by Betty Neels
‘No—’ Tabitha hesitated, wondering if she should tell him, and decided against it. She sat quietly beside him until he had finished reading and then asked: ‘Are there any plans for today?’ because that seemed the natural question to ask and would perhaps prevent him from talking about the previous evening. She didn’t want to hear how lovely Lilith had looked…besides, he had been looking quietly satisfied with himself ever since they had met that morning.
Marius got to his feet and pulled her to hers. ‘How about going down to the Zilveren Schor for a quick swim? I’ve a luncheon date and I don’t expect to be back until after tea—perhaps later.’
She said ‘Oh?’ in an uncertain voice, longing to ask who he would be with, and went scarlet when he added mildly: ‘You’re dying to know who with, aren’t you, but I daresay you can guess—Lilith and your stepmother. They’re going back tomorrow, you know.’
Presumably that was reason enough to spend most of the day with them. She said composedly despite her red face: ‘Oh, yes. How quickly the week has gone—too quickly for you, I expect.’
He gave her a long hard look. ‘Why, now that you mention it,’ he answered coolly, ‘yes, far too quickly.’
They went back into the house then and joined the others for breakfast. They, it seemed, knew about Marius’s date and were full of an afternoon’s shopping they had planned in Bergen-op-Zoom, and when Tabitha wanted to know why they couldn’t go to Middelburg, which was a great deal nearer and surely just as interesting, they put forward so many reasons why Bergen-op-Zoom was the only place to go that she very quickly realized that Marius was going to Middelburg and they were all being very tactful about it.
The Zilveren Schor wasn’t very far and they had the wind with them. They tied up to a convenient pole and went ashore and Tabitha discovered that only she and Marius were going to swim, for Muriel declared that she had no energy and the water there was far too deep for her anyway.
There was a very small island off-shore; Tabitha and Marius swam towards it without haste and then lay on its tiny sandy beach. It was pleasantly warm and the sun was bright, so that she lay with her eyes closed, hoping that this might discourage conversation. It did nothing of the sort, for Marius said almost immediately:
‘I shall miss these pleasant outings—you’re a good companion in the water, Tabby.’
She kept her eyes shut and said ‘Um’ in an unforthcoming way.
‘You’re not bad at crewing either,’ he conceded.
‘Uh-huh,’ said Tabitha. ‘I’m not much good on a boat the size of the Piet Hein—I’m used to dinghies.’
‘All the more credit to you,’ he went on smoothly. ‘You should go back to work feeling like a giant—giantess, refreshed.’
‘I shall, thanks to you. It’s been a lovely holiday—I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.’
Which was by no means true and perhaps Marius guessed it, for he said on a laugh: ‘Oh, Tabitha, that’s a sweeping statement.’ He rolled over on his side to look at her. ‘Shall I ask Lilith and your stepmother in for drinks this evening so that you can wish them goodbye? You haven’t seen much of them.’
Tabitha got up and started to wade back into the water. When he caught up with her she said with a little spurt of anger: ‘Are you trying to change me? I can think of no other reason…just because you’re going to marry into the family doesn’t give you the right…’ She stopped because her voice had become a little shrill. ‘It would be nicer for you if things were different, but you don’t have to be friends with me, you know—it upsets Lilith. We never have got on well and there’s nothing you can do about it.’
She dived under the water and then went into a brisk crawl. What with temper and swimming beyond her strength she was breathless when they reached the shore again; it was annoying that Marius was breathing as easily as though he had just got out of a chair. He caught her by the hand at the water’s edge. ‘Since I am to marry into the family,’ he said silkily, ‘allow me to tell you that I shall do exactly as I wish to do. You talk wildly, dear girl, and that’s not your usual form.’
She pulled away from him and ran away to change, and when she got back it was time to return to Veere. She hardly spoke to him on the way back and when she did he blandly ignored her curtness so that she derived little or no satisfaction from it.
She was in the little walled garden, hanging out the bathing kit in the sunshine when he joined her. ‘I’m off,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Enjoy your afternoon’s shopping. There’s something I want to give you before you go.’
