by Betty Neels
`No plans for yourself?'
She said a little stiffly: `I'm quite happy Professor.'
His thick eyebrows arched. `Yes? I ask too many questions, don't I?' He got up and went to open the french window and a small hairy dog, all tail and large paws, came romping in, followed by an Irish setter, walking with dignity. `You don't object to dogs?' asked the professor. 'Dong and Pobble like to be with me as much as possible when I'm home.'
Lavinia was on her knees making friends. `Nonsense Songs!' she cried happily. `Which one's Dong?'
`The setter. My daughter named them ,most people look at me as though I'm mad when I mention their names, but then the Nonsense Songs aren't read very widely.'
'No-my father used to read them to me when I was a little girl.' She got to her feet. `I'm sure my dress must be dry by now you've been very kind, but I'm wasting your morning; I'll go and find your housekeeper if I may.'
For answer he tugged the beautifully embroidered bell-pull beside his chair, and when Mevrouw Pette came said something or other which caused her to smile and nod and beckon to Lavinia, who got up obediently and followed her out of the room.
Her dress was dry once more and moreover pressed by an expert hand. She did her face and hair, laid the dressing gown lovingly on the thick silk bed quilt, and went downstairs. The professor was in the hall, and she stifled a pang of disappointment that he appeared so anxious to speed her on her way, even as she achieved a bright, friendly smile and hurried to the door. He opened it as she reached his side and she thrust out a hand, searching frantically for something suitable to say by way of farewell. But there was no need to say anything; he took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he gripped it firmly, whistled piercingly to the dogs, and went out of the door with her. At the car she halted. `Thank you,' she tried again, in what she hoped was a final sort of voice. `There's really no need ...I know where I am.' She glanced up at the sky, the greyness had changed back to blue once more. `I shall enjoy walking."
'Fiddle,' declared her companion, and opened the car door. 'I'm going to show you the Rijksmuseum, and we'll have to take the car because these two like to sit in the back and guard it when I'm not there.'
He opened the other door as he spoke and the two astute animals rushed past him and took up position with a determination which brooked no interference on Lavinia's part; she got in too, at a loss for words.
Her companion didn't appear to notice her silence but drove off with the air of a wellcontented man, and only when they were almost at the museum did he remark: `Everyone comes to see the Nachwacht, of course-it's a wonderful painting, but there are several which I like much better. I'd like to show them to you.' He paused and added gently: `And if you say how kind just once more, I shall wring your neck!'
Lavinia jumped and gave him a startled look; he wasn't behaving like a professor at all, nor, for that matter, like a man who would never see forty again. `I can't think why you should speak to me like that,' she reproved him austerely, and was reduced to silence by his: `Am I cutting the corners too fine for you? It seemed to me that since we liked each other on sight, it would be a little silly to go through all the preliminaries, but if you would prefer that, I'll call you Miss Hawkins for a week or two, erase from my mind the sight of you in Sibendina's dressing gown, and drop you off at the next bus stop.'
She had cried: `Oh, don't do that,' before she could stop herself, and went on a little wildly: `You see, I'm not used to-to ... well, I don't get asked out much and so none of this seems quite real-more like a dream.'
`But dreams are true while they last-your Tennyson said so, what's more doesn't he go on to say: "And do we not live in dreams?" So no more nonsense, Lavinia.'
He swept the car into the great forecourt of the museum, gave the dogs a quiet command and opened her door. He took her arm as they went in together and it seemed the most natural thing in the world that he should do so. She smiled up at him as they paused before the first picture.
There was no hurry. They strolled from one room to the next, to come finally to the enormous Nachtwacht and sit before it for a little while, picking out the figures which peopled the vast canvas, until the professor said: `Now come and see my favourites.' Two small portraits, an old man and an old woman, wrinkled and blue-eyed and dignified, and so alive that Lavinia felt that she could have held a conversation with them.
`Nice, aren't they?' observed her companion. `Come and look at the Lelys.'
She liked these even better; she went from one exquisitely painted portrait to the next and back again. `Look at those pearls,' she begged him. `They look absolutely real..."
'Well, most likely they were,' he pointed out reasonably. `Do you like pearls?"
'Me? Yes, of course I do, though I'm not sure that I've ever seen any real ones. The Queen has some, but I don't suppose there are many women who possess any.'
He smiled and she wondered why he looked amused. `Probably not. Will you have lunch with me, Lavinia?'
She hesitated. `How k...' She caught the gleam in his eye then and chuckled delightfully. `I've never fancied having my neck wrung in public, so I'll say yes, thank you.'
`Wise girl.' He tucked an arm in hers and began to walk to the exit, then stopped to look at her. `How old are you?' he wanted to know.
She breathed an indignant: 'Well...' then told him: `Twenty-six,' adding with an engaging twinkle: `How rude of you to ask!'
`But you didn't mind telling me. I'm getting on for forty-one."
'Yes, I know.' And at his sharp glance of inquiry: `One of the nurses told me-not gossiping.'
