by Betty Neels
The Professor got in beside her. `Yes, he'll set the legs and look after the little beast until it's fit to go to whoever will have it.' He gave her a sideways look as he spoke. `You?' he asked blandly.
She said at once: `Yes, of course. The fees ... ?"
'The vet never charges for this kind of accident.' He watched the relief on her face with detached amusement. `I telephoned my aunt and explained why you would be late.'
He was driving back the way they had come, showing no further interest in her.
`Oh, did you? How kind-I was a bit worried. I mean, Lady Manderly likes me to be punctual, and I thought ... that is, I was afraid she might have given me the sack.'
He said casually: `Yes, I was surprised she was so forbearing. You'll only be half an hour or so late, though.'
`Yes, and I can make it up this evening.'
`You live close by?"
'Yes, quite a short walk.' She had no intention of telling him where. The little newspaper shop was hardly a good address; even as she thought it she felt mean. Mrs Adams and Shirley were kind and friendly and however poky her room was, it was her own while she paid the rent. `I'm very comfortable at the flat,' she told him with a shade of defiance and a regrettable lack of truth, and was sorry she had said it, because he didn't show any interest. She doubted if he was listening; he was probably bored stiff by the whole little episode.
She was left to face Lady Manderly alone. The Professor gave her a curt nod when they reached the house, leaned over and opened the door for her and drove off without a second glance.
`Rather rude,' muttered Jemima, and thumped the door knocker with unnecessary violence.
Belling admitted her and allowed a faint sympathetic smile to crease his bland features. `Lady Manderly is in the small sitting room, miss, if you would go up at once.'
Lady Manderly, empurpled with ill humour, received her coldly. `It is to be hoped,' she uttered sternly, `that you will not make a habit of rescuing animals when you should be here working for me.'
`It's to be hoped that there won't be any more animals to rescue,' observed Jemima reasonably. 'I'm sorry I'm late, Lady Manderly, but I couldn't have left that cat lying there in the middle of the road...'
Her employer raised a majestic hand. `Spare me the details, Miss Mason, I do not wish to hear them.'
`That's the trouble, isn't it?' said Jemima equably. `People never want to hear about misery and pain, do they?'
Lady Manderly drew in a hissing breath, lifted her lorgnette and stared at Jemima through them, and then flung them back on to her generous front so fiercely that the chain snapped and the whole lot fell on to the carpet.
`There, now see what you've done,' said Jemima chidingly. `I told you that specs would be easier for you.' She got down on her knees and picked up the broken chain. `I'll get some thread and tie the links together until we can get it mended.'
Lady Manderly was opening and closing her mouth like a dying fish, struggling to get out words. At last she managed: `You are a forward girl...'
`I don't mean to be,' said Jemima, and smiled nicely at the cross face.
`Would you like me to read to you first this morning, there don't seem to be many letters.' She glanced at the unopened pile on the desk.
`Very well,' said Lady Manderly ungraciously, and then: `Really, I don't know if you will suit, Miss Mason.'
Jemirna's heart sank, but she turned a calm face to her employer.
`Would you like me to draft another advertisement?' she asked matter-of-factly.
Lady Manderly bristled. `You don't like your work here? You wish to leave?"
'Me? Heavens, no! I'm very happy, you see I had an invalid mother to look after for a few years and I-I miss caring for someone.'
Lady Manderly's rather protuberant eyes I)opped out still further and for once she had no answer. Jemima hadn't expected one, she skimmed through the news, picking out the choicest bits. `Shall I start reading, Lady Manderly?' she asked.
`Yes, you may do so, Miss Mason. You say that you are happy here-that being so, I am prepared to overlook your lateness this morning. After all, my nephew seems to think that you are a good enough young woman.'
`How very kind of him,' said Jemima softly and her fine eyes sparkled with temper at the arrogance of it.
`So you will stay?' asked Lady Manderly, and Jemima detected the tiniest hint of wistfulness in the commanding voice.
`Yes, I'd like to, Lady Manderly.' She smiled at the lady and picked up the paper. `There is a report on the PM's speech-shall I read it to you first?'
The morning went as usual after that, and at lunch time, Lady Manderly made gracious conversation, presumably offering an olive branch of sorts. Jemima was a good listener; they rose from the table in charity with each other and Jemima, having seen Lady Manderly safely tucked up in the drawing room, whisked herself out of the house with Coco, just as eager for a walk as she was.
It was almost six o'clock, and Jemima was just finishing the last of the letters when the phone rang.
`You leave at five o'clock, do you not' asked the Professor into her ear.
`No, I don't, Professor.' Remembering that he had called her a good enough young woman, she asked in a freezing voice: `You wish to speak to Lady Manderly?"
'No, not particularly, I thought you might like to know that the little cat is recovering nicely. Have you attempted to find out if it belongs to anyone?"
'How could I do that?' she asked with a snap. `I've had no time at all. I'll go round to every house this evening when I'm free to do so.'