Tabitha adjusted her bikini top to a nicety on the line. ‘What’s that?’ she wanted to know coldly, and turned round to be caught and kissed soundly.
‘Why, a brotherly kiss, dear girl,’ said Marius. He held her for a moment longer, staring down at her with twinkling eyes, then deliberately bent his head and kissed her again. He had gone before she had time to get her breath. She went slowly indoors and up to her room to tidy herself for lunch. If that was brotherly behaviour then the quicker she uprooted herself and went to live somewhere inaccessible, like the Highlands of Scotland or a remote part of Wales, where even a Bentley wouldn’t reach her all that easily, the better for her peace of mind. Not that he was likely to come after her; Lilith would see to that. She sat combing her hair, wondering where he and Lilith would live, for she couldn’t imagine her stepsister in Veere. Even if Lilith actually fell in love with Marius she would still want her own way.
Tabitha flung down her brush and went downstairs to Mr Bow’s room where she knocked and asked if he needed anything. It was purely a rhetorical question, for he was sitting in great comfort with The Times on his lap and a pile of books as well as a drink on the table beside him. He looked up briefly, said ‘No, my dear,’ and then because he was a discerning old man and Tabitha looked unhappy, went on: ‘Come in and keep me company for a few minutes.’
Tabitha sat down opposite him and looked out of the window just in time to see the Bentley purr past; Lilith sat beside Marius, Mrs Crawley was in the back. Mr Bow saw them too. By way of opening the conversation he said: ‘Well, well, there they go.’
Tabitha began to tour the room in a restless way, looking at pictures and fingering the trifles of silver and china lying around. Finally she burst out, not really meaning to say it: ‘I suppose when Marius marries he’ll live here.’
If Mr Bow found her remark unexpected he made no mention of the fact.
‘I imagine so. It is his home, he would choose to be here for most of the year, I should think.’
Tabitha dumped a small Sévres dish back on to a side table with a decided thump. ‘Most of the year? Where else should he go?’
Mr Bow allowed himself a smile behind his magnificent whiskers. ‘Well, he has a flat in Rotterdam because of his work there, but probably if he had a wife and children here he would commute…but I would suppose he might have some sort of residence in England. He’s over there frequently, you know, and with hotels the price they are…’ he shook his head and tut-tutted about the hotels. ‘No, Marius would make a home there too. He has, as you may have observed, my dear Tabitha, no need to practise economy.’
Tabitha said nothing to this; she was examining a mezzotint of the house, a charming thing. Mr Bow went on gently: ‘Marius has waited a long time to marry, probably he has been too busy to fall for—er—female blandishments. Now of course he is established in his own field. I daresay he will settle down.’
Tabitha turned her back on the mezzotint and came and stood in front of Mr Bow. Her voice was fierce. ‘You really think that?’
‘That is my considered opinion, my dear young lady, although I speak only for myself. Perhaps you have your own ideas?’
‘Yes,’ said Tabitha a trifle wildly, ‘I have. I—I think I’ll take Smith for a walk before lunch—there’s still ten minutes or so, isn’t there?’
She was at the door when Mr Bow murmured: ‘Marius won’t make the mistake of marrying the wrong girl, you know.’
Tabitha thought about that as she and Smith sauntered along the harbour. Because of course, however much Mr Bow and she herself considered Lilith to be the wrong girl for Marius, what difference would it make if he, for his part, thought her the right one?
The afternoon in Bergen-op-Zoom was pleasant, with Hans to look after Mr Bow and Bill Raynard while the two girls went shopping. They got back in the early evening and there was no sign of Marius—indeed, he didn’t appear until a few minutes before dinner when he looked in briefly as he passed the sitting room before going to the kitchen to talk to Hans at some length. And when he joined them it was to enter at once into their talk without giving one single inkling as to where he had been or what he had done.
