蓝色列车之谜6

Chapter 6  MIRELLE ,Derek Kettering emerged from Van Aldin's suite so precipitantly that he collided with a lady passing across the corridor. He apologised, and she accepted his apologies with a smiling reassurance and passed on, leaving him with a pleasant ,impression of a soothing personality and rather fine grey eyes. For all his nonchalance, his interview with his father-in-law had shaken him more than he cared to show. He had a solitary lunch, and after it, frowning to himself a little, he went round to the sumptuous flat that housed the lady known as Mirelle. A trim Frenchwoman received him with smiles. ,'But enter then, Monsieur. Madame reposes herself.' ,He was ushered into the long room with its eastern setting which he knew so well. Mirelle was lying on the divan, supported by an incredible amount of cushions, all in varying shades of amber, to harmonise with the yellow ochre of her complexion. The dancer was a beautifully made woman, and if her face, beneath its mask of yellow, was in truth somewhat haggard, it had a bizarre charm of its own, and her orange lips smiled invitingly at Derek Kettering. He kissed her, and flung himself into a chair.  ,'What have you been doing with yourself? Just got up, I suppose?' ,'No,' said the dancer. 'I have been at work.' ,She flung out a long, pale hand towards the piano, which was littered with untidy music scores. ,'Ambrose has been here. He has been playing me the new Opera.' ,Kettering nodded without paying much attention. He was ,profoundly uninterested in Claud Ambrose and the latter's operatic setting of Ibsen's Peer Gynt. So was Mirelle, for that matter, regarding it merely as a unique opportunity for her own presentation as Anitra. ,