Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler

night.”
    He went below amused and irritated by his thoughts. Outside the door of the saloon he came face to face with Mr. Kuvetli.
    Mr. Kuvetli broadened his smile. “First officer says we shall have good weather, sir.”
    “Splendid.” He remembered with a sinking heart that he had invited the man to have a drink. “Will you join me in a drink?”
    “Oh no, thank you. Not now.” Mr. Kuvetli placed one hand on his chest. “Matter of fact, I have pain because of wine at table. Very strong acid stuff!”
    “So I should imagine. Until to-morrow, then.”
    “Yes, Mr. Graham. You will be glad to arrive back at your home, eh?” He seemed to want to talk.
    “Oh yes, very glad.”
    “You go to Athens when we stop to-morrow?”
    “I was thinking of doing so.”
    “Do you know Athens well, I suppose?”
    “I’ve been there before.”
    Mr. Kuvetli hesitated. His smile became oily. “You are in a position to do me service, Mr. Graham.”
    “Oh yes?”
    “I do not know Athens. I have never been. Would you allow me to go with you?”
    “Yes, of course. I should be glad of company. But I was only going to buy some English books and cigarettes.”
    “I am most grateful.”
    “Not at all. We get in just after lunch, don’t we?”
    “Yes, yes. That is quite right. But I will find out exact time. You leave that to me.”
    “Then that’s settled. I think I shall go to bed now. Good night, Mr. Kuvetli.”
    “Good night, sir. And I thank you for your favour.”
    “Not at all. Good night.”
    He went to his cabin, rang for the steward and said that he wanted his breakfast coffee in his cabin at nine-thirty. Then he undressed and got into his bunk.
    For a few minutes he lay on his back enjoying the gradual relaxing of his muscles. Now, at last, he could forget Haki, Kopeikin, Banat, and the rest of it. He was back in his own life, and could sleep. The phrase “asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow” passed through his mind. That was how it would be with him. God knew he was tired enough. He turned on his side. But sleep did not come so easily. His brain would not stop working. It was as if the needle were trapped in one groove on the record. He’d made a fool of himself with that wretched woman Josette. He’d made a fool … He jerked his thoughts forward. Ah yes! He was committed to three unalloyed hours of Mr. Kuvetli’s company. But that was to-morrow. And now, sleep. But his hand was throbbing again, and there seemed to be a lot of noise going on. That boor José was right. The vibration
was
excessive. The cabins w
ere
too near the lavatories. There were footsteps overhead, too: people walking round the shelter deck. Round and round. Why, for Heaven’s sake, must people always be walking?
    He had been lying awake for half an hour when the French couple entered their cabin.
    They were quiet for a minute or two, and he could only hear the sounds they made as they moved about the cabin, and an occasional grunted comment. Then the woman began.
    “Well, that is the first evening over! Three more! It is too much to think of.”
    “It will pass.” A yawn. “What is the matter with the Italian woman and her son?”
    “You did not hear? Her husband was killed in the earthquake at Erzurum. The first officer told me. He is very nice, but I had hoped that there would be at least one French person to talk to.”
    “There are people who speak French. The little Turk speaks it very well. And there are the others.”
    “They are not French. That girl and that man—the Spaniard. They say that they are dancers, but I ask you.”
    “She is pretty.”
    “Certainly. I do not dispute it. But you need not think little thoughts. She is interested in the Englishman. I do not like him. He does not look like an Englishman.”
    “You think the English are all
milords
with sporting clothes and monocles. Ha! I saw the Tommies in nineteen fifteen. They are all small and ugly with very loud voices. They talk very