The mild blue gaze settled on him thoughtfully. The bumpy shiny forehead, still reddened and flushed from that year’s suntan, wrinkled.
‘I won’t read the paper. And I won’t come to see you, unless I’m ordered to, that is. I’ve –’ he searched for a phrase ‘– put it behind me. All right. Two men. You’re not going to tell me any nonsense about lovers and jealousy and such because it’s bullshit, and you know it.’
‘Nothing of the sort,’ placidly. ‘Just a question of the past, as I always thought – and you knew, naturally.’
‘Esther’s past was her affair – and still is.’ Not for the first time, Van der Valk felt admiration for this plain man, who with his simplicity and dignity had made Esther such a good husband.
‘There is nothing that you – or she – would feel ashamed of. Two men whom she once knew. Soldiers. Both had an episode in their past which they feared would come to light. They met her, quite coincidentally, and were alarmed at the realization that she recognized them and knew them. One was a man himself in the habit of any petty blackmail that came his way. The other was a hysterical fellow with no particular harm in him. They were afraid that the past would come to light.’
Zomerlust gave a short, perfectly mirthless laugh.
‘They were safe with Esther.’
‘Their tragedy was that they did not understand that.’
‘She was absolutely faithful. To herself, to her husband, to what she believed in. She’s gone. You will never know what she was like.’
‘I’ll be getting along then,’ said Van der Valk.
‘You get a lawyer – about Ruth. I’ve given you my word. I won’t go back on it. When I say a thing I mean it.’
‘I know.’
*
He had not had the time to phone, and nobody at home was expecting him.
‘Lightly boiled egg all round,’ decided Arlette, much too pleased he was back to be cross at having no warning.
Ruth was doing her homework dutifully at the writing table. Her face lit up when she saw him, and he was touched. All that was left of Esther – he would try and give some of that fidelity.
In the kitchen, changing his shoes, he told Arlette, briefly. She began to cry quietly in front of the stove, keeping her back obstinately to him. Tears fell in the boiled-egg water. He gave her an affectionate gentle smack.
‘Now you needn’t put any salt in.’ He put his slippers on painfully, conscious of enormous fatigue, and limped back to the living-room – she needed to be left alone a few minutes.
‘I’ve got a recitation,’ said Ruth. ‘It’s for tomorrow.’
‘Do you know it?’
‘Nearly all, I think.’
‘Give it me here and I’ll hear you.’
‘Hear me here,’ said Ruth giggling. The poem was nicely written, and the page decorated in coloured pencil with apple-trees. Four spelling mistakes had been corrected in red ink, and the mark was six-and-a-half out of ten.
‘Automne malade by Guillaume Apollinaire,’ she announced importantly. ‘It’s a nice poem.’
‘It’s a good poem.’
‘Automne malade et adoré
Tu mourras quand l’ouragan soufflera
Dans les roseraies.
Quand il aura neigé
Dans les vergers.’
‘Very good so far. Second strophe, please.’
‘Pauvre automne.
Meurs en blancheur et en richesse
De neige et de fruits mûrs …’
‘Au fond …’
‘Oh yes.
Au fond du ciel
Des éperviers planent.’
‘Au fond du ciel des éperviers planent …’ He had forgotten for a moment when he was … ‘Sorry. Last strophe.’
‘Aux lisières lointaines
Les cerfs ont bramé
Et que j’aime ô saison que j’aime tes rumeurs,
Les fruits tombant sans qu’on les cueille,
Le vent et la forêt qui pleurent
Toutes leurs larmes en automne feuille à feuille.
I like this poem.’
‘I think,’ said Van der Valk judiciously, ‘that you have certainly earned sixpence.’
‘Did you forget my smoked goose?’ asked Arlette, bursting in violently.
A Note on the Author
Nicolas Freeling (1927–2003), born Nicolas Davidson, was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the Van der Valk series of detective novels; a television series based on the character was produced for the British ITV network by Thames Television during the 1970s, and revived in the 1990s.
Freeling’s The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. He also won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers’ Association.
In 1968 his novel Love in Amsterdam was adapted as the film Amsterdam Affair directed by Gerry O’Hara and starring Wolfgang Kieling as Van Der Valk.
Discover books by Nicolas Freeling published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/NicholasFreeling
A Long Silence
Criminal Conversation
Double-Barrel
Over the High Side
One Damn Think After Another
Strike Out Where Not Applicable
The King of the Rainy Country
The Widow
Tsing-Boum
For copyright reasons, any images not belonging to the original author have been removed from this book. The text has not been changed, and may still contain references to missing images.
This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3DP
First published in Great Britain in 1969 by Hamish Hamilton
Copyright © 1969 Nicolas Freeling
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eISBN: 9781448214587
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