He said very evenly: `And you were also told that I am a widower, and that I have a daughter.'
`Oh, yes. You see, they all like you very much-they're a bit scared of you too, I think, but they like it that way-you're a bit larger than life, you know.'
He didn't answer at once, in fact he didn't speak at all during their short drive back to the house, only as he drew up before his door he said in a quiet voice: `I don't care for flattery, Lavinia.'
Her pleasant face went slowly pink; a quite unaccountable rage shook her. She said on a heaving breath: `You think that's what I'm doing? Toadying to you? Just because you're smashing to look at and a professor and-and took me out to supper ...and so now I'm angling for another meal, am I?'
She choked on temper while she made furious efforts to get the car door open. Without success at first and when she did manage it, his hand came down on hers and held it fast. His voice was still quiet, but now it held warmth. `I don't know why I said that, Lavinia, unless it was because I wanted to hear you say that I was wrong-and you have. No, leave the door alone. I'm sorry-will you forgive me?' And when she didn't answer: `Lavinia?'
She said stiffly: `Very well,' and forgot to be stiff. `Oh, of course I will; I fly off the handle myself sometimes-only you sounded horrid.'
`I am quite often horrid-ask my daughter.' His hand was still on hers, but now he took it away and opened the door for her, and when she looked at him he smiled and said: 'Mevrouw Pette has promised us one of her special lunches, shall we go in?'
She smiled back; it was all right, they were back where they had been; a pleasant, easygoing friendship which made her forget that she wasn't a raving beauty, and allowed her to be her own uncomplicated self.
`Super, I'm famished, though I keep meaning not to eat, you know-only I get hungry.'
He was letting the dogs out and turned round to ask: `Not eating? A self-imposed penance?"
'No-I'm trying to get really slim.'
Dong and Pobble were prancing round her and she bent to rub their ears and then jumped at his sudden roar. `You just go on eating,' he said forcefully. `I like to be able to tell the front of a woman from her back, these skeletal types teetering round on four-inch soles don't appeal to me.'
She laughed. `It would take months of dieting to get me to that state, but I promise you I'll eat a good lunch, just to please you.'
They went into the h
ouse then, the dogs racing ahead once they were inside so that they could sit as near the professor as possible, while Lavinia went upstairs to do things to her face and hair, and when she came down again they had drinks, talking companionably, before going into lunch, laid in what the professor called the little sitting-room, which turned out to be almost as large as the room they had just come from.
`The dining-room is so vast that we feel lost in it,' he explained, and then as a door banged: `Ah, here is Sibendina.'
Lavinia had only just noticed that there were places laid for three on the table and she wasn't sure if she was pleased or not; she was curious to meet the professor's daughter, but on the other hand she had been looking forward to being alone with him. She turned to look over her shoulder as the girl came into the room, at the same time advising herself not to become too interested in the professor and his family; he had befriended her out of kindness and she must remember that.
Sibendina was like her father, tall and big and fair, with his blue eyes but fortunately with someone else's nose, for his, while exactly right on his own handsome face, would have looked quite overpowering on her pretty one. She came across the room at a run, embraced her father with pleasure and then looked at Lavinia, and when he had introduced them with easy good manners, she shook hands, exclaiming: `I've heard about you-may I call you Lavinia? I've been looking forward to meeting you.'
She sat down opposite her father and grinned engagingly. `Now I can practise my English,' she declared.
`Why not, Sibby? Although Lavinia might like to practise her Dutch-she's already having lessons.'
`And hours of homework,' said Lavinia, `which I feel compelled to do, otherwise Juffrouw de Waal makes me feel utterly worthless.'
They all laughed as Mevrouw Pette brought in lunch, and presently the talk was of everything under the sun, with Sibendina asking a great many questions about England and Peta's school. `She isn't much older than I am,' she observed, `but she sounds very clever-what is she going to study next?"
'Well, I don't really know; if she comes here to live with me I thought she might have Dutch lessons, then if she's passed her eight O levels, she might be able to take a secretarial course-the Common Market,' Lavinia finished a little vaguely.
`Not nursing?' the professor wanted to know.
Lavinia shook her head. `Peta's too gentle-she can't stand people being angry or bad-tempered, and there's quite a bit of that when you start training.'
Sibendina was peeling a peach. `She sounds nice, I should like very much to meet her. When does she come?"
'I don't know if the hospital will keep mc yet-if it's OK I'll find somewhere to live and then go and fetch her.'
`And this aunt she lives with-will she not mind?'
Lavinia smiled at the girl. `I think perhaps she will mind very much-I'm rather dreading it, but I promised Peta.'
`But if you did not go what would your sister do?"
'I think she might run away,' said Lavinia soberly. `You see, she's not very happy.'
Sibendina looked at the professor, sitting quietly and saying almost nothing. `Papa, you must do something.' She looked at the Friesian wall clock. `I have to go; I shall be late for class-you will excuse me, please.' She went round the table and kissed her father. `Papa,' she said persuasively, `you will do something, please. I like Lavinia very much and I think that I shall like Peta too.'
