by Betty Neels
‘I met Juffrouw Smit,’ he remarked placidly. ‘She wrung her hands at me and said she couldn’t cope. She was wild-eyed. Did you threaten the poor woman with murder?’
Lucillia gave a watery giggle into Emily’s shoulder and then lifted her head. ‘Oh, Sebastian, must she come back? She is so bossy, and she makes me do things which hurt.’
‘Oh, yes, she’s coming back, and you’ll do as you are told, liefje, just to please Mama and the family and me. Did you threaten Emily as well?’
Lucillia nodded. ‘Yes, but I didn’t mean it, did I, Emily?’
‘Of course not.’ Emily stood up and smoothed her crumpled overall and tucked a strand of mousy hair behind an ear, and Mr van Tecqx looked at her thoughtfully. She looked rather the worse for wear, but she was still calm. ‘Have you come to visit?’ she asked. ‘I’ll go and fetch the coffee, shall I?’
‘Bas is bringing it up, we’ll have that together and then you can dump Lucillia under the shower.’ He took no heed of his sister’s rebellious look but made himself comfortable on the window seat, where he stayed drinking his coffee and talking unconcernedly about nothing in particular. By the time they had finished Lucillia was in a better frame of mind and agreed rather grumpily to having a shower, whereupon her brother picked her up out of bed and set her on her chair, wheeled her into the bathroom and then wandered off, leaving Emily to get on with it.
Although Lucillia had calmed down, done her exercises, and sat obediently in her chair for a good deal of the day, even walked, with Emily’s help, a few steps with her crutches, Emily, tucking her patient up for the night, felt that very little progress had been made. She had dined alone with Bas hovering over her, making sure she ate the delicious food Anneke had prepared for her, and now, with Lucillia quiet now and settled for the night, she was free to go to her room and go to bed herself. Although she was tired, she wasn’t sleepy; she would have enjoyed a brisk walk in the fresh air, only that was hardly possible on a dark November night. She went to the window and drew aside the curtains and looked out on to the dark. Mr van Tecqx had said she would have to take the rough with the smooth, and certainly today had been rough.
A tap on the door roused her and when she called come in Anneke put her head round it. ‘If you will go to the study?’ she asked, ‘Mijnheer wishes you there.’
Emily had kicked off her shoes. She put them back on and followed the housekeeper downstairs. Mr van Tecqx had remembered her free time, she thought hopefully, or what was more likely, he had some instructions about his sister.
Neither. He got up from his desk as she went in and waved her to a chair. ‘You are not tired?’ His tone implied that she had better not be. ‘Good—I’ll run you over to my mother’s house; she is anxious to meet you, and a change of scene will do you good.’
‘Lucillia?’ began Emily.
‘Anneke will keep an eye on her. Get your coat, will you, and we will be off.’
It was hardly an invitation, more a command. She got to her feet again and went through the door he was holding open for her, and was completely taken by surprise when he stooped and kissed her cheek as she went past him.
‘Well, I never,’ muttered Emily as she went on her way in search of her coat. ‘That’s twice!’
CHAPTER FIVE
IT WAS ALL very well for Mr van Tecqx to tell her to get her coat in an offhand fashion. Emily took off her overall, spent a few minutes over her face and hair, changed her shoes, and only then got her coat from the closet and put it on. Staring at her reflection, she concluded that she looked exactly how she felt—tired and plain and dressed quite unsuitably. Men, thought Emily bitterly, and Mr van Tecqx in particular, could be very tiresome.
He was waiting in the hall leaning up against a wall, talking to Bas, but as she joined them he clapped the old man on the shoulders and urged her through the door, then got into the car without speaking. It seemed rather late in the day to pay a visit, but to let him know this seemed a useless exercise; Mr van Tecqx had demonstrated enough during the last few weeks that if he had made up his mind he wasn’t to be budged.
He drove through the lighted streets in the direction of den Haag and after only a mile or so turned down a narrow unlighted lane. Emily couldn’t see anything much in the dark. The car’s lights showed a narrow canal on one side of the road and fields beyond and, as far as she could make out, fields on the other side too. There were no houses, although lights twinkled here and there away from the road. Presently she saw a high wall, brick and well maintained, and ahead of them in the curve of the lane, a pair of wrought iron gates, open.
