72
THE WRECK
shoes, opened the blade, sat down, and deftly peeled the apple; then she began to cut it into slices. Ramesh sat down in front of her and caught the slices on a plate. "You'll have to eat some to," he said.
"No, thank you," said Kamala.
"Then I shan't have any."
Kamala looked up at him. "All right; you have some first, and then I"ll have some."
"Look here, you won't back out, will you?" said Ramesh.
"No, honestly, I won't back out," replied Kamala, shaking her head emphatically.
Satisfied with this assurance Ramesh took a piece of the fruit from the plate and put it in his mouth.
In that instant he saw something that arrested his jaws. Jogendra and Akshay were standing opposite him outside the door.
Akshay was the first to speak. "I beg your pardon, Ramesh Babu. I thought we should find you alone. Jogen, we shouldn't have dropped in on him like this without warning. Come along, we'll go and wait downstairs."
Kamala had let the chopper fall and leapt to her feet. The two men blocked the exit from the room. Jogendra moved slightly to one side and left the way clear; he did not, however, take his eyes from Kamala's face, but stared fixedly at her. Kamala fled in con- fusion into an adjoining room.
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