The Silver Dragon Read Online Free Page A

her with a shrug. “My parents are in Canada at the moment, visiting my married sister for a year, so I have no actual home ties.”
    Which meant he wasn’t married. She had wondered about that, too.
    “So you see, I could quite easily drive you down to Cap Ferrat and find out what we can discover from a personal contact.”
    “I couldn’t expect you to do that,” she protested.
    “Why not?”
    “It would spoil your holiday, for one thing.”
    “And the other?” He stubbed out his own cigarette and took her by the shoulders, turning her to face the full light from the window. “Adele,” he said, “this case is important to me. I want to see it through to its logical c onclusion. Is that explanation enough?”
    “It ought to be,” she said, “but supposing there is no logical conclusion, as you call it?”
    Her eyes were dark with pain and the shadow of a new fear, but they continued to meet his steadily enough.
    “There must be.” His hands tightened on her shoulders. “This kind of amnesia just doesn’t stand still forever. We must find the contacts that will help.”
    “But it could stand still for a very long time,” she said without making it a question. “The professor more or less admitted that yesterday. I suppose I badgered him about it,” she added with a hint of desperation in her voice, “but I have to know. I feel that I must know quite soon, John, or I shall go mad.”
    He gave her a half-impatient shake.
    “You mustn’t talk like that,” he commanded. “It could have been a lot worse.”
    “I know. I’m sorry,” she apologized. “Please forgive me. I ought not to burden you with my feelings like this.”
    “Who else would you talk to?” he asked briskly. “I’m your doctor.”
    She was forced to smile.
    “You’re very kind,” she said.
    “And you’ll consider the trip to Cap Ferrat?” he asked. “You can always cancel out any feeling of obligation by offering me hospitality when we get there,” he added lightly.
    The suggestion distressed her because she could feel nothing about Les Rochers Blanches, no sense of belonging, or even a vague stirring of familiarity. Yet all that might come once she reached the Riviera and found herself in known surroundings.
    That was what John Ordley was hoping for, and suddenly she found herself clutching at his offer of help. He gave her amazing confidence in a world that had become no more than an empty shell.
    They waited for two more days, at the end of which time the professor decided she was fit to travel.
    “I would not let you go if you were not in safe keeping,” he said, “but Dr. Ordley has my complete confidence. He is also in touch with the police, so that every help will be given to him when you reach your destination.”
    They set out the following morning, going by Bourg through the Col de la Forlaz to Chatelard, where they were held up at the border. The doctor’s passport was in order, of course, but there was much consultation and even a little argument about the police pass that permitted him to convey his patient to the south of France. A patient, it was noted, who was suffering from loss of memory and who would report to the prefecture of police at Nice on her arrival.
    The Swiss guards let them continue their journey eventually with a brief military bow, and the French received them with an expressive shrug. It was not within their province to argue, since there was the pass, but mademoiselle did not look ill, they observed. There was, of course, the bandage on her brow, but otherwise her eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed with a healthy color. It was more as if the two young people were setting out on a honeymoon!
    Again the uniformed shoulders lifted, but this time the road barrier was raised and John Ordley let in his clutch and drove into France.
    Mentally he heaved a sigh of relief. Questions could have been awkward, causing them unnecessary delay.
    At Chamonix they stopped for a meal and he