Mr van Tecqx hadn’t spoken; he didn’t speak as he drove through the gateway, up a short drive and stopped before a well lighted house. He got out, opened her door and took her arm to cross the sweep to a solid front door with a handsome portico, well lighted. As they reached it it was opened by a stout elderly woman who beamed at them both and addressed herself to Mr van Tecqx, which gave Emily a chance to glance around her. The house was of brick like the wall, with a flat front and windows on either side of the door. Not over-large, but she had the impression of age and solidarity and perfect quiet. Luxury too, she added silently as she went inside.
The vestibule led into a large hall, much larger than that in the house in Delft, and the staircase rose from its centre and branched left and right to the gallery above. The ceiling was high and ornate, but there was no chandelier, only sconces between the panelled walls, casting a glow over the carpet underfoot and the heavy, carved oak table, bare save for a centrepiece of chrysanthemums. There were several doors leading from the hall. The stout woman went ahead of them and opened double doors at once on one side, saying something to someone in the room as she did so, and Emily, propelled gently forward by Mr van Tecqx, went past her and across what seemed to her nervous mind to be an endless carpet, to fetch up before an elderly lady sitting in a winged chair to one side of the fireplace.
She hadn’t, until that moment, had much idea of whom she was to meet, but with hindsight she had expected someone imposing, tall and elegant. She had been wrong to a large extent; the lady she faced was small and not at all imposing. She had a face as lacking in good looks as Emily’s own, but her eyes sparkled and her smile was delightful, and when she got to her feet it was somehow comforting to see that she was the same height. The elegance was there, but it was the understated elegance of an older woman who could spend what she wanted on her clothes and knew what suited her.
She offered a cheek to her son and smiled up at him. ‘You have brought Emily to see me…’ She turned to her and held out a hand. ‘I am so sorry to encroach on your evening, but I did want to meet you, and Sebastian is going back to London tomorrow—it seemed a good idea for us to meet before he goes away again.’
Emily said how do you do in her quiet voice and took the chair she was offered. Her relief at finding Mr van Tecqx’s mother a perfectly ordinary person like anyone else’s mother was so great that she smiled widely, and the colour came back into her cheeks, which had paled with misgiving. Something which Mr van Tecqx noted with interest.
He sat down opposite Emily and his mother ignored him. ‘I am so very relieved to have you with us, my dear,’ she began in an English as good as Emily’s. ‘Lucillia has been ill for months now, and somehow she had come to a halt and I felt that she had resigned herself—through boredom, probably—to remaining an invalid. Zuster Brugge was very good, but Lucillia took a dislike to her and instead of making progress she has been going steadily backwards. I was delighted when Sebastian told me that he had found just the person to help us. She is a shockingly bad patient, you know, but I do hope that you will stay and help her to recover. She is the youngest of my children and hopelessly spoilt by all of us.’
A young girl brought in coffee, and Mevrouw van Tecqx poured it and went on, ‘Will you mind spending Christmas with us? My other daughters and their husbands and children will be here…’
She sounded so wistful that
Emily said at once, ‘I think I shall enjoy it very much, mevrouw. And Lucillia is determined to get well—I only hope I’ll be able to help her.’
‘I am sure that she will get better and that you will be able to help her. She can be very difficult…’
‘Well, I dare say we should be that too if we couldn’t walk properly,’ observed Emily matter-of-factly.
Lucillia’s mother nodded. ‘I shall come over to see her tomorrow—stay for tea if I may? I have been living in Sebastian’s house for a good many months, but this house cannot be left for too long.’ She smiled a little. ‘I have become a little tired…’
‘Of course. It’s so much worse when it’s someone you love who is ill.’
‘Yes, you understand that, don’t you, Emily?’
Mevrouw van Tecqx turned to look at her son. ‘There is a good deal to see in Delft. Emily will enjoy exploring.’