`If you hadn't taken me up so sharply, I would have continued,' said the Professor mildly. `The cat is obviously a stray, ill cared for and half starved. If I might suggest-without my head being bitten off-that she remains with the vet until she is quite well, then if you wish to have her you can do so, if not, we must find a good home for her.'
`Oh, yes-well, that would be nice, but the vet won't keep her for nothing? Will he? Could I have his phone number or his name the bill, you know.'
`I thought I had made myself clear already, Miss Mason. He doesn't charge for emergency treatment, and I will settle the account...'
Jemima said suddenly: `You're an endocrinologist, aren't you? Belling told me. Do you use cats to-to experiment on? Because if that's the reason...'
His voice cut through hers like cold steel. `Miss Mason, I do not, as you put it, use cats. I never have done nor do I intend to, but since you are determined to think the worst of me I suggest we end our conversation.'
He hung up before she could so much as draw breath.
She licked down the last envelope, wondering if she had hurt his feelings or was he a man with feelings to hurt? Just his pride perhaps. In any case she would have to apologise. She picked up the letters to post and went along to the drawing room to wish Lady Manderly goodnight and went slowly out of the house and down the street.
`Bother the man,' she muttered, `I hope I never see him again!' The thought was a little lowering for some reason; she brightened visibly when she remembered that she would have to in order to apologise.
She licked down the last envelope, wondering if she had hurt his feelings or was he a man with feelings to hurt? Just his pride perhaps. In any case she would have to apologise. She picked up the letters to post and went along to the drawing room to wish Lady Manderly goodnight and went slowly out of the house and down the street.
`Bother the man,' she muttered, `I hope I never see him again!' The thought was a little lowering for some reason; she brightened visibly when she remembered that she would have to in order to apologise.
CHAPTER THREE
JEMIMA DIDN'T SEE HIM for a whole week; although he did in fact leave a message with Belling on two occasions, letting her know that the little cat was making progress. And when she did see him again, he had Gloria with him; they arrived one early afternoon just as Jemima was about to take Coco for her walk. Gloria was wearing a dashing tartan outfit with long leather
boots which must have cost the earth. She had a fetching, slightly ridiculous hat perched on her lovely head and wore the smug expression of one who knows she looks as near perfection as possible. As well she might, conceded Jemima sourly, aware of her own shortcomings.
Gloria grinned at her and waved an airy hand. `Hullo there, how's a life of toil suiting you, darling?' She eyed her with a faintly malicious smile. `You could do with a visit to the hairdresser, if you don't mind my saying so.'
Jemima bent to fasten Coco's lead on to the silly jewel-studded collar. Words, heated words, jostled on her tongue, but she had no intention of allowing them to be uttered. She was rather red in the face as she straightened up, but she managed a smile.
`No time,' she said with false cheerfulness, and made for the street door. The Professor was standing just inside it, apparently wrapped in thought, and she went past him without looking at him. It was a surprise therefore when he opened it for her and joined her on the pavement.
`The little cat is well enough to leave the vet,' he told her blandly. `I'll fetch her this evening and bring her to your flat.'
Jemima stood staring up at him, unaware of the horror on her face. He saw it and wondered with a faint spark of interest why it was there.
`Oh, well,' she said in a rush, `I-I haven't told my landlady-she might not ... that is...'
`I should anticipate no difficulty, Miss Mason, unless you live in a council flat.'
`No, no, I don't.'
`Then there should be nothing to worry you.' He waited a bit to see if she was going to tell him what the difficulty was, but when she didn't speak: `I will meet you here at six o'clock.'
Jemima sought feverishly for an excuse and could think of none-not that it mattered; he had turned on his heel and gone back into the house before she had got her addled wits worki ng.
She spent the rest of the afternoon examining various wholly unsatisfactory ways of getting out of the mess, and rejecting them in turn, to the detriment of her work, so that Lady Manderly had the satisfaction of calling her to order several times.
Six o'clock . came too soon, and when she suggested that she should stay a little while and check the grocery bills due to be paid, she was told quite sharply to go home at once. She took as long as she could to leave the house, going back twice on trumped-up excuses, but i n the end, almost fifteen minutes late, she had to open the door, buoyed up with the very faint hope that the Professor had got sick of waiting for her.
He hadn't. There was the Rolls, parked opposite with him at the wheel. He leaned over and opened the door as she went reluctantly across the pavement and observed drily: `I'm still here, you see. Get in. Where do you live?'
She saw a possible loophole of escape and said quickly: `Oh, quite close by. If you'd just let me have the cat, I can walk there...'
For answer he started the car and swung it round. `The address?' he persisted in a voice which would brook no denial.
He made no comment as he stopped the car in front of Mrs Adams' shop. It was still open, although there were no customers there. Shirley was starting to tidy away the racks of magazines and comics, and she glanced up as Jemima got out of the car and crossed the pavement.
