by Betty Neels
‘Liar,’ he observed blandly, and didn’t speak again until they slid to a halt before the house. The door was opened before they had stopped, revealing Bep and behind her Doctor van den Werff and Jorina. Julia, still cold and stiff despite Ben’s best efforts, was glad of Ivo’s arm as they went inside, although she essayed a smile as the three of them crowded round her.
‘A hot bath,’ said Doctor van den Werff, ‘a hot drink too. How do you feel, Julia? You poor child, I feel responsible.’
Julia, who had expected a scolding or at least reproaches for being so stupid, felt a strong desire to burst into tears again. Kindness was something she hadn’t reckoned with and her voice wobbled a bit as she said, ‘I’m sorry I was so silly and gave you all so much trouble,’ and was patted and soothed by the three of them, but all Ivo did was to say, ‘You’d better do as you’re told or we shall have you sneezing over us all.’
She nodded without looking at him and followed Bep upstairs with Jorina, an arm round her waist, beside her. As they went she heard Ivo ask his father, ‘Where’s Marcia?’ which had the effect of starting her tears again, to her own great surprise and when she mumbled an apology, Jorina said kindly, ‘You’re tired and I expect you were frightened too—I should have been—and it must have been very cold, yes?’
‘Yes,’ said Julia.
She went downstairs a couple of hours later, warm once more and looking exactly as she always did in her neat uniform, save for her beautiful face which was a little pale. They were all in the sitting room and while Ivo had nothing to say his father called to her to go and sit with him and asked her very kindly if she felt well enough to stay up. ‘We put dinner back,’ he explained, ‘but you can just as easily have it in bed if you wish.’
Julia said shyly, ‘That’s very kind of you, doctor, but I feel quite well, thank you, only very foolish.’ She glanced across the room to where Marcia was sitting by the fire. ‘I’m so sorry, Miss Jason,’ she began, ‘for being such a nuisance—I hope I didn’t spoil your day or cause you any inconvenience.’
Miss Jason bowed her head in graceful acknowledgement of this apology and said with a sickening graciousness, ‘Well, I daresay it has taught you a lesson, nurse. You are, I imagine, an impetuous young woman, lacking the intellectual powers of the more intelligent person, who would have given all the aspects of a walk in the country at this time of year the deliberation they deserve.’
Julia took a few moments to unwind this prosy speech and make sense of it. She didn’t care for it all; she was willing to admit that she had been at fault, but she wasn’t going to be preached over. She opened her mouth to say so and was forestalled in the nick of time by Ivo, who said smoothly,
‘Most unjust, Marcia, as well as making a great fuss about nothing. We have all been lost at some time or other, found, and brought home. There’s nothing so special about going for a walk even at this time of year, and not all of us find it necessary to weigh the pros and cons before we do so.’ He turned to Jorina and said easily,
‘Do you remember the time you went to find St Nikolaas—how old were you? Five? You looked like a snowman when I found you and you kicked me all the way home because I wouldn’t let you go on looking for him.’ They laughed together and Jorina answered, ‘And what about that time you felt sure you’d failed your exams and came in frozen stiff in the middle of my birthday party after Father found you walking round in circles?’ She laughed across at Julia, seemingly unaware of the indignant look still on Julia’s face. ‘You’ve no idea what a horror Ivo was—still is. Is your brother like that?’
Julia smiled despite herself. Her brother was as unlike Ivo as chalk from the proverbial cheese. She shook her head. ‘I can’t remember him ever doing anything to give anyone a moment’s unease.’
‘The fellow sounds like a dead bore,’ observed Ivo carelessly.
‘He is.’ She saw the little smile curl the corners of his mouth and added hastily, ‘He’s a very worthy sort of person.’
Ivo got up. ‘I’ll not attempt to compete,’ he stated lightly. ‘Who’s for a drink?’
It was when, a moment or two later, he handed her a glass of sherry that she remembered, far too vividly, the brandy he had poured down her throat in such an unceremonious fashion a few hours previously, and flushed up to her eyes under his amused look. But he didn’t say anything and presently went to sit by Marcia again, and Julia, to her secret satisfaction, couldn’t help but notice that his manner towards her was a little cool.
