by Betty Neels
It was her stepmother who spoke first. ‘Darling, we wondered where you were—we were getting quite anxious.’ An absurd remark considering she had herself told Philomena to meet them there at the hotel, but nicely calculated, thought Philomena, to give a motherly and loving impression. And I’m growing to be pretty mean, she told herself, and smiled with extra warmth to make up for it.
‘Sorry, dears—I went down to have a look at the river. I met Doctor van der Tacx there—he’s been at Faith’s. Mother…’ She made the introductions with an unconscious charm and felt wry amusement at Chloe’s and Miriam’s instant reactions. They were used to men finding them attractive and normally they didn’t pay much attention to them, accepting their admiration as their due, but in the doctor they saw someone rather different. Any girl would be more than delighted to have him dancing attendance. Philomena, exchanging small talk with Mr and Mrs Pierce, heard Miriam inviting him to the party and Chloe chiming in asking him to join them at lunch.
She supposed it was mean of her to be pleased when he declined lunch, even a drink, pleading a previous engagement, but her pleasure was short-lived because her stepmother added her own persuasive voice to Miriam’s and before he left them he had promised to come to the party that evening. His goodbyes were made a few minutes later. His manners were nice, thought Philomena, although he might have offered her rather more than the casual nod he gave her. Although, come to think of it, why should he when Chloe and Miriam were there to distract him from anyone and anything else?
During lunch she was questioned a good deal about him in a good-natured fashion. ‘Did he know that you were here?’ asked Chloe.
Philomena shook her head. ‘No, it was pure chance—someone told him the Priory was a splendid place to stay at and so he came here.’
‘And of course,’ remarked her stepmother with unintentional cruelty, ‘you wouldn’t have known him very well at Faith’s, would you? You’re hardly his kind of girl.’
A home truth which needed to be swallowed with as good a grace as she could manage. It was Mrs Pierce who changed the conversation to the all-important one of the party, and Mr Pierce who asked the attentive manager to bring another bottle of claret, both of which actions helped Philomena considerably in the regaining of her usual calm.
CHAPTER THREE
PHILOMENA HAD LITTLE TIME to think about the doctor during the afternoon. There were a dozen and one jobs to do, and as Chloe and Miriam, after helping her for an hour or so, cried off, declaring that they would be fit for nothing unless they put their feet up for the rest of the afternoon, she was kept busy until well after teatime. It was her stepmother, coming down from her room to make sure that the preparations were complete, who found her arranging the buffet supper in the dining room and told her to leave what she was doing and get herself dressed.
‘Well, I will if there’s someone free to finish this,’ agreed Philomena. But there wasn’t—Molly, reinforced by the daily woman, was busy in the kitchen, and both girls were still in their rooms, and as her stepmother pointed out with lazy good nature, she herself was quite incapable of arranging things on plates.
‘You’ll just have to hurry up, darling,’ she observed pleasantly. ‘Luckily you never take long to dress, do you?’ She paused as she was about to go out of the room, frowning a little. ‘I hope you’ve got something pretty to wear. Chloe has that apricot crêpe and Miriam is wearing leaf green—you saw them—for heaven’s sake don’t clash with them.’
‘I won’t,’ Philomena assured her. ‘I played safe—it’s cream silk and quite unobtrusive.’
‘Oh, good. How thoughtful of you, darling—you’re such a nice girl, Philly—such a pity you haven’t your sisters’ looks.’
