No Time For Love (Bantam Series No. 40) by Barbara Cartland Page A

the sale.”
    “In the sale!” Larina exclaimed.
    She realised this meant the clothes were ready and could be altered to fit her.
    She would not be told, as she had half-expected, that everything would take a long time to be made for her.
    She felt afterwards it had been an inspiration, a stroke of good fortune, that she had been brave enough to enter Poiret’s.
    She came away with two evening-gowns and two for the day besides a travelling outfit.
    When she explained to the Vendeuse that she was leaving for Italy on Friday, perhaps because of the excitement in her voice or perhaps because she looked very young and, although she was not aware of it, rather helpless, the woman ceased to appear superior and became warm and friendly.
    Finally dropping all barriers she asked:
    “How much have you to spend?”
    “I have nearly a hundred pounds for everything!” Larina said.
    They made out a budget together; so much for hats; she would need only one large shady one for the sun and she could change the ribbons around to match her various gowns.
    So much for shoes: she would need white ones for the daytime and a pair of satin slippers to go with the evening - gowns.
    For gloves she could manage with what she had already, and all the rest could be expended on the exciting, original, delightful gowns which, as the Vendeuse pointed out, Mr. Poiret might have designed specially for her.
    Larina learnt that he did not like the Gibson S bend. He liked gowns that flowed, that had a rhythm about them, and those were the sort of gowns into which Larina was fitted.
    There was one of white which was made of chiffon, another in the pale pink which made her think of almond blossom.
    The evening-gowns had chiffon scarves to match, and all of them seemed to fall in a fluid line which reminded her of the movement of the wind in long grass.
    “You look lovely, Madam, you do really!” the Vendeuse exclaimed when finally the last gown was fitted and she was promised they would all be delivered late on Wednesday evening.
    Looking in the mirror Larina had no doubt that they did become her better than anything she had ever worn in her life before.
    They brought out the lights in her very fair hair, the light in the grey of her eyes which sometimes held a touch of green in them, and they accentuated the whiteness of her skin.
    “You have been so kind,” she said impulsively to the Vendeuse, “I still cannot believe that I could have been so brave as to come into this shop alone.”
    “It has been a real pleasure!” the Vendeuse said with a note of sincerity in her voice. “I only wish I could come with you to Italy and see you wearing them.”
    “I wish you could too,” Larina answered.
    “Never mind, I know how admired you will be,” the Vendeuse said, “and that is a satisfaction in itself!”
    Larina smiled. She was sure that Elvin would admire her and she wanted to look nice for him.
    She remembered the little compliments he had paid her. Then she remembered the biggest compliment of all, when he had said he wanted her to be with him when his ‘spirit took wings’.
    Now it would not be his spirit which was flying away into the unknown, but hers.
    ‘In Sorrento I shall be flying into the light not into the darkness,’ Larina thought, ‘and with Elvin there I shall not be afraid.’

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
    Wy nstan had travelled from Paris to Rome and from Rome to Naples in an irritated frame of mind.
    He had, as he had expected, enjoyed himself on the ‘ Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse ’ with the alluring Countess of Glencairn.
    He had known when he went down to the big Dining - Saloon the first night that he had not been mistaken in thinking that she found him as attractive as he found her.
    Her dark eyes lit up when he appeared and her lips pouted provocatively, and long before the evening was over he knew they were all set to enjoy an affaire de coeur in which the French could indulge with such lightness that it was in fact like a