He answered casually, and presently they got up to go. Bidden a kind goodnight by her hostess, Emily hoped she had passed muster, for that, she had decided, was what the visit had been all about. She sat silently as they drove back to Delft and once in the house bade Mr van Tecqx goodnight.
Half-way up the staircase she was stopped by his, ‘I leave for England early tomorrow. Have you any messages for your father? I intend to see him while I’m there.’
‘Please tell him I’m very comfortable and happy, and give him my love. I hope you have a good journey, Mr van Tecqx.’
‘Thank you. Goodnight.’ He turned away to go to his study and Emily went on upstairs, to make sure Lucillia was all right before going to her own room.
The days slid quietly by, some better than others, but Lucillia’s progress, although slow and erratic, was getting ahead. Mr van Tecqx telephoned each evening, and her mother visited frequently and one or two of Lucillia’s friends came for coffee or tea, and each day Emily battled with the shower, her patient’s often expressed wish not to get out of her bed, not to walk, not to do her exercises… It was tiring, sometimes exhausting, and she would have liked a respite, but until Mr van Tecqx got back and made some arrangement regarding her free day, she had no intention of taking one.
It was December now and the weather had turned cold. There was even a hint of snow, and Emily, taking a brisk daily walk round the garden with the dogs, sniffed at the icy air with pleasure. The garden, while not large, was well laid out and the shrubs and trees, thickly frosted, made an excellent background for the old house.
The feast of Sint Nicolaas was only a day or so away. Emily had heard all about it from Lucillia; her sisters and their husbands and children would be spending it with her mother, but of course, they would all come and see her. The Saint and his attendant Zwarte Piet would be arriving in Delft in the afternoon and the children would be taken to see him. ‘I expect you’ll go with them,’ observed Lucillia. ‘He is on horseback, you know, and Zwarte Piet walks beside him with his sack and birch broom—it’s the greatest fun!’
She sounded so wistful that Emily said instantly, ‘It sounds super, but I’d just as soon stay here with you.’
The following day Mr vanTecqx’s sisters arrived. They came circumspectly, one at a time with their husbands and children so that Lucillia wouldn’t get too tired. Emily met them in turn: Reilike, the eldest, named after a Friesian grandmother, with her husband Sieme and their three children, Ludolf, Tilde and Iwert, the eldest eight years old, the youngest five. They shook hands solemnly with Emily and sat, on their best behaviour, eating biscuits and drinking their lemonade for the half-hour visit. After lunch Jessica and Jan arrived with their twins Jake and Jill, ten years old, brimming over with energy and full of curiosity about Emily. She entertained them while their parents talked to Lucillia, and she was sorry to see them go. It was after tea when the third sister arrived, only a year or two older than Lucillia and very like her in appearance. She had a small baby and a young, pleasant-faced husband called Willem, a simple name in contrast to her own— Theodosia—although Lucillia addressed her as Theo. The baby, still very small, was called Kleine Willem and he slept peacefully throughout the visit.
Lucillia was tired when her last visitor had left. Emily made short work of getting her ready for the night, persuaded her to eat her supper in bed and then, since Lucillia was over-excited and restless, sat herself down close to the bed, with a lamp close at her elbow, and opened Vanity Fair, a book Lucillia had wished to read but had thought too difficult.
The characters came alive in Emily’s quiet voice, and she had paused to agree with Lucillia that Amelia Osborne was the most tiresome milksop that ever walked when they were joined by Mr van Tecqx.
Lucillia gave a small shriek of delight. ‘Sebastian, when did you get back? You’ll be here for Sint Nicolaas. Will you be home for a long time? Did you bring me anything from London?’
He bent to kiss her. ‘How’s my girl? Have the family been to see you? Mama has them all staying, I suppose…’ He looked across at Emily. ‘Everything is going well?’ He sat down on the edge of the bed and Sidney and Pepper arranged themselves at his feet.
‘I believe so,’ said Emily, and thought how splendid he looked, lounging on the bed, one arm around his sister’s shoulders.
‘You haven’t said,’ interpolated Lucillia. ‘When did you get home, and for how long?’
