by Susan Barrie
“I think I ought to apologize to you for feeling inclined to laugh at you,” he told her, “but on the other hand, if I hadn’t come along when I did I don’t know what would have happened to you!”
“Neither do I,” she admitted and then abruptly she laughed, too and she laughed almost as hysterically as she had cried. He eased her boot back onto her injured foot and then gently he patted her hand, resisting the temptation to laugh with her.
“I’m afraid you’ve had a bit of a shock,” he said.
“It was my own fault,” she told him. “I thought I was a much better skier than I am and I was careless about fastening the strap of my ski. It was a case of pride going before a fall.”
“Well, we’d better get you home, hadn’t we?”
“I didn’t even know you were up here in the mountains,” she told him, looking at him with sudden shyness. “Are you staying at the hotel?”
“Yes. I arrived last night, and I’ve been out on the Edelhorn all day,” The Edelhorn was the famous ski run running upward through forests. It entailed a very considerable climb and a quite perilous descent, favored only by fully fledged skiers with a calm disregard for life and limb. He stood up suddenly. “Do you think you can trust me to carry you and ski you down the rest of the slope at the same time?” “But can you do that?” She looked as if she thought it was quite impossible.
“Of course I can do it.”
“But—”
“And since we can’t fasten a ski to that left boot of yours there’s nothing for it but for me to carry you.”
He gave her a smile that was encouraging, essentially friendly and a little humorous at the same time.
“All you’ve got to do is to put your arms around my neck, hold me tight and leave the rest to me.” He put out his hands and drew her to her feet. “That’ s simple enough, isn’ t it?”
“If you say so.”
He laughed suddenly and his laugh was almost boyish.
“I do say so! ”
But the moment when Virginia’ s hands clasped themselves at the back of his neck and he lifted her into his arms was a memorable one for her. Her heart was beating almost painfully with excitement and she was afraid he could hear it since he held her so close. He held her, too, as if she were no weightier than a feather, despite the slenderness of his build. She realized that he was probably exceedingly strong and he was certainly completely fit. which was not surprising if he could spend whole days on the Edelhorn.
Just before they started off he looked down into her face and smiled at her more quizzically.
“All you’ ve got to do is hang on! ” he said.
And she closed her eyes and hung on, turning her face almost into his neck while she did so.
When he carried her into the chalet Effie was the only one there to receive them. The two children were still resting in their room and the place was very silent, especially the big lounge where a bright fire burned on the open hearth.
Dr. Hanson made Effie fetch some cold water and bandages and he dealt with Virginia’ s ankle while the maid stood at his side and obediently handed him anything he required. When he was finished he dismissed the maid and piled cushions at Virginia’ s back, telling her that she would have to rest her foot for a day or so, but after that it would be quite all right for her to get around on it again.
“Thank you very much for bringing me down,” Virginia said, inwardly still thrilled by that rapid descent to the chalet while he had held her closely in his arms and she had clung around his neck.
It was one more memory to take back to England with her, but it was the most exciting memory of all those she had collected while she was in Switzerland.
Effie brought them a tray of afternoon tea and he stayed and had some with her. It was almost as if they had got back on the old footing as they talked and even laughed sometimes quite naturally together. When the Van Loons returned Mary was astonished to find him there and very much concerned about Virginia’ s ankle. She was also concerned because there was to be a grand gala dance at the hotel the following night and she felt it would be a pity if Virginia had to miss that as she had had to miss the dance at Madame d’Auvergne’ s villa.
“We’ll have to get you there somehow,” she said, “although I don’t suppose she’ll be able to dance, will she, Leon?”
“She certainly won’t be able to dance,” he answered, “but she could look on at the other people dancing if that would amuse her?” Virginia knew that it would amuse her very much—or it would if it meant he was going to be there and she could look on at him, dancing, talking to other people, or even, perhaps, paying a certain amount of attention to herself! She realized that she was preparing for herself another fool’ s paradise, but at least since she knew that it was a fool’ s paradise there could be no harm done. And even if there was any harm in it, it could only be harm to herself!
And it was something to know that Carla Spengler was not staying at the hotel, too, and for just one night, perhaps, it would be rather like those days before Lisa’ s operation when she had scarcely realized that she was falling hopelessly in love and life had still held some sort of promise.
Mary could not help noticing Virginia’ s brilliant eyes and flushed cheeks and she thought to herself, I wonder... ? Was it the result of her adventure in the snow, and a sprained ankle? Or had Leon Hanson anything to do with it?
Oh, I hope not. thought Mary. I hope not!
And yet....
There was still no news of an engagement between Leon and Carla
Spengler despite the constant predictions that there would be one soon!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The following morning Dr. Hanson made a point of calling at the chalet to inquire about Virginia’ s ankle, and found her lying comfortably in a chaise longue on the wooden balcony, with the two children getting her to read stories to them while they faithfully carried out their aunt’s instructions and saw to it that Virginia did not think up any pretext to move.