And half an hour later Philomena heartily agreed with her, looking at her reflection in the long wall mirror in her pretty bedroom. The dress was pretty but not in the least eye-catching, although did she but know it, its demure simplicity was flattering to her pretty figure and its creamy whiteness served as a splendid contrast to her green eyes. But she didn’t see this, only that her long fine hair hadn’t a curl in it and her nose and mouth were quite nondescript. But there wasn’t much time to waste on her appearance; Chloe had given her a bottle of Vu perfume which she hadn’t cared for herself, and Philomena sprayed it on her person with a discreet hand, happily unaware that it didn’t suit her at all, and sped downstairs just in time to greet the first guests, lead them to the big sitting room and offer them drinks. Her stepmother and the girls were in the hall, the three of them making a quite startlingly lovely picture grouped together in an eye-catching pose as the guests entered the house. Philomena knew exactly the effect they would have on Doctor van der Tacx when he arrived, and she was proved correct; for he made his way across the crowded room when he caught sight of her and after a casual ‘Hullo,’ remarked: ‘What remarkably pretty girls your sisters are—they quite take one’s breath.’
Philomena eyed him calmly, reflecting that as far as she was concerned she might as well have been wearing a sack. ‘They’re quite beautiful,’ she agreed serenely. ‘And they’re clever and kind, too,’ she added for good measure and not quite truthfully. ‘They’re not a bit conceited, either.’
He stood looking down at her, very handsome in his dinner jacket, half smiling. ‘But they haven’t green eyes,’ he observed quietly as he studied her in a leisurely fashion. ‘I like your dress—it’s pretty and suits you…’ He saw her eyes flash and added: ‘I did that badly, didn’t I? Forgive me; to admire your sisters and ignore you—I suppose I felt that I didn’t need to tell you…’
‘You don’t need to tell me anything.’ She strove to keep her voice cool and faintly amused. ‘You forget that I’ve been their sister for a long time; if you didn’t admire them I should feel quite annoyed with you.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘What an unnatural girl you are not to wish for admiration for yourself.’
She longed to tell him just how much she did wish it, but what would be the use? To stir up pity and rekindle the kindness he had shown her? She said tartly: ‘You must think I’m a halfwit to wish any such thing.’ Then she smiled brightly at him. ‘Come and meet some of our friends—we’re going to dance in the drawing room presently.’
She led him round the room and presently Miriam joined them, saying that she would take him under her wing. ‘As I expect you and Philly see enough of each other in hospital; working with people isn’t at all the same as knowing them socially, is it?’ she asked gaily. ‘If we leave you together I suppose you’ll only talk about operations and people being ill, I’m sure that’s all you have in common.’
Philomena said nothing but smiled a little and slid away to talk to old Mrs Glenville, who was really too elderly for parties but was too much a family friend to leave out, and when they all trooped into the drawing room presently she immediately accepted Mr Pierce’s invitation to partner him, trying not to notice that Miriam and Doctor van der Tacx were dancing together and looking quite the handsomest couple in the room, and later when she saw him take Chloe out on to the verandah which ran the length of the long room, she pretended not to see that too.
But it was Miriam he danced with most; the evening was more than half over before he made his way across the floor and asked Philomena to dance. She would have liked to refuse him, but she had no excuse, and besides, she warned herself, it would have been childish to have done so—and what, in heaven’s name, did she expect? So she accepted gaily and gyrated and shrugged her way through the next ten minutes; she didn’t much like dancing by herself; she supposed she was old-fashioned, but to her way of thinking, waltzing or foxtrotting with an agreeable partner was preferable to turning and twisting opposite each other with little or no chance to talk. Apparently the doctor felt the same way, for suddenly he stretched out a long arm and plucked her away from the twirling dancers and walked her out to the verandah. Once there he sat her down on one of the cane benches, said: ‘That’s better,’ and set
tled himself beside her.
‘Splendid exercise,’ he observed mildly, ‘but I’m too large for it. I prefer something more restful—sailing or skating.’
‘Have you a boat?’ she asked.
‘Oh, yes—I potter around the Friesian lakes whenever I have the leisure in the summer. Do you sail, Philomena?’
‘Only a dinghy.’
‘And skate?’
‘Ice skating, you mean?’ She shook her head. ‘I’d love to, though, it looks so easy.’
‘It is. When do you go back to Faith’s?’
‘The day after tomorrow.’
‘I’ll drive you up—I have to be there myself.’
