallas put her hands on her hips. ‘What have you got to do with it? Surely you’re not going to tell me that your reputation stands in any danger of being smirched!’
‘Don’t get het-up.’ Charles decided to take a different line. ‘All right, Dallas, all right. I’ll have a word with her when she comes.’
‘No, don’t do that,’ exclaimed Dallas, shaking her head. ‘You’re only likely to antagonise her into further trouble. I can deal with her, or at least, I’ll try.’
Charles put an arm around her shoulders. ‘I’m sorry if I seem unfeeling, but you seem to have all the responsibilities and it’s not fair.’
‘I am the eldest,’ Dallas answered.
Charles was buttoning his overcoat against the cold night air when Jane breezed into the flat, shedding her suede coat and knee-length boots in the hallway.
‘Hello, you two,’ she called. She usually attempted to be friendly towards Charles, Dallas had to concede.
Charles thrust his hands deeply into his overcoat pockets.
‘Do you know you’ve had your sister half out of her mind with worry?’ he asked, in a low angry voice.
Jane rubbed her nose and looked at Dallas. ‘Oh, really? I’m sorry, Dallas. You know how time flies when you’re having a good time!’
Charles grunted, and Dallas said: ‘Charles!’ warningly, but he went on: ‘No, we don’t. We’ve been waiting for your arrival since ten-thirty. I presume that’s a reasonable time to expect a seventeen-year-old home.’
Jane shrugged, her face flushed. ‘Can’t Dallas catechise me herself?’ she asked cheekily, resenting his tone.
Charles stiffened. ‘Now you listen to me, young woman,’ he began, but Dallas shook her head.
‘Now, Charles, please. I can handle this.’
‘Obviously you can’t, or she wouldn’t talk to you like that,’ said Charles angrily. ‘You’d better change your ways, Jane, before Dallas and I are married, or you may find yourself without a roof over your head!’
Jane stared at him angrily. ‘All right. I’m quite capable of taking care of myself. I’ll keep the flat on. Get someone to share it with me.’
Dallas inwardly groaned at the worsening situation, breaking up the argument before it came to blows.
‘Go on, Charles,’ she said. ‘I’ve told you, I can handle this.’
Charles turned and marched out of the room, followed rather more slowly by Dallas. She hardly noticed the kiss he gave her, so intent was she upon returning to the lounge to have it out again with Jane.
But when she returned, Jane was in the bedroom undressing, and she said, before Dallas could speak:
‘Oh, don’t start again. I know, I know what you’re going to say. But it’s no good. I won’t give him up.’
Dallas shrugged. ‘All right.’
Jane looked strangely at her. ‘What am I supposed to glean from that remark?’
‘Exactly what you like.’ Dallas stretched wearily. ‘I’m sick of this whole business. Where did you go this evening, just out of interest?’
‘To a club run by a friend of Paris’s—a Greek. We danced a lot, and had a few cokes. It was a good evening.’
‘Do you drink alcohol?’ Dallas’s question was soft and undemanding, despite its pointedness.
Jane flushed. ‘No, of course not. I’m under age.’
‘Would that stop you?’
‘Oh, Dallas, stop it! I’m tired.’
‘You have a nerve!’ Dallas turned away. ‘Anyway, why don’t you bring him here sometimes? If I met him myself, maybe I wouldn’t feel so concerned.’
‘Paris, here?’ Jane laughed. ‘I couldn’t do that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well … I mean … his apartment is huge, with gorgeous furniture …’
‘You’ve been to his apartment? When? I thought you always went to clubs?’
Jane grimaced. ‘Heavens, what have I said! Why shouldn’t I go to his apartment?’
Dallas unloosened her hair from its knot and it fell in a cascade of colour about her shoulders. Caught off guard, Jane said:
‘Why don’t you always wear your hair loose? You look so much younger! You make me feel so mean, Dallas, because I know you’re only a little older than I am, and you’re having a hell of a time with me, aren’t you?’ She half smiled. ‘It’s only when you look so schoolmarmish, and Charles is there beside you like a bloodhound, that I forget who you really are. Dallas, please try and understand.’
‘It’s no good, Jane,’ said Dallas wearily. ‘We stand at opposite sides of the line. You can’t see what’s under your nose, and I can’t believe he’s sincere!’
Jane hunched her shoulders. ‘Well, there’s nothing you, or Charles, can do. I love Paris, and I intend to go on seeing him.’ She tugged angrily at her hair with a comb. ‘Whatever you say!’
* * *
A week later Dallas had made a decision, brought about mainly by the fact that Jane was no longer telling her the truth. Her breath had smelled strongly of alcohol two evenings when she came home, and Dallas, who had been in bed pretending to be asleep, had lain awake for hours after Jane’s breathing had become smooth and regular. Jane was also beginning to look drawn and tired, for late nights combined with early mornings were making their presence felt. Dallas seemed continually in a state of anxiety, and she wished wholeheartedly that Paris Stavros would find himself another girl-friend soon.
Unable to expect any useful assistance or advice from Charles, Dallas decided her only course of action was to try and contact Alexander Stavros, the boy’s father. It seemed a vain hope; Alexander Stavros lived in Greece, and she had no earthly idea how she could reach him there.
Besides, even if she could contact him, why should he care what happened to her sister, so long as Paris was happy? Unless the threat of a scandal might deter him. Maybe he was a man with a heart; maybe she could appeal to his better judgement.
Dallas felt desperate. She was clutching at straws and she knew it. And then, as though fate was lending her a helping hand, she read one morning, in her newspaper going to work, that Alexander Stavros had arrived in England the previous
