by Betty Neels
‘Not a soul!’
It made it easier, somehow, immersing herself in Lucillia’s firm resolve to surprise everyone at Christmas. Emily saw practically nothing at all of Mr van Tecqx; he came and went, and when he was at home more often than not he was in his study. Twice a day he saw his sister, listened to Emily’s reports on her and pronounced his satisfaction as to her progress, but he made no further suggestions that he and she might go sightseeing again. She wrapped up her presents and after a good deal of deliberation, bought a leather-framed desk calendar for him. It would look strange if she didn’t give him a gift as well as everyone else, but on the other hand it had to be something suitable and impersonal. She wrote ‘With best wishes, Emily’ on the card and put it with the others.
Lucillia’s sisters came and went, and so did her mother; they were a close-knit family and liked and respected. ‘They’ve lived here for ever,’ Constantia told her when they met one afternoon by chance. ‘For all I know Sebastian’s ancestor ate his dinners with William of Orange. There’s been a Jonkheer van Tecqx in Delft since I don’t know when.’
‘Oh, is that an uncle or someone?’
‘Didn’t anyone tell you? No, they wouldn’t; they’re the most unboastful family I’ve ever met. Sebastian’s the current Jonkheer. If and when he marries again his son will be Jonkheer after him. Jereon’s a baron, but I had no idea of it until we’d been married quite a time.’ She went a delightful pink. ‘He and Sebastian are the sort of men who hide their light under a bushel. Do you like Sebastian?’
Emily examined the display in the shop window by which they were standing. ‘Oh, yes. He’s been extremely kind to my father and me. I can never thank him enough for that.’
She tried to keep her voice cool and only succeeded in making it wooden, so that Constantia gave her a quick look. They parted presently and Constantia said, ‘I’ll give you a ring—you must come and see us again. I’ll get Sebastian to come too so that we get a chance to talk.’
At home, with the children in bed, sitting in the drawing-room with Jereon on one of the vast sofas, she said, ‘I believe that nice Emily is in love with Sebastian.’
Jereon gave her a loving look. ‘Yes, darling, I thought that too.’
‘Oh, did you, and does Sebastian think so too?’
‘He is not a man to wear his heart upon his sleeve, and I wouldn’t dream of asking him.’
‘Oh, well, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.’
‘Time will tell, my love.’
Christmas Eve was upon them. Emily shook out the navy needlecord and the grey wool and wondered which to wear. She had a horrid feeling that everyone would be exquisitely turned out. It simply would not do. She took advantage of Mevrouw van Tecqx’s afternoon visit to her daughter, raided her pay-packet and sped to the town’s shops. She couldn’t afford a new dress, but the grey was simple and plainly cut and could be dressed up. She bought a deep rose-coloured chiffon scarf for the neck and matched it with a wide belt—not leather, that would have cost the earth, but it looked like leather. Grey velvet slippers she unearthed in a small rather shabby shop down a side street, and matching tights. She hurried back and tried everything on. The result was pleasing enough, and even if all the women were in party dresses at least she would look a bit festive too. They wouldn’t expect her to compete with them anyway.
Her black eye was normal again. She had discarded the shade and the swelling had gone, leaving a faint tinting of blues and greens and purple which, she told herself, didn’t show if she powered her face lavishly.
She got back into the blue needlecord and joined mother and daughter in the drawing-room just before the first of the family arrived, Theo and her husband and small son, and soon after them came Jessica and Jan with the twins, and Reilike and Sieme with their three children. The house was suddenly alive with children’s excited voices and the steady hum of family gossip.
Lucillia sat in her chair, mindful of Emily’s advice to rest as much as possible so that she would be able to do full justice to her dancing the next day. Dirk had not been able to visit her for a day or two, but he had managed to get a few hours off on Christmas Day, and as for the master of the house, he had been called away early that morning and no one had seen him since.
He came in quietly just as they finished tea. He truly looked tired, but he made no objection when the children rushed at him, shouting and laughing.
He made the rounds of his guests, kissing his mother and sisters, shaking his brothers-in-law by the hand, and paused finally by Emily, sitting mouselike where she could keep an eye on Lucillia.