Philomena hesitated; there was nothing she would like better, but he had said that he was on holiday. Perhaps he didn’t have to return quite so soon, perhaps he was just being kind again…
‘That’s settled, then,’ he said comfortably without waiting for her to answer, and then: ‘You should be sharing the glory with Chloe, shouldn’t you?’
‘Me? It’s not my birthday… Oh, you mean because I passed my Finals.’
‘Yes, I did mean that. I hear that you are also Gold Medallist for the year—are you keeping that a secret too?’
She said sharply: ‘I’m not keeping it a secret—it’s not important compared with Chloe’s birthday.’
He turned to look at her in the dim light. ‘Didn’t anyone ask you?’ he asked her quietly.
How tiresome he was with his questions! ‘Well, they had a lot to think about,’ she mumbled lamely.
‘Indeed, yes.’
The dancing had stopped for the moment and it was very quiet until Doctor van der Tacx told her with shattering frankness: ‘You’re wearing the wrong kind of perfume—much too sophisticated for you, Philomena. Did you choose it?’
She was too taken aback to be annoyed. ‘Well, no— Chloe had it given to her and she didn’t like it. It’s French and very expensive.’
‘And on the right person, quite delightful.’
‘But not me,’ she said in a small voice.
‘Not you, Philly. I…’ He paused as the door was flung wide and Miriam and a young man came out. ‘Here they are!’ she cried. ‘I guessed you’d be here, discussing the latest thing in broken bones, I suppose.’ She gave her companion a push. ‘Take Philly in to supper, Bill. I’ll see that Walle gets his, but first I want to show him the river from the bottom of the garden.’
That was the last Philomena saw of him, except for a rather vague goodnight when he said goodbye to Mrs Parsons. Chloe and Miriam were there too, of course, as the guests went home, and he wasn’t vague with either of them, she was quick to notice. Indeed, Miriam was clinging to his arm and whispering to him—it must have been something very amusing, because he laughed down at her in what Philomena considered to be a quite besotted fashion.
She was up early in the morning, helping Molly to get the house straight again, taking trays up to her stepmother and sisters, helping Molly to prepare the lunch, but presently when she had done these things she got into slacks and a sweater, told Molly that she was going riding, and left the house. There was a riding stables close by and Mr Stiles who owned it was a good friend of hers; Bessy, the little grey mare she always rode, was saddled for her and she went out of the town towards Holton Heath. There was little traffic, it was still too early in the year for that, and what weekend traffic there was on its way to Bournemouth had passed through the day before. Only one car passed her as she crossed the Wool road from the stables to take a bridle path circumventing the town—a Khamsin with the doctor at the wheel. He was going in the direction of her home and she thought wryly that he would be lucky if he didn’t have to wait at least an hour for Miriam, since it would be she he was going to see. He braked hard when he saw her, but she didn’t stop, only raised a gloved hand in casual salute before she turned Bessy’s nose into the bridle path.
She didn’t get back home until almost teatime, to find her stepmother and sisters out and Molly in the kitchen with her feet up taking a well-earned rest. ‘Your ma’s gone to the Pierces’, Miss Chloe went out after lunch with a bunch of young people, and Miss Miriam went out with that doctor.’ She peeped at Philomena as she spoke. ‘He didn’t sound too keen to take her, but she’s always able to get her own way. They said cold supper as they didn’t know when they would be back. There’s a nice tea for you, Miss Philly, you go along and change and I’ll bring it along to the sitting room. Are you going to be in for supper?’
Philomena nodded. ‘I think so, Molly—I’ll go to church and then come straight back here. I must pack too…’
It struck her suddenly that she had no idea at what time Doctor van der Tacx intended leaving. She was on duty at two o’clock the next day, she would have to leave fairly early in the morning, if he didn’t know that, and come to think of it, she hadn’t told him, he might have arranged to leave himself much later in the day, in which case she would have to go by train. She went upstairs and bathed and changed into her suit, and presently ate a splendid tea round the fire in the sitting room before going to rummage through her cupboards to find a hat for church.