He spoke to her but he looked at Lavinia. `Well, that's a good thing,' he observed blandly, `for I'm going to ask Lavinia to marry me-not at once, I shall have to wait for her to get used to the idea.'
Lavinia felt the colour leave her face and then come rushing back into it. She hardly heard Sibendina's crow of delighted laughter as she ran out of the room, calling something in Dutch as she went. She was looking at the professor who, in his turn, was watching her closely. `Don't look like that,' he said in a matter-of-fact voice. `I shan't do anything earth-shattering like dropping on one knee and begging for your hand; just let the idea filter through, and we'll bring the matter up again in a few days. In the meantime what about a brisk walk to the Dam Palace? It's open for inspection and worth a visit.'
She spoke in a voice which was almost a whisper. `Yes, that would be very nice-I've always wanted to see inside a palace. Is it far?'
`No, but we'll go the long way round; the nicest part of Amsterdam is tucked away behind the main streets.'
She could see that he had meant what he had said; he wasn't going to do anything earth-shattering. With an effort she forced herself back on to the friendly footing they had been on before he had made his amazing remark, and even discussed with some degree of intelligence the architecture of the old houses they passed, and once they had reached the palace, her interest in it and its contents became almost feverish in her efforts to forget what he had said.
They had tea at Dikker and Thij s and then walked slowly down Kalverstraat while she looked in the shop windows; a pleasant, normal occupation which soothed her jumping nerves, as did her companion's gentle flow of nothings, none of which needed much in the way of replies on her part. They turned away from the shops at last and the professor led her through the narrow streets without telling her where they were going, so that when they rounded a corner and there was the hospital a stone's throw away, Lavinia almost choked with disappointment. He was going to say good-bye; he had decided to deliver her back safely after a pleasant day, foisted on him by the accident of the rain. He had been joking, she told herself savagely-he and Sibendina, and she had actually been taken in. She swallowed the great unmanageable lump in her throat and said politely: `Well, good-bye it's been lovely...'
His surprise was genuine. `What on earth are you talking about? I've only brought you back so that you can change your dress we're going out to dinner.'
She didn't stop the flood of delight which must have shown in her face. `Oh, are we? I didn't know.'
He shepherded her across the street and in through the hospital gates. `I'll be here at seven o'clock, Lavinia-and don't try and do any deep thinking just make yourself pretty and be ready for me.'
Her, `Yes, all right,' was very meek.
CHAPTER FOUR
LAVINIA HADN'T brought many clothes with her; she hadn't much of a wardrobe anyway. She searched through her cupboard now and came to the conclusion that it would have to be the green silk jersey, with its tucked bodice gathered into a wide band which emphasized her small waist and its full sleeves, deeply cuffed; it wasn't exactly spectacular, but it would pass muster. All the same, as she put it on, she wished fervently that it had been a Gina Franati model; something quite super to match the professor's faultlessly tailored clothes.
Anxious not to be late, she hurried down to the entrance to find him already there, deep in conversation with one of the doctors, andd at the sight of his elegance she regretted, once again, the paucity of her wardrobe. But there was no point in brooding over that now. She hitched her coat over one arm and when he turned and saw her, went to meet him, and the pleased look he gave her quite compensated her for having to wear the green jersey. It was Nattering too, the way he took her arm and included her in the conversation he was having for a few minutes. She liked him for that; his manners were beautiful, even if he did startle her sometimes with the things he said.
As they got into the Bentley he said: `I thought we might drive over to den Haag, it's only thirty miles or so. We'll go on the motorway; it's dull, I'm afraid, but I've booked a table for eight o'clock.'
She had expected to feel a little awkward with him, but she didn't. They talked about all manner of things, but not about themselves; she still wasn't sure if he had been joking with Sibendina, and there was no way of finding out, only by asking him, and that she would never do. She would have to wait and see; in the meantime she was going to enjoy herself.
And she did. They dined at the Saur restaurant in the heart of den Haag-upstairs, in a formal, almost Edwardian room, and the food was delicious. She wanted the evening to
go on for ever; she knew by now that she liked the professor very much, although she wasn' i going to admit to any deeper feelings, not until she knew the truth about his astonishing remark about marrying her. She didn't know much about falling in love, but she suspected that this was what was happening to her, but presumably it was something one could check or even smother before it became too strong.
They walked about the town after they had dined, and the professor pointed out the Ridderzaal, the Mauritshuis museum, some of the more interesting statues, an ancient prison gate and the old City Hall, and then strolled goodnaturedly beside her while she took a brief peep at the tempting displays in the shop windows.
On the way back to Amsterdam, tearing along the motorway, they didn't talk a great deal and then only of trifling things, but as they neared the hospital the professor said: `I have to work tomorrow-a pity, I should have enjoyed taking you for a run in the car. We could have had a swim.'