Dinner was gay, almost as though there was something to celebrate, which probably there was, thought Tabitha, being gayer than anyone else, and after dinner they crowded into the Bentley and drove over to Domburg for drinks at the Dolphijn restaurant and talked about everything under the sun except Lilith and Mrs Crawley, who weren’t mentioned. Tabitha, peeping at Marius from her seat beside Mr Raynard, came to the conclusion that under the bland façade of his handsome face, he was excited. About Lilith, of course, but why hadn’t she been invited to join them? Tabitha remembered that he had told her that he would invite Lilith and her stepmother in for drinks, and here they were in Domburg. She said across the little table between them: ‘I thought you were going to ask Lilith…’
He cut in smoothly: ‘They have to pack. They preferred to come for coffee tomorrow morning before they leave.’ He half smiled at her and turned away, making it impossible to ask any more questions.
They went to bed much later than usual. Tabitha, on her way to Muriel’s room with some shopping she had taken to her own room by mistake, was surprised to meet Marius on the lower landing, on the point of going into Mr Bow’s room. She stopped short, forgetful of flying hair and a hastily thrown on dressing gown, and whispered: ‘You’re not going in? You don’t mind me saying so, but Mr Bow was very tired when I helped him to bed—don’t you think he might be asleep?’
‘No,’ Marius sounded amused. ‘He’s expecting me. We’ve—er—things to discuss.’
Tabitha pinkened. ‘I’m sorry, it’s not my business, only I thought…’
He nodded and the corner of his mouth twitched. ‘Yes, Tabby. Now run along before I forget myself.’
She said good night rather huffily; he need not have been quite so high-handed; she was, after all, a nurse and her duties, however light, surely included seeing that Mr Bow had a good night’s rest. She crossed the landing and tapped at Muriel’s door and as she went in looked back at Marius. He had made no attempt to go into Knotty’s room; he was still standing where she had left him, watching her. She tossed her head and went in to give Muriel her parcel.
‘They’re up to something,’ Muriel confided. ‘Bill’s still downstairs—says Marius will help him up to Mr Bow’s room to have a little chat.’ She snorted delicately. ‘What about, I wonder?’ She looked enquiringly at Tabitha who said she had no idea and after a few more words went away to bed. As she crossed the landing she could hear a steady murmur of voices coming from Mr Bow’s room.
Marius appeared at breakfast dressed quite obviously for something other than a sailing trip. Tabitha, eyeing his well tailored elegance covertly as he took his seat at the table, could well understand that any woman would be glad to have him for an escort. She buttered a finger of toast and then sat with it arrested in mid-air; he was going to drive Lilith and her stepmother to Schipol. Why hadn’t she thought of that before, for was it not the most natural thing in the world that he should want to see as much of Lilith as possible? She found herself wishing that her own holiday was over; Marius must be wishing that he was leaving with Lilith…
‘Daydreaming again,’ remarked Mr Raynard grumpily. ‘Here am I begging for butter and all you can do is to stare before you like Lady Macbeth!’
Tabitha begged his pardon, passed the butter and went on with her own breakfast, and presently found herself walking to the post office with Mr Bow, who, as usual, had a great many letters to post.
She said, for something to say: ‘I’ve never met anyone like you—you write letters every day.’
‘Yes,’ said Mr Bow happily, ‘I have written to everyone in the ward as well as to Mr Steele.’
She looked at him with admiration. She had written a great many postcards herself, with a well-tried phrase scribbled on each. ‘They’ll enjoy them. I had a letter from Sue—the theatre sister, you know—she says the ward is almost ready.’
‘Yes—I shall miss my companions there, and you, Tabitha, though I hear that I am to come back into your care for a few days while they do a check-up on my leg.’
Tabitha said worriedly: ‘That reminds me—have you somewhere to go? I’m sure I…’
Mr Bow patted her brown arm. ‘How kind you are, Tabitha. Marius has my future in his very capable hands, though I shall add that I am free to do exactly as I wish.’
Tabitha put the letters in the box. ‘Will you come and live here?’
He became vague. ‘Probably, but not, I imagine, permanently. It depends on several factors; nothing can be finally decided until Marius’s own future is…’
Tabitha shot the last letter in. ‘Oh, yes,’ she said quickly because she didn’t want to know about Marius’s future, not then at any rate. ‘Let’s go back, shall we, or he’ll wonder what’s become of us.’
Mr Bow was suddenly meek. ‘Why, of course—have we time to go back past those delightful little houses behind the Town Hall?’