Virginia, like everybody else, had acquired a deep tan, and at sight of the doctor the blood rose quickly to her cheeks and the damask blush was most becoming. He stood looking down at her with that suspicion of a twinkle in his eyes that she had encountered the day before and she found it impossible to meet his direct gaze for any length of time. She was secretly both flattered and surprised that he had bothered to look in on her this morning, and when he knelt down to examine her ankle and his bowed head came reasonably close to hers she felt as if her breath was suspended, and was sure that he must have heard that quick little intake of it when his cool fingers so lightly touched her injured foot.
“Well, how do you feel about the dance tonight?” he inquired as he looked up at her. “Would you rather be left here in peace and quiet or shall we put you in a sleigh and take you up to the hotel? I’ ve asked Mary and the rest of her party to dine with me tonight and I don’ t really think we can leave you out! ”
“I don’t want to be a nuisance to anyone,” Virginia replied while the children watched fascinatedly as he reapplied the bandage to her ankle, doing it very neatly and quickly, and then fitted her slim foot into her small velvet slipper. “And if it’ s going to be any trouble getting me to the hotel—”
“It won’t be any trouble,” he assured her. “I’ll come and fetch you myself and then I’ ll be sure that you’ re not accidentally left behind,” he said, looking up at her with a faint, attractive laugh in his eyes.
Virginia wanted to meet his eyes—she wanted desperately to meet them but she could not.
“That’s very kind of you,” she told him, her heart hammering.
“Not at all. We can’ t have history repeating itself and your missing another festive occasion.”
And then he occupied himself in amusing the children until he left, and once again Virginia was surprised to see how good he was with them and how much they seemed to have taken to him although they had seen so little of him. He promised that if t
hey were still there at Christmas when he returned for a longer stay, he would take them on the funicular railway, the little mountain railway with steeply tilted carriages that pulled itself up through the blue pine forests almost to the very summit of the mountain, and they were delighted by the promise. They chattered about him for a little while after he had left and Virginia was perfectly happy to listen to them, for he was a subject she could never hear enough of.
That night she managed to dress herself with care in the black dress, and as the swelling of her ankle had practically subsided she was able to wear her fragile silver sandals with the somewhat perilous high heels. But Leon Hanson had said, quite firmly, “No dancing! You will be permitted to look on at the dancing and that is all! ”
But that, she felt, would be more than enough, especially as he was going to fetch her and take her to his dinner party himself.
Mary’s eyebrows rose a little when Virginia told her that the doctor was calling for her himself, but she said nothing. If it was more usual for the host to await the arrival of his guests she did not point this out to Virginia but she went into her room while she was completing her toilet and offered her the use of her most expensive Paris perfume. She insisted also that Virginia wear one of her costly fur coats, a soft and supple mink, as a protection, she said, against the viciousness of the night air.
By the time she was ready Virginia knew that she had never looked quite like this before, not even on the night when she had dined with the Maddisons. For one thing there was an excited glow inside her and it was given away by the happy, anticipatory light in her eyes. What she was expecting from this evening she could not tell, but she did know that whatever happened after it, at least she would have tonight. She had suddenly become infected with a kind of gambler’s spirit, a spirit of recklessness and wild hopefulness that was foreign to her, at any rate lately, and its effect on her appearance was quite marked.
“You look absolutely lovely, my dear! ” Mary told her and then, as if she were suddenly touched, she kissed her quickly and lightly on her delicately powdered cheek. “I wish we could keep you with us always! ”
Virginia echoed that wish in secret. If only she could stay here in this country always—if only it could become her country!
When Dr. Hanson arrived he offered to give anyone else who might require it a lift in the sleigh, but Mary assured him quite hastily that she had everything arranged, and there was no need for him to take another passenger. He looked at Mary a little quizzically before he helped Virginia into the sleigh and then they started off, the stars like lamps above them and lesser lights shining like lesser stars in the windows of the humbler homes they passed on their brisk, short journey.
Virginia’ s hands were clasped tightly in her lap to still her excitement, and Leon Hanson looked down at her, a strange little smile on his beautifully cut mouth in that cold, white, unearthly light.
“I do believe,” he observed, “that you’ve been looking forward to this evening. If so, I hope you won’t find it dull, after all.”
“I won’t find it dull,” Virginia answered, and her voice was so quiet that he said no more to her until they arrived. And then he carried her up the steps of the hotel and into the brilliantly lighted entrance.
The dinner party occupied one large table in the center of the dining room, and the table itself was massed with flowers, the best that the hotel proprietor had been able to procure at fairly short notice. There was champagne; there were other wines and the choicest of food and deferential service from the waiters. Virginia was given a place on her host’s left hand and the place on his right was allocated to Mary Van Loon. The young man who had recently become quite openly enamored of Virginia gazed at her completely fascinated throughout the whole of the meal. Dr. Hanson regarded him once or twice with a look of amusement on his face and divided his attention equally between Mary and Virginia, and to a lesser extent among the rest of his guests.