There were still several days to Christmas; Julia spent them in encouraging her patient to overcome what slight disability remained; determined to atone for the nuisance she had been and doggedly accepting Miss Jason’s chastening lectures, given in her gentle, modulated voice, which she delivered at least once a day, and if there was time, twice, so that presently Julia began to feel herself a slightly inferior being, only tolerated because of her patient’s high-minded principles. Her common sense told her that this was not, indeed, the fact, but she was fast losing her self-assurance, especially as she saw very little of Ivo, and when she did, he treated her with a casual politeness which made it impossible to talk to him. Not that she had any desire to talk to him, she told herself vigorously; let him marry his wretched Marcia and take the consequences—in five years’ time he would be as dreary as his wife; he would probably wear goloshes and never drive at more than forty miles an hour and they would have one, or worse, no children because Marcia would feel herself to be too delicate. Julia, making her patient’s bed, thumped the pillows with quite unnecessary vigour.
It was that evening at dinner that Jorina announced that she intended going to the Hague the following day. Klaas was there for a couple of days, she said, and she would combine seeing him with some shopping.
‘What sort of shopping?’ her father wanted to know.
‘Well, there’s the party in two days’ time, and I might see something I liked.’ She turned to Julia. ‘Come with me, its time you had a day to yourself. Besides, you’ll see nothing of Holland before you go back.’
Julia agreed silently; she hadn’t had a day off since she had arrived and although she was paid a handsome salary, she would have liked the opportunity of spending some of it. All the same, it had been made clear to her when she accepted the job that she was to have two half days a week; nothing had been said about a whole day. She said now,
‘Thank you, Jorina, but that would mean the whole day away, you know, and you would be away too—I can’t leave Miss Jason alone.’
Doctor van den Werff put down his knife and fork. ‘Why ever not?’ he asked. ‘Jorina won’t be leaving until ten o’clock or thereabouts; plenty of time to get Marcia downstairs and Bep can do anything needed once she is down. You’ll be back long before bedtime.’ He smiled pleasantly at Marcia. ‘You won’t mind? It will be splendid practice for you, for you won’t be needing a nurse much longer, you know. The quicker you become independent, the better, eh?’
Thus addressed, there was nothing Marcia could do but agree, albeit sourly, and she looked even more sour when Ivo said casually,
‘I’ve no cases at the hospital tomorrow, how about going in my car? I think that’s a better idea than you driving that tin box of yours, Jorina, and we’ll get there much faster. Besides, the roads aren’t too good and you never could cope with a skid. There are a number of things I want to do in the Hague.’
Jorina agreed so quickly that Marcia looked up suspiciously, but Ivo’s face was merely blandly inquiring and Jorina looked so innocent that any doubts she had were discarded. And Julia listening to this exchange, had no doubts at all; even if Ivo spent the whole day going about his own business there was still the drive there and back. When he gave her an enquiring look she said at once, ‘I should very much like to go. I’ve been reading a book about the Hague and there are several places I should like to see.’
The next morning saw very little improvement in the weather. A light frosting of snow had fallen during
the night and the sky was leaden. Although she wasn’t a nervous girl, Julia was glad that Ivo would be driving and not Jorina. She thought about it with pleasure as she got Marcia downstairs and comfortably settled with the day’s paraphernalia around her. She was still thinking about it as she dressed herself with extra care. She hadn’t many clothes with her, she put on the brown wool dress, covered it with her top-coat, arranged the fur bonnet upon her dark head, snatched up her gloves and handbag and danced downstairs. She hadn’t seen Ivo that morning, and the awful thought that he might have changed his mind about driving to the Hague crossed her mind as she entered the sitting room.
He hadn’t. He was sitting, ready dressed to go out, on the arm of a chair, reading the paper and carrying on a desultory conversation with Marcia while he did so. He put the paper down as Julia went in and said, ‘Hullo, there you are. Jorina has gone to the kitchen to see Bep.’ He got to his feet then swept her out of the room, saying over his shoulder as he went, ‘Goodbye, Marcia—I’ll do my best to get that book for you.’