He said without preamble, ‘There is a short service in the Nieuwe Kerk at midnight—will you come with me, Emily?’
She looked up at him, her grey eyes suddenly brilliant. ‘Oh, yes, please!’
‘Everyone else will go to morning church—you won’t mind staying with Lucillia?’
It was like having a bucket of cold water flung at her. Of course, she should have thought of that; she had actually allowed herself to think that he wanted her company. It wasn’t like that at all, it would be a convenient arrangement.
She looked down at her hands, lying tidily in her lap. ‘No, of course not, Mr van Tecqx. I expected that.’
He nodded, and presently moved away to sit with his mother and drink the tea Bas had brought in for him.
Mevrouw van Tecqx went back to her own house presently, although she would join them again the next morning, and Emily took advantage of the small commotion this made to get Lucillia into the right frame of mind to go to her bed. Tomorrow would be a long and exciting day.
Her brother carried her upstairs after she had had a drink with them all. The children were already being put to bed. Theo had brought her nanny with her and they had all trooped upstairs happily enough, eager for the morning and their presents.
Emily did not hurry over putting her patient to bed. Mr van Tecqx’s delightful family were all very kind to her, but all the same she felt shy with them and intended to wait until the last minute before going down to dinner. After the meal she could excuse herself on the grounds of reading to Lucillia or something similar.
So it wasn’t until the gong sounded that she finally went downstairs, to find everyone crossing the hall to the dining-room and Mr van Tecqx waiting for her at the bottom of the staircase.
‘Why did you not come down earlier?’
‘Well, I didn’t want to hurry Lucillia, she’s tired and excited too. There’s always some tidying up to do too, you know.’ She looked at him and smiled. ‘You’ve had a busy day?’
‘Yes.’
He was standing on the stair below her so that she was almost level with him. He stared at her, his eyes very bright. ‘But not too tired to take you to church, Emily.’
She tried to look away and couldn’t. ‘Is it a long service?’
‘No, we shall be back before one o’clock.’ He kissed her suddenly. ‘Would you like to telephone your father after dinner?’
The kiss had destroyed her calm. ‘Oh, may I? Then I would like that very much.’
He moved aside and she gained the hall, and they went into the dining-room together. There was barely a pause in the buzz of talk round the table, but Theo winked at Reilike sitting opposite her and smiled widely.
Hours later, getting into bed, Emily sleepily reviewed the evening. It had been, by the large, one to remember. Dinner had been a merry affair and she had been made to feel very much one of the family, even though in her heart she knew that wasn’t the case. Just before midnight when the house was quiet, she had gone to the Nieuwe Kerk with Mr van Tecqx, and although she hadn’t understood the service, she had at least felt that she had taken part in Christmas. They had walked home quickly, because it was cold, and indoors there was a thermos jug of coffee waiting for them.
Mr van Tecqx had had very little to say, but he had been friendly, although he had made no effort to detain her once she had drunk her coffee, so she had wished
him goodnight and a happy Christmas and gone quickly upstairs; his own ‘Happy Christmas; Emily’ had been uttered in an abstracted manner as though he had forgotten that she was there. All the same she decided, it had been lovely being with him, even if the reason for her company had been one of convenience.
Lucillia was radiant when Emily went to her room before breakfast. Because the day would be long and eventful she had agreed to have her breakfast in bed and get up after everyone else had gone to church, but her family had thoughtfully called in as they went downstairs to breakfast to wish her a happy Christmas and give her their gifts.
She was surrounded by tissue paper, boxes and coloured ribbons, and demanded that Emily should inspect everything. ‘And thank you for the lovely shawl, dear Emily—come here.’ She put her arms around Emily and kissed her. ‘Dear Emily, I am so happy, and I hope you are too.’ She reached under the coverlet. ‘And this is for you, from me.’ When Emily hesitated she said, ‘Go on, open it now.’
A little round fur hat; a soft, silky brown which perched charmingly on Emily’s soft brown hair and turned the face beneath it to something approaching prettiness. ‘Oh, it’s absolutely heavenly!’ she breathed. ‘Thank you, Lucillia—I feel quite different in it.’