She sat in the family pew towards the front of the lovely old church, and the service was just about to begin when Doctor van der Tacx slid into the seat beside her. Beyond smiling at her he said nothing; she had no idea if he was as surprised as she was, and there was no way of finding out. He joined in the service in the most natural manner possible and when it was over walked with her to the door and stood a moment in the porch. It was a quiet spring evening, though a little chilly, and the Priory Hotel, a stone’s throw away, had welcoming lights at its entrance. ‘Will eight o’clock suit you?’ asked the doctor suddenly. ‘You’re on duty at two o’clock, aren’t you? I went to see you this morning but you—er—didn’t stop.’
Philomena was surprised at the surge of pleasure his words engendered. She said slowly: ‘I didn’t know you wanted to speak to me—I thought…’ she paused; if she said that he would think she was envious of her sisters, and she wasn’t. ‘Eight o’clock would do fine—do you want me to meet you here?’
‘I’ll come for you.’ He looked as though he was going to say something else, but when he didn’t she added a quiet ‘Goodnight,’ and smiled at him before crossing the little square in front of the church on her way home.
She was ready and waiting when the Khamsin crept to a halt before the door. She had said goodbye to her stepmother and sisters and they had opened sleepy eyes and smiled at her and murmured, ‘Come home again soon, Philly,’ and gone to sleep again before she was out of their rooms, and Molly, urging her to eat her breakfast, had been almost tearful. She was in the hall now, fussing a little, reminding her to do this, that and the other thing, to write, not to forget her old Molly. Philomena gave her an affectionate hug and thanked her for her lovely weekend because her stepmother hadn’t heard when she had said that in her bedroom and she felt that someone should be thanked. She was glad to see how kind the doctor was to Molly; waiting patiently while the housekeeper delayed them with last-minute questions and then bidding her goodbye. ‘Philly must love coming home to you,’ he observed as he took her hand, and she watched her faithful old friend’s face wreath itself in smiles.
They took the Wimborne Minster road, cutting across country along roads which Philomena was surprised to discover he knew. It was a clear morning, the early sunshine taking the chill off the night, and there wasn’t much traffic. She made a few tentative remarks which her companion answered pleasantly enough, but without much encouragement, so that presently she lapsed into silence, a silence which he broke once they were on the A31, speeding towards the motorway.
‘You sped away rather sharply after church,’ he observed. ‘I was about to ask you to have dinner with me at the hotel, but I didn’t dare…’
‘Didn’t dare?’ she repeated, astonished.
‘You can be—what is the word?—daunting. I think I was afraid of being snubbed.
’
She turned to look at him. ‘But that’s absurd! Why should I snub you?’
‘I don’t know—you tell me.’
‘Well, I didn’t mean to.’ She added in a sudden burst of honesty: ‘I thought you might think that I was waiting for you to give me a drink or walk home with me.’
‘And you didn’t want me to do either?’ He shot past a cattle truck, slowed to bypass Ringwood and got up speed again as he took the road to Cadnam.
‘Yes, I did. Isn’t it a lovely morning? Did they mind giving you such an early breakfast at the Priory?’
‘No, not in the least.’ They were almost at the motorway now and he kept up a good speed, and as they joined it put his foot down, so that the powerful car shot forward along the almost empty road. He didn’t say much until they were clear of the Winchester bypass and heading for Alresford.
‘Are we going the right way?’ asked Philomena.
‘I thought coffee at the Bell in Alresford, we can go on from there to Alton and then run up to the M3.’
There was plenty of time; she agreed happily. It was while they were sitting in the coffee room of the old coaching inn that he asked: ‘What are you going to do next?’
She spooned sugar into her cup. ‘Oh, well—if I wait for a time, I can apply for a Sister’s post. I expect I’ll stay on Men’s Surgical until then.’
‘And when is then?’
‘A year, perhaps—when there’s a vacancy; someone getting married or retiring or going to another post—one never knows.’