He was the perfect host, with exquisite manners that never failed him, and Virginia wanted to follow the example of the young man who gazed at her and keep her own eyes glued to the man beside her, but naturally she did not do so because for one thing her eyes, she knew, would have been hopelessly revealing.
But the meal was a bright and cheerful one. When it was over the dancing began in the adjoining ballroom and Virginia was assisted to a comfortable couch in the shelter of a palm in a brass-bound tub— how she recalled that other palm in that other brass-bound tub that had protected her from the eyes of the rest of the diners at the Milano on her first night , in Switzerland—and each member of the party offered to forgo dances and keep her company. But the host had very decided views on this subject, and he announced that he was going to keep Miss Holt company to begin with, at least, and after that they could all take turns if they wished.
The ballroom looked very gay with its colored streamers and flowers and iridescent lighting, and for a while Virginia remained on her couch with her feet on a footstool. Dr. Hanson provided her with a cigarette and then lay back against the cushions beside her and watched the moving kaleidoscope of color as the couples glided on the polished floor. Virginia lay back against the cushions also and with her shoulder almost but not quite touching his she was more than content to watch the dancers and take no active part in the evening. She felt a little guilty because her ankle was so much better and she was keeping him thus chained to her side, but otherwise she was supremely happy.
The music was soft and seductive and the numbers played were mostly favorites of Virginia’ s. It would have been wonderful to have been waltzing with Leon, but the next best thing was to have him here beside her like this with scarcely anyone near enough to observe them.
After a time he said, “It’s a bit hot in here. This central heating is rather apt to get out of hand at times, and it will be cooler on the veranda. Would you like to go out there?”
“I don’t mind either way.” But she stood up at once when she saw he was anxious to move and he offered her his arm for support while they made the brief journey to the long closed-in veranda. Here he settled her comfortably on another settee and took his place beside her as before, only this time he did not relax against the cushions, but leaned forward and smoked his cigarette and stared through the big glass windows out at the night.
“You can still hear the music and it’s pleasanter here,” he observed. Then he turned and looked at her a little curiously. “How are you getting on with the Van Loons? Do you like looking after those children?”
“Oh, yes,” she assured him. “I’m very fond of them.”
“You seem to manage them fairly well. ” He crushed out his cigarette in an ashtray and selected another. “Have you any plans for the future?”
She was silent for a moment, wondering why he had asked that question. Then she said, “I’ ll remain with the children until Christmas, then I’ m going home early in the new year. ”
“I see.” He stared hard at the toe of his polished shoe. “You’re beginning to feel a little homesick, is that it?”
“Sometimes, yes,” she admitted.
“How is Lisa?” he asked.
“Oh, she’s doing very well, both physically and at her music. Her old music teacher is very pleased with her and the fingers are quite supple again.”
“That’ s excellent! ” he declared.
“But there’s something I must say to you!” The thought of saying it made her feel suddenly embarrassed and she sat very upright, with her fingers locking and unlocking themselves in her lap. “My father has written to tell me that you have so far ignored all his requests to submit your account and—and we will all feel much better if you will only do so. After all, Lisa came to you from England as a patient just like all your other patients and—”
“And what?” he asked, smiling at her.
“And you performed a very successful operation on her and we are all very grateful—tremendously grateful! ”
“Then su
rely that is payment enough?”
“Of course it isn’ t,” she replied, infusing into her voice a sudden indignation, because he had no right to believe they were prepared to allow him to operate on Lisa and keep her as a patient in his clinic without charging them anything at all. After all, he was a famous surgeon and although she and her family were not well-to-do, they had their pride like everybody else, and it was not their practice to try and evade payment when they had incurred a debt. “You must see that it isn’ t! Why, we were complete strangers to you—”
“Tell me why you want to go home after Christmas?” he interrupted her flow of indignation by asking mildly, “is it because you have really become very homesick or are you tired of Switzerland?” Then before she could answer him he continued, “I’m planning to spend Christmas up here in the mountains myself, and as it’ s only about two or three weeks away I was hoping you would still be here with the Van Loons and that you would stay on for a while after that. It’s much jollier at the holiday season if you’re in a large party, and there’ll be some good skiing later on when the snow really hardens up.”
“I’m afraid I’m not a very good skier,” she admitted, recalling her undignified tumble of the day before.
He laughed, looking at her face.
“I could teach you to become a very good skier! ” Suddenly, and she didn’ t know why she had to do so, she posed a question, “But won’ t Miss Spengler becoming here for Christmas as well? I expect she’s already an expert on skis?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, she is,” Dr. Hanson admitted. “She’s quite a brilliant performer. She’ll certainly be here for Christmas and her parents as well. ”