from Chapter 14

Like a spectre, Yannis Vissinos lurked in the shadows wherever Ariadne went in the city, and she began to run into him with a frequency that made her uneasy. Once, as she waited at the trolley stop on her way downtown, she saw him clipping along Venizelou Avenue near the intersection of her small street, twisting his head from side to side like a periscope, making sure he wasn't being followed. Another time she found him in the shop of a man named Stavros, who imported the latest fashions from London. Ariadne was trying on an ankle-length black skirt when she heard Yannis' voice, then saw his face hovering over her shoulder in the mirror. The skirt, he informed her, made her look like a village granny. He carried over a long, red velvet dress with chains hanging vertically from the waist, which hiked up the skirt like drapes. He held the dress in front of himself and posed. "Lovely, lovely," exhorted Stavros, applauding. The dress was more expensive than the skirt, and Ariadne hesitated, even though Yannis insisted that the red brought out the demon in her eyes. This was the first time he had ever spoken directly to her and the sound of his voice disarmed her, his words jumbling up in her brain for a few moments before they made any sense. She spied on him through the mirror, scanning the sharp angles of his face, the slope of his thin nose, the incongruous pout of his lips, then made up her mind. She wanted the red dress -- any other choice now seemed ridiculous -- so she paid for it and wore it home.