‘Just a few minutes ago, and for the next few weeks. I had to be here for Sint Nicolaas and I don’t expect to go to England until the NewYear. Have you had dinner?’
‘Yes. I’m a bit tired, so Emily put me to bed and I had it on a tray.’
‘And Emily?’ He glanced across at her with raised eyebrows.
Lucillia answered for her. ‘She was reading to me—to soothe me, you know.’
‘Do you feel soothed enough to rest for half an hour while we have dinner? I’m famished, and I dare say Emily is too.’
‘Will you come back here?’
‘Yes. What is more, you shall have a little package to open while we’re away.’ He took a small box from a pocket and put it into her hands. ‘We’ll admire them when we get back. Come, Emily…’
They dined rather grandly, sitting opposite one another at the big table with Bas serving them. Mr van Tecqx kept up a steady stream of gentle talk about nothing much until they were drinking their coffee.
‘I saw your father, Emily. He is making splendid progress, and if the other joint is as successful he will be a new man.’
‘I’ll never be able to thank you enough, Mr van Tecqx. I do hope Lucillia will be a new girl too.’ Emily added a little anxiously, ‘She really does try.’
‘Yes, I know. If you have finished shall we go upstairs?’
Lucillia was sitting up in bed, looking happy. ‘Sebastian, however did you know? Look, Emily—aren’t they gorgeous?’
She was wearing the earrings her brother had brought her; big gold hoops dangling on either side of her pretty face. ‘They’re all the rage!’ She asked, ‘Do you wear earrings, Emily?’
‘Well, no—I’m in uniform for most of the time and they’d look funny.’
‘Don’t you ever go out? With men, I mean—dancing and so on?’
Mr van Tecqx answered for her. He said smoothly, ’emily leads far too busy a life until she has finished her training. Did Reilike and Theo come? Did Jessica bring the twins? They will all be here for tea tomorrow. Mama will stay with you while we watch St Nicolaas arrive.’
Lucillia’s pretty mouth turned down at the corners. ‘I’d like to go…’
‘You’ll come downstairs for tea with all of us before we open our presents.’ He bent and kissed her cheek. ‘Sleep well, my dear.’
‘You are going out?’
He smiled faintly. ‘Yes. Goodnight, Emily.’
When he had gone Emily shook up the pillows and straightened the duvet. Lucillia took off the earrings and put them back in their box. ‘Sebastian is such a dear,’ she observed. ‘I hope he has fun this evening; I expect he is going out with Beatrix van Telle. She
’s been after him for years, but he says he is too busy to get married. After all, his first wife wasn’t much of a success.’
Emily longed to hear more; a well-put question or two and Lucillia might enlarge upon this interesting aspect of her brother’s life. With commendable restraint she murmured in a negative fashion and made some harmless remark about the next day’s events, and presently tucked her patient up for the night and went to bed herself.
Lucillia was inclined to be peevish in the morning. Emily settled her with her breakfast tray and went down to eat her own meal. The house was quiet, although Bas came to wish her good morning and bring the coffee-pot. There was no sign of the master of the house. Probably in bed still, sleeping it off, decided Emily, buttering a roll and sinking her splendid teeth into it. She wasn’t looking forward to the day. She suspected that Lucillia was going to be difficult, and there had been this talk about presents, and even if she had known if she should give them and to whom, she had had no chance to go to the shops. She went back upstairs, rearranging her features into their normal calm appearance. Which was a good thing, for Lucillia had no wish to do any of the things she was asked to do. The physiotherapist was not coming, so that Emily had the task of putting her through her exercises before getting her under the shower.
She couldn’t walk, she declared, she was crippled for life, so what was the point of struggling round with her crutches? ‘If I had the strength I would throw them out of the window!’ she cried at Emily.
‘Well, if you had the strength, you wouldn’t need them, so that would be the best place for them,’ observed Emily, at her most sensible.
‘Where is Sebastian?’ demanded Lucillia. ‘Why am I left alone just with you? I want him here!’
Emily glanced at her watch. ‘It’s still quite early; I dare say he’s tired after having a long journey yesterday.’