‘You look quite different too. You’re a jolie laide, Emily.’ Lucillia opened another box and held up the contents. ‘Look, this is nice, isn’t it?’
Emily took off the hat and put it tenderly back into its box, then after a minute or two took it out again and put it on once more. ‘Just to get used to it,’ she explained as she began to clear a space on the bed for the breakfast tray which would be brought at any minute.
It was Mr van Tecqx who brought it. Emily, forgetting about the hat, turned to the door as he came in and went a bright pink at his, ‘Oh, very fetching, Emily.’ He put the tray down, kissed his sister and handed her a small, gaily wrapped box, which gave Emily time to remove the hat and smooth her hair into neatness while her pink cheeks resumed their normal colour.
‘You go on down, Emily,’ he advised her. ‘I want to see what Lucillia has amassed for herself.’
She popped the hat back again and went away, her feelings mixed. It had been a marvellous present, but she was vexed that Mr van Tecqx should have arrived at the precise moment that she had tried it on. She must have looked a fool.
Breakfast was a movable feast, with members of the family coming and going as and when they were ready. The air rang with the compliments of the season as they drank their coffee and ate the hot rolls and toast. The presents, Emily was told, would be handed out just before lunch, which would be at midday so that the children could share it with their elders. In the meantime everyone would go to church. She had almost finished by the time Mr van Tecqx joined his guests and she excused herself as soon as she could. Presents or no presents, Lucillia still had her routine to follow. She did it reluctantly, grumbling a little, but, as Emily pointed out, she needed to be on top of her form for the rest of the day. Emily began to pick up wrapping paper and pile the presents tidily on the table before the window. The garden outside looked romantic, with a scattering of snow and the holly trees bright with berries against the far wall. To her loving eyes it began to be even more romantic, as Mr van Tecqx, with Sidney and Pepper at his heels, came round the corner of the house, making for the small door which gave on to the narrow alley at the back. He looked up as he passed and, seeing her, waved. She waved back and Lucillia said from her bed, ‘That’ll be Sebastian.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I can tell from the way the back of your head looked.’ And when Emily spun round, very pink again, gave her a look of such innocence from her blue eyes that Emily told herself she was getting stupidly touchy. No one, she was confident, had any idea of her feelings towards the master of the house.
They had already in fact discussed what Lucillia should wear. Emily got the soft green crêpe dress from the closet and hung it ready. It had a long skirt, its pleats soft and ample, the small waist encircled by a supple leather belt with a lovely buckle. Encouraged by the sight of it, Lucillia did her exercises, had her shower and dressed laboriously with Emily giving her help where it was needed, taking no notice of her peevish impatience when her legs refused to do what she wished them to do.
At length she really was ready, and as though answering a cue, Mr van Tecqx knocked on the door, remarking as he entered that he had just returned from the hospital and come to carry his sister down. ‘Tomorrow,’ he told her, ‘you are going to walk downstairs. I’ll be with you and you can go step by step, sideways on, holding the banisters with both hands. But that is a treat for tomorrow.’ He studied her, his handsome head on one side. ‘Very pretty, my dear.’ He glanced at Emily, smiling a little. ‘Bring the crutches, will you, Emily?’
There was a magnificent tree standing in the corner of the drawing-room, decked with white and silver and lighted with white and silver electric candles. Round its base were the presents, four and five deep.
The three of them had their coffee, not waiting for the rest of the family to get back from church, and presently Mevrouw van Tecqx arrived, just ahead of her family. Emily slipped away presently; she would return in an hour, in time for drinks before the Christmas feast. She busied herself in Lucillia’s room, tidying up, then went to her own room and sat down by the window. She wasn’t unhappy, she told herself stoutly, only a little lonely, and really she was having a lovely Christmas…
Someone knocked on the door and she called, ‘Come in.’ The room had been tidied and the bed made hours ago. She supposed the staff were in their sitting-room until it was time to hand out the presents.
Mr van Tecqx came in without haste, and she stared at him in surprise, thinking at the same time, that he seemed to get larger each time she saw him. ‘Lucillia—’ she began.