She knew the ones he meant, she loved them too; they wandered the short distance, pausing to rest every now and then so that by the time they got back to the house Mrs Crawley and Lilith had already arrived. Everyone was in the sitting room and Marius got up and came to apologise because they had already started their coffee without them. ‘We decided to go to Middelburg first,’ he explained, ‘so we must leave earlier than we had planned.’
Tabitha made a suitable little muttering sound which her hearer could interpret as he wished and went to speak to her stepmother, who listened graciously to her wishes that they would have a pleasant journey and then remarked with the little smile Tabitha so hated:
‘I daresay it will be very tedious, but at least Marius will be with us most of the time. Lilith wanted him to come all the way with us, but I advised her not to ask him, for I daresay the rest of you would have objected.’ She gave Tabitha an appraisal, half mocking, half scornful. ‘Though heaven knows he must be bored with you all by now.’ She added with gentle venom: ‘Your skin’s like old leather, Tabitha—and your hair…you look plainer than ever!’
Tabitha got to her feet. ‘I daresay I do—you should be thankful; think what a menace I should be to Lilith if I were pretty.’
She didn’t wait to see the effect of her words but moved across the room to where Muriel was sitting. She was so angry that she was trembling a little and her eyes, usually so calm and soft, held a fine sparkle. She put down her coffee cup with a hand which still shook a little and prepared to sit down, to be frustrated by Lilith, who got up from her chair by Marius with the request that Tabitha should take her upstairs to her room so that she might tidy herself, and there was nothing to do but accede to her wish, although it was apparent to Tabitha that Lilith, who looked as much in need of tidying as the front page of Vogue, had some other purpose in wishing to get her on her own.
She was right. The bedroom door was scarcely shut behind them when Lilith remarked: ‘What a dull lot you are, and how bored Marius must be. I’m glad we came to cheer him up, though we didn’t see as much of him as I’d hoped, but of course he kept on fussing about being with his guests. I must say his manners are delightful,’ she cast a sideways glance at Tabitha who had gone to look out of the window, ‘but you never know what he’s thinking, do you—all that charm. I wonder what’s behind it? Not that it matters to you.’ She gave a
triumphant chortle. ‘I think I’ve got him hooked.’
Tabitha didn’t turn round. ‘How vulgar you are, Lilith,’ she said quietly, while her heart raced happily; so Marius hadn’t asked Lilith to marry him yet; she wondered why not, and got her answer.
‘What a fool you are, Tabby! I’ve been rather clever, you know. It only needs a little more encouragement from me…but first I want to know more about him. He’s—well, vague. He won’t talk about himself, only about this dreary little town—I’m damned if I’ll live in such a poky hole.’
‘Veere is a very lovely place,’ Tabitha said hotly, and Lilith laughed again. ‘As beautiful as Chidlake? I thought that was the only place worth living in? Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for this potty little town.’ She stopped speaking and came and stood by Tabitha. ‘Or,’ she said slowly, ‘perhaps it’s Marius you’ve fallen for?’
Tabitha had expected that. She answered composedly: ‘Mr van Beek is a very kind host and I admire him as a surgeon.’
‘Oh, pooh,’ exclaimed Lilith, ‘don’t you ever think of anything else but your beastly work? What a dead bore you are!’
She strolled back to the mirror and did things to her already perfectly arranged hair. ‘I must say you’ve done very well for yourself—a cushy holiday with almost nothing to do and this gorgeous room—it’s better than mine was at the hotel. Mother said you were going to be a kind of mother’s help.’ She looked around her and added spitefully: ‘Well, you’ll miss it all when you get back, won’t you?’
Tabitha shrugged her shoulders. ‘Will you be at home for the rest of the summer?’ she asked, not because she wanted to know, but it made something to say and Lilith seemed in no hurry to go downstairs yet.
‘Stay at Chidlake? You must be joking! We’re off to London.’ She paused, her eyes slid away from Tabitha’s ‘I can’t remember. We’re going to Paris too. After that we have to wait and see.’ She jumped to her feet and Tabitha opened the door thankfully.