Julia, gabbling farewells as they went, was walked across the hall and outside to where the car was waiting, but when he opened the door and said genially, ‘Get in, dear girl,’ she hung back and enquired if Jorina wouldn’t prefer to sit in front, whereupon he gave her a little push with the remark, ‘I’ve never met such a woman for arguing,’ and shut the door upon her, then before she could think of a suitable answer Jorina arrived and got into the back of the car saying,
‘Don’t anyone talk to me until I say so—I’m making lists of food for the party. Ivo, you’ll see to the drinks? I’ll go into Lensvelt Nicola and get some petits fours…’ There was a pause while she wrote busily. ‘And there’s that place in the Lange Vooruit where they sell those cheesy things, and I want some shoes and another handbag if I see one I like.’
They were already half way to Tilburg. ‘Does Klaas come at the top or bottom of the list?’ asked Ivo.
‘Top, of course. If you drop me outside Metz—he said he’s going to wait until I come. What are you going to do, Julia?’
‘I’m going to the top of St Jacobskerk tower to see the view,’ said Julia promptly, ‘and then the Mauritshuis, and then I’m going to take a look at the Huis den Bosch. I can’t go in, but all the same I’d like to see it.’
The rest of the journey passed pleasantly enough, and for Julia it was a delight, for she had Ivo beside her and just for a few hours she was determined to forget Marcia and her own imminent return to England. It was high time she made a few plans for her future, for she had nowhere to go, only to her brother’s house, and he, although he would give her house room, would hardly welcome her with open arms after the way she had treated him. But it all seemed very far away from the flat, wintry landscape they were passing through; she concentrated on studying the places of interest pointed out to her and joined in the cheerful talk without giving a hint of her more sombre thoughts.
The Hague, once they had reached the heart of the city, was everything she had imagined an old Dutch city to be, for although Tilburg had pleased her very much and she had liked Breda, the Hague seemed, once they were through the suburbs, like a city from the Golden Age. They set Jorina down outside Metz, a shop which Julia resolved to explore should she find the time, and then went through the city to the Huis den Bosch where Ivo stopped the car.
‘Will this suit you?’ he wanted to know cheerfully. ‘You can’t get lost—just follow the road back into the city again.’
Julia looked behind her. ‘But it’s miles!’
‘Oh no—two perhaps, no more.’
She eyed him a little uncertainly. ‘Where—where shall I meet you, then?’
‘Now as to that, supposing we get out of the car and you can take your fill of the Huis den Bosch as we walk along and discuss it.’
He took her arm and marched her along briskly, away from the main road, and Julia, having looked her fill, said politely, ‘Thank you, I’ve had a good look.’ She paused and went on a little apprehensively,
‘If you would tell me your plans.’
He halted abruptly, and she with him. ‘That’s better. First you refuse to have lunch with me, and then you try to brush me off… My plans depend upon you, Julia. You’ll waste a great deal of time on your own, you know, and you may not get the chance to come again. Supposing I take you back now and leave you in the Noordeinde—a shopping centre where you can’t get lost. What I have to do won’t take above an hour. I’ll wait for you at the spot where I put you down presently. We’ll have lunch and then go wherever you want. Jorina won’t be ready until six o’clock.’ Julia, before she could stop herself, said, ‘Oh, how lovely!’ and then, ‘I shall be a nuisance to you—you said you had things to do.’ She stared up at him, her eyes shining, her face eager, despite her words, to meet his own eyes, bright and intent and with an expression she couldn’t read. An instant later she felt his arms around her.
‘So I did,’ he said calmly, ‘and this was one of them,’ and he bent his head to kiss her. And Julia, her common sense blown away by the winter wind whistling around them, kissed him back. Even as she did so, she was regretting it; she couldn’t very well have prevented him from kissing her, but there was absolutely no need to return his kiss. She said as lightly as her voice would allow, ‘What silly things one does at Christmas,’ and even achieved a laugh with it as she slipped out of his arms, to feel immediately and illogically put out because he gave no sign of minding. She caught herself wondering how Marcia would have reacted; there was no way of telling what his own feelings were, although she fancied she could see amusement behind the calmness of his face.