‘In the bosom of the family.’ He came and stood by the window, towering over her. ‘We have to have a talk, Emily. I shall operate on your father around the middle of January. I think that by then Lucillia will be, in every sense of the expression, on her feet, still walking with crutches, of course, but able to cope. Besides, there will be Dirk…’ He smiled at the thought. ‘They are very well suited and not too young to marry. They will have to wait for a few months, of course. I intend to marry first.’ He watched the colour drain from her face with interest. ‘You are surprised? I have, after all, only been waiting for a girl to come into my life whom I can love.’
‘I hope you’ll be very happy.’ Emily’s voice was rather squeaky.
‘I have no doubt of that. Now, I think you might return to England when I go in January. You will wish to be near your father, and at the same time Lucillia can return home to my mother’s house.’
Ready for the bride, reflected Emily unhappily, and said a shade too brightly, ‘Of course, Mr van Tecqx, I’ll stay at home until Father is able to cope with Mrs Owen and then go back to Pearson’s.’
He made no answer, but after all, why should he? Her future really was no concern of his; other than operating on her father there was no further bargain to be fulfilled on his part. It had been agreed that she might continue her training at Pearson’s—a secure job… Suddenly it held no attractions for her; living in this lovely old house, surrounded by comfort and Bas and Anneke’s kindly attention, had given her a taste of what life could be like, although she would have been just as happy in a hovel if Sebastian had been there with her.
‘You agree to my suggestions?’ His voice broke into her unhappy thoughts.
‘Yes, oh, yes, thank you. They—couldn’t be better.’
‘Good. Let us go downstairs; it is time to hand out the presents and the children are just longing to get at them.’
It took quite a time for him to distribute the packets and parcels; the children first, of course, shouting and shrieking with excitement, and then the grown-ups, opening theirs rather more soberly. Emily hadn’t expected anything, nothing like the small pile of gaily wrapped
gifts which were handed to her. Chocolates and scent and beautifully embroidered hankies, and in a long, beribboned box a fur scarf to match her cap. She gaped at it, her mouth a little open, and looked at the gift tag. From Mr vanTecqx, wishing her a happy Christmas and his best wishes for her future. He was watching her from his place by the tree, and when she looked across the room he smiled at her. He had never smiled quite like that before. Her heart giving a little skip and jump, she managed to look away with an effort; it was just Christmas and everyone got a little emotional. She thanked him presently in a quiet voice which betrayed nothing of her feelings.
He said, ‘Tomorrow we will take the dogs for a walk and you shall wear it.’ Emily nodded speechlessly.
The rest of the day was dreamlike, the sumptuous food, the shining glass and polished silver and the lights gleaming on the women’s pretty dresses were all part of it, and later that evening after a buffet supper Lucillia was helped to her feet, and when someone put on a tape of a Viennese waltz, was whirled gently around by Dirk, who had joined them that evening. Of course, she didn’t really dance, for he had held her close, supporting her, but it looked as though she did. Everyone came and clapped loudly, and when Dirk settled her in her chair again she was flushed and triumphant.
Her mother crossed the room to kiss her. ‘The nicest Christmas present I could have wished for,’ she declared. ‘How clever of you to think of it, my dear.’
‘I didn’t, it was Emily.’
Which brought everyone over to Emily to tell her how clever she had been—all except Mr van Tecqx, who had sat down beside his sister and Dirk; their heads were so close together and they were laughing a little.
Getting Lucillia to bed had been an exhausting business, but finally she declared herself ready to go to sleep and Emily was free to go to her own room. There was the muted sound of music and laughter coming from the drawing-room, but she didn’t go downstairs. She had murmured a general goodnight as she accompanied Lucillia upstairs, and with all the children safely tucked up hours ago, it left the van Tecqx family free to enjoy the remainder of the evening. She undressed slowly and when she was in her nightie tried on the hat and scarf once more. She had never had anything like them before and they would last for ever, reminding her of Delft—but only Delft, she reminded herself firmly; Mr van Tecqx had to be forgotten as quickly as possible now that he was going to be married.