'Cor, look who's 'ere, come ' ome in a posh car!' She caught sight of the Professor straightening his splendid person to his full height, cat basket in hand, and her eyes almost started from her head. `And Prince Charming tagging along, an' all.' She grinned widely at Jemima. 'Oo's yer posh friend, Jemima?'
Jemima had gone a little pink, but she said clearly: `Shirley, this is Professor Cator, who has most kindly given me a lift back.' She gave him a fleeting look. `Professor, this is Miss Shirley Adams.'
He took the hand offered him and shook it firmly. `I'll come up with you, if I may, Miss Mason?' He looked enquiringly at Shirley as he spoke and she flung the door at the back of the shop open. `Go ahead,' she begged him, and winked at Jemima.
There was nothing for it but to climb the shabby stairs with him hard on her heels. As they reached the landing the smell of frying fish was heavy on the air, a sign that Mrs Adams was in the kitchen, fortunately with the door shut. Jemima breathed a small sigh of relief and led the way down the passage and opened her door.
`It isn't a flat,' she told him forthrightly. `I should have told you that in the first place, shouldn't I?'
He closed the door behind him. `Yes, you should,' and then surprisingly he added in a quite gentle voice, `But I quite see why you didn't.' He smiled at her so kindly that she smiled too, a little uncertainly, and he went on: `Of course you can't keep a cat here; she shall come home with me.'
He put the basket down on the bed and stood in the middle of the room, towering over everything, and since Jemima had nothing to say to that, he bent and let the cat out and tucked her under his arm. `Perhaps I might sit down?' he suggested softly.
Jemima's face, until now pale with fright, coloured fiercely. 'I'm so sorry, please do , not the chair, though, it's not very strong. Perhaps the bed, if you wouldn't mind.'
He sat down beside the little cat and scooped her on to his knee. Its hind legs were in plaster, but its coat was soft and shining and its small face was nicely plump.
Jemima tickled her chin with a gentle finger. `I wish I could have her-she's beautiful, isn't she? Will her legs be all right?"
'The vet says so. Tell me, Jemima, how much does my aunt pay you each week?'
`Fifty pounds, and I have my lunch and tea at her house.'
`And the rent here?'
It really wasn't his business, but somehow she found herself answering him. `Forty pounds a week, but I get a good breakfast and my supper as well as this room.'
`No extras?' he asked casually.
`Well, this fire, and the gas ring-there's a meter, and ten pence a day for a bath, but I haven't any fares. I have plenty to live on, Professor Cator.'
`But not much to spend.'
`Enough. Lady Manderly likes me to have lunch with her on my half day, so I don't get back here much before two o'clock.) and by the time I've done what shopping I need to do, it's tea time. And on Sundays I go to church and explore London. I don't know it very well.'
`You have friends?'
She could have lied about that, but his rather hard grey eyes were on her face. `Oh, yes, but they all live in Oxford-that is-that was-my home.'
'Ah yes, my aunt mentioned that.' He wasn't looking at her, but stroking the cat curled up on his knee. `If you wish I could find you somewhere more suitable in which to live.'
She looked like an eager child. `Oh, could you? That would be ... no, it wouldn't do. I can't leave here, not yet. You see, Mrs Adams and Shirley were very kind to me-I had nowhere to go, and they offered me a room...' She paused and looked at him, remote, polite and probably bored to death. `I don't suppose you've ever found yourself without a home' she observed. `It's not pleasant.' There was no trace of self-pity in her quiet voice.
`I imagine not.' He put the cat back into the basket and stood up. `You must do as you wish, Jemima.'
She went to open the door. `I'm very grateful for the offer, Professor Cator, and for your kindness in taking the little cat. I'm sorry I misled you.'
He said austerely: `Yes, don't do it again, but I think perhaps that you will not-it would be quite useless, you know.'
The kitchen door was open now and a blue haze redolent of fish hung over the landing. Mrs Adams stood there, obviously primed by Shirley and anxious to see their visitor. She looked a little belligerent, for she didn't hold with gentlemen followers to girls living in bedsitters, but as her eye lighted upon the Professor her expression changed. Here was a gent all right, lovely manners too-coming straight to her and shaking her hand and saying how delighted his aunt was that Miss Mason had found such a comfortable room and such a kind landlady.
`Well, I'm sure I do me best,' said Mrs Adams, much gratified. `Such a nice young lady too-me and Shirl saw that first go off-we're glad ter ' ave her.'
She melted
visibly under Professor Cator's charm, and Jemima, watching, saw that he could be very charming indeed if he wanted to. He shook Mrs Adams' hand. `I'll leave you to your supper,' he said pleasantly, and bade her good evening. With Jemima ahead of him he went downstairs and into the shop where Shirley was still pottering about, although the closed sign was on the door now. "Ad a nice chat?' she asked brightly, and unlocked the door. The Professor gave her a pleasant smile, nodded briskly to Jemima, then got back into his car and drove away.
`What's in the basket?' asked Shirley as they stood watching the Rolls' imposing back disappear.
`A cat. He rescued it and took it to a vet to he cured. He's taking it to his home.'