阳光下的罪恶15

Four

The morning of the 25th of August dawned bright and cloudless. It was a morning to tempt¹ evenan inveterate² sluggard³ to rise early.

Several people rose early that morning at the Jolly Roger.

It was eight o’clock when Linda, sitting at her dressing⁴ table, turned a little thick calf-boundvolume face downwards⁵, sprawling⁶ it open and looked at her own face in the mirror.

Her lips were set tight together and the pupils of her eyes contracted.

She said below her breath:

“I’ll do it….”

She slipped out of her pyjamas⁷ and into her bathing dress. Over it she flung on a bathrobe andlaced espadrilles on her feet.

She went out of her room and along the passage. At the end of it a door on to the balcony led toan outside staircase leading directly down to the rocks below the hotel. There was a small ironladder clamped on to the rocks leading down into the water which was used by many of the hotelguests for a before-breakfast dip as taking up less time than going down to the main bathing beach.

As Linda started down from the balcony she met her father coming up. He said:

“You’re up early. Going to have a dip?”

Linda nodded.

They passed each other.

Instead of going on down the rocks, however, Linda skirted round the hotel to the left until shecame to the path down to the causeway connecting the hotel with the mainland. The tide was highand the causeway under water, but the boat that took hotel guests across was tied to a little jetty.

The man in charge of it was absent at the moment. Linda got in, untied⁸ it and rowed herself across.

She tied up the boat on the other side, walked up the slope, past the hotel garage and along untilshe reached the general shop.

The woman had just taken down the shutters⁹ and was engaged in sweeping¹⁰ out the floor. Shelooked amazed at the sight of Linda.

“Well, Miss, you are up early.”

Linda put her hand in the pocket of her bath wrap and brought out some money. She proceededto make her purchases.

 

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