CHAPTER ONE<br >STIFF-LIMBED~ moving like a robot， Tania went<br >to the luggage cupboard adjoining her room and<br >took from it the leather-strapped canvas holdall<br >which bad carried at least half of her personal<br >wardrobe when she had come out to Italy from<br >England.<br > In the cupboard too was the set of cream pig-<br >skin valises she had acquired since， but with a<br >shiver of recoil she shut the door upon it. The<br >holdall and her shoulder-bag must suffice for all<br >she would be taking with her when she left the<br >Villa Massimo. Soon now and on foot， and she<br >wouldn t be coming back . ..<br > The evening had darkened too early; thunder<br >was rolling in the distance， and she couldn t let it<br >matter that it was beginning to rain， for she<br >needed the dark for her escape. But a couple of<br >hours ago the windows of the Villa s salotto had<br >been curtained against the late afternoon sun; the<br >elegant room had been dim when she had stood<br >in its doorway， momentarily allowing her eyes to<br >focus to the half-gloom before going in.<br > She had been on her way into the garden，<br >stopping in the hall to call her hairdresser in<br >Venice， only to see that the telephone was not in<br >its niche~ She had had to follow the clue of its<br >