He didn’t answer her remark, only asked casually, ‘Have you any shopping to do? Will an hour be long enough?’
‘Oh, plenty,’ said Julia. If he was going to be casual, she could be too. ‘I don’t intend to do much shopping, only look.’
He talked with a disarming friendliness as they drove to the centre of the city and left her, with strict instructions to be on that same spot in about an hour’s time. Julia watched the Jensen slide away in the traffic and felt lost. But the shop windows were diverting, and she wandered along, wishing she could buy a great many of the things she saw, but beyond one or two trifles, she didn’t dare because she would soon be out of work; even if she went back to her hospital, she wouldn’t get any money for the rest of the month, and she didn’t think her brother would think of paying her if she went there. She stared into the window of a tiny boutique, exhibiting in its window exactly the kind of party dress any girl would fall for. It had no price ticket, and presently she walked on, staring up at the old houses above the shops; it would be delightful to go into a shop like that and buy the dress without even asking the price. But it was the jewellers’ shops which caught her attention. She looked in each one, and it was while she was feasting her eyes upon the contents of one of their windows that she saw Ivo coming out of an even more opulent jeweller’s across the street. He was stuffing a small box into a pocket as he came through the door and judging from the satisfied look on the face of the man who had opened it for him, he had spent a lot of money…a ring for Marcia? A wedding ring? Julia turned her back upon both Ivo and her thoughts and plunged through the door before her, for if she didn’t Ivo would surely see her.
She found herself in a richly furnished shop housing a great many showcases containing antique silver, diamond tiaras and suchlike expensive trifles. She gazed unhappily at a trio of diamond bracelets, displayed with studied carelessness upon dark blue velvet, and when a young man approached her and said something in Dutch she turned her pretty, worried face to his and said apologetically,
‘I don’t want to buy anything—there was someone I didn’t want to meet…’
She looked so forlorn and so beautiful that he instantly dismissed the idea that she was a thieves’ accomplice and smiled kindly at her.
‘Please stay if you wish,’ he said in quite beautiful English, and went to the do
or to study the street, and Julia came to peer over his shoulder. ‘He’s gone,’ she breathed thankfully. ‘I’ll go—it was kind of you…’
He opened the door for her and she went out into the Noordeinde once more, to stare unseeingly at the shops until it was time to meet Ivo.
He was waiting for her, although she was a little early, but she could see no car. ‘I haven’t kept you waiting?’ she asked. ‘The shops are so delightful.’
He smiled and raised an eyebrow. ‘And you have bought nothing? I find that a miracle. Jorina would have an armful of parcels by now.’
Julia smiled, wanting to point out that if she had the money his sister had at her disposal she would have no difficulty in rivalling her spending powers. Did he actually think that she didn’t like clothes?
He must have guessed her thoughts, for he inquired, ‘Didn’t you see anything at all you would have liked to buy?’
She nodded. ‘Any number. There was a dress—a party dress with no price on it—an extravagant dress.’ She added hastily because he made a sudden hasty movement and she was afraid he might insist on going back to look at it, and still worse, buy it, ‘Not the kind of dress I could ever wear.’
He smiled and took her arm. ‘That’s an arguable point,’ he observed. ‘Now let’s have a meal.’
They didn’t have to walk far, round the corner into Molenstraat to the Park Hotel and into its restaurant overlooking the gardens of a former royal palace. Julia, who hadn’t expected anything as grand, went away to take off her bonnet and returned, quite unconscious of the stares directed at her dark loveliness, to find that Ivo had ordered the drinks.
‘I chose this place,’ he explained, ‘because it is close to most of the places you want to visit.’
He lifted a finger and the hovering waiter handed them menu cards and stepped back to a discreet distance. Julia studied hers with deep interest. As far as she could see, everything that anyone could possibly want was on it.