While she ate he watched over her like a guard dog, or a nanny. Suddenly her thoughts about his amorous intentions seemed ridiculous, and she began to chuckle.
‘Careful,’ he said gently. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘Nothing—nothing—’ she gasped.
‘Well, don’t choke yourself for nothing. Steady.’ He was patting her on the back. ‘That’s better. Now can you share the joke?’
‘No way,’ she said. ‘Some jokes just can’t be shared.’
‘They can be the best,’ he suggested.
‘That’s true, and this one—Oh, don’t get me started again.’
He looked at her curiously, and seemed about to say something, when a shout of, ‘Hey!’made everyone look up.
It was Henry, standing at the window.
‘It’s snowing,’ he bawled.
At once they crowded to the window to see the soft flakes drifting down. Renzo slipped outside and Mandy joined him.
‘I don’t like this,’ he said, staring intently.
‘It’s not very bad, is it?’ she asked. ‘It’s only a light fall.’
‘Yes, but if it keeps on for long it can have a destabilising effect. You get too much light, powdery snow that hasn’t had a chance to firm up and compact with the rest.’
‘You mean, we couldn’t go on?’
‘It might be a good idea to turn back.’
‘I hope we don’t have to,’ she said with a little sigh. ‘It’s so lovely up here—and just a little bit of snow—’
‘The trouble with you English is that you live in a moderate climate,’ he chided her. ‘You don’t really understand that snow can be dangerous. But look high up.’ Renzo indicated the flakes and, beyond them, the white peaks rearing up in the darkness. ‘Snow like that isn’t just affecting life. It is life. At the best it’s a challenge, at the worst it’s an enemy.’
‘Hey ho! That’s that then.’
‘No, it’s too soon to know how bad it’ll be. Don’t despair yet.’
‘Me, I never despair,’ said a voice behind them, and they both groaned at the arrival of Henry. ‘Come on,’ he rallied them. ‘Where’s your sense of adventure?’
‘I put it to rest on the day I accepted responsibility for bringing people up here,’ Renzo said through gritted teeth.
Now he was a guard dog again, shepherding them both back inside, commanding everyone to bed, chivvying them until they obeyed.
‘How’s the leg?’ he asked Mandy.
‘Fine. Everything’s fine. Dr Renzo’s Linctus is great. You should patent it.’
‘No, I keep it for special occasions. Sleep well.’
To everyone’s relief, the snow stopped during the night, but the day was overcast, making Renzo frown. As breakfast finished they were startled by the sight of a group coming out of the clouds on skis, heading towards them. When they arrived, it soon appeared that they had turned back.
‘It’s getting bad up ahead,’ said the leader, a bearded young man called Toby. ‘We’re going down before it gets worse.’
‘Right, then so will we,’ Renzo declared. ‘Sorry, folks, but safety first.
‘Everyone get packed up and ready to go. And that includes you, Henry. Henry? Where is he?’
‘I haven’t seen him this morning,’ one of the men said.
Even then nobody guessed the truth. Renzo simply shrugged and said, ‘Tell him to get packed up, and then hurry.’
It was another five minutes before one of the young men approached him and said worriedly, ‘Henry’s vanished. We found this.’
It was a note in Henry’s schoolboy handwriting:
Some of us aren’t afraid to go on. See you up there, losers!
‘He’s gone ahead on his own!’ Mandy breathed. ‘How can he be such an idiot?’
‘Because he is an idiot,’ Renzo said savagely.
The look on his face made his audience recoil. They were used to seeing Renzo friendly, amusing and firm, but nothing had prepared them for the bleak fury that confronted them now.
‘Scary,’ somebody muttered.
Mandy agreed. Suddenly he become a new man, one capable of terrible deeds. She wondered how she could ever have thought him lightweight.
He began to curse in Italian, speaking softly but in a way that made the underlying violence more alarming. At last he controlled himself and said, ‘I have to go after him. The rest of you are going down with the party that’s just arrived. Get moving.’
Nobody felt inclined to argue with him in this mood. Mandy slipped into the bedroom and packed up her things ready for departure. A resolution was growing in her. She couldn’t tell from whence it came, but instinctively she knew that she must not let Renzo go after Henry alone.
‘Are you ready?’ Renzo asked when she appeared.
‘Yes, but I’m not going down. I’m coming up with you.’
‘No way. That fool could do anything.’
‘Then you might be glad of backup,’ she said defiantly.
‘Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but he’s capable of landing us all at the bottom of a ravine.’
‘Fine, I’ll let you tackle him, and if he takes you down with him, I’ll still be alive to tell the world what happened to you.’
He stared at her, speechless.
‘Look,’ she persisted, ‘I’m coming whether you like it or not. I can either go with you in relative safety, or I can go on my own and take my chances.’
‘Is there any use saying no to you?’ he snapped.
‘None at all, so why are we wasting time?’
Joan and Peter emerged at that moment and Renzo appealed to them. ‘Can you talk some sense into her? She thinks she’s coming with me.’
‘Great idea,’ Joan said. ‘I’ll come too to keep an eye on her.’
‘Me too,’ Peter said.
Renzo tore his hair. ‘When we get out there, you do as I tell you, and if we see Henry, you stay clear.’
Toby was gathering his party ready for departure, asking if anyone was joining them. Mandy, Joan and Peter folded their arms stubbornly, but the rest trooped out, ready to descend the mountain. There were goodbyes all round, and then Renzo was left alone with the other three.
‘You’re mad, all of you,’ he growled.
‘Yup, you’re stuck with us,’ Mandy affirmed. ‘Some people would call it loyalty.’
‘Most people would call it stupidity.’ But his face softened as he said, ‘Thank you.’
As the others busied themselves with final preparations, Renzo moved closer to Mandy, murmuring, ‘You haven’t got the infernal nerve to try and protect me, have you?’
‘What, delicate little me?’ she teased. ‘No, the one I’m trying to protect is Henry—from you.’
‘You might have a point there.’
They fitted on their skis, Renzo checked the ropes that connected them,