by Betty Neels
He smiled at her and then glanced at his wife and smiled at her too—quite a different smile, Gemma noticed; tender and loving and very faintly amused. She supposed that the professor would smile in just the same way at his wife when he got himself one.
She explained about Rienieta wanting to see her mother and the doctor got up to open the door for them. Nice, thought Gemma, following Mevrouw Dieperink van Berhuys up the staircase, to have doors opened for you and things picked up for you when you dropped them and someone to smile at you like that…it would be lovely to go through life with someone who smoothed the rough edges and cherished you. It was no wonder that the little lady sailing along ahead of her looked so happy and contented; a devoted husband and children who loved her dearly…Gemma fetched a sigh and her companion, on the point of entering Rienieta’s room, turned round to ask: ‘You’re tired, child. Did you have a pleasant evening? But too short, I think.’
‘It was delightful, thank you, mevrouw, but Leo took me back to his house and there were a great many people there.’
It sounded rather silly, put like that, but her companion seemed to understand, for she nodded and smiled. ‘People can be a great nuisance,’ she said kindly, and opened the door.
She didn’t stay long, the question of her daughter’s wardrobe was quickly settled and after a few reassuring remarks she went downstairs again, leaving Gemma to settle Rienieta for the night and pack the few things she would need. It didn’t take long; Gemma had finished and her patient was fast asleep and she herself in bed before she heard the sound of a car coming fast. Ross had arrived, coming into the house so quietly that she didn’t hear a sound. Only much later, while she still lay awake thinking about her evening with Leo and her future and then Leo again, she heard his quiet, slow tread going down the gallery to his room. It was as though she had been waiting for that sound before she slept, for a moment later she closed her eyes with a contented little sigh.
She was up early, seeing that Rienieta had her breakfast in bed before she bathed and dressed. She herself was already dressed in the Jaeger skirt and coral cotton sweater she had bought in Salisbury; its accompanying jacket neatly laid out on her bed, ready to put on at the last moment; her hair was twisted into its usual tidy bun and she had taken pains with her face. She had taken a minimum of things for herself; night clothes, flat shoes in case she had the opportunity to go sightseeing, which she very much doubted… She went down to the kitchen where Ria gave her Rienieta’s breakfast tray, and she was on her way up again with it carefully balanced, when the study door opened and the professor came out, dressed in an elegantly sober grey suit which Gemma judged must have cost him a small fortune. He looked, she considered, eyeing him over her tray, absolutely smashing. She wished him a sober good morning and he countered it with a cheerful ‘Hullo’ and added: ‘Come down again when you’ve seen to Rienieta, will you, Gemma?’
He didn’t smile, only stared at her rather hard, so that she clutched the tray to her and hurried on, wondering why he should look so annoyed, only that wasn’t the right word; he never looked annoyed—remote was nearer the mark.
She was back within five minutes, tapping on the study door, to have it flung wide, and as he ushered her in with all the vigour of a north wind: ‘For heaven’s sake, Gemma,’ said the professor in an exasperated voice, ‘you don’t have to knock on doors!’ His voice was so sharp that she said forth-rightly:
‘And you don’t have to take me up so snappily!’
‘I’m sorry, and you’re quite right.’ His tone was silky and he didn’t mean a word of it. ‘Do sit down.’
Gemma perched on the edge of a large leather chair; they were all outsize, made for large men, she found herself wondering how his mother managed.
‘I am glad that I was able to speak to you yesterday evening,’ he remarked, still very silky. ‘I should have remembered that you would probably be out.’
She coloured faintly but met his cool gaze frankly enough. ‘You didn’t need to remember anything of the sort, Professor; I’ve been out on just three occasions and never when I considered that Rienieta might need me—however, if you find me unsatisfactory, I’ll go at once. There must be some very good nurses in Utrecht,’ she added helpfully.
He didn’t say anything at all for such a long time that she sat a little straighter in her chair, wondering what was coming next. When he did speak she was so surprised that she could only stare at him. ‘Gemma, I told you that you were a gem of a girl and I haven’t changed my opinion; you have gone well beyond the bounds of duty in giving up hours of time to Rienieta—oh, I know all about the endless card games and the chess and the hours you have spent with her before she would sleep at night. You are entitled to a great deal more free time than you get and no one is going to dispute that.’
He paused and she seized the opportunity to ask: ‘Then why did you look so angry just now?’
His voice was placid again. ‘I have a bad temper,’ he observed. ‘Now and again it gets the better of me, but it’s all right now.’ He smiled at her while his eyes searched her face. ‘About Rienieta, it may help if I tell you what we intend to do…’
She listened to his quiet voice discussing hospital procedure, tests, arrangements made for their stay, the time of their arrival; it was hard to believe that this was the man who had so recently shown all the signs of a nasty temper. He was brief and concise and presently she got up to go. He got up too. ‘Have you had breakfast? Nor have I. If Rienieta is still eating hers, I’ll see you in the breakfast room in a few minutes.’ He opened the door for her as she went past him, put a hand on her arm. ‘You look charming, Gemma—you should wear that next time you go out with Leo. Does he know that you are going to Utrecht?’
‘No.’
‘Would you like me to let him know? I should think you would have an hour or two to spare this afternoon while they’re busy with Rienieta, so he could meet you…’ Gemma studied his face. The heavy lids prevented her from seeing his eyes, but he was smiling and she suddenly had the strangest feeling that Leo wasn’t quite real, that he didn’t matter at all, and if he wanted to meet her again he could find out where she was himself—there was no reason why the professor should do it for him, especially when Leo had said that they disliked each other. ‘You don’t like him, do you?’ she asked.
The lids lifted long enough for her to see how very blue his eyes were. ‘My dear girl, what has that to do with it?’ he asked.
She shook her head, not quite knowing herself. ‘Nothing,’ she told him. ‘Do you ever find your thoughts in such a muddle that you can’t make head or tail of them?’
‘Frequently. What has that to do with meeting de Vos?’
‘I don’t know—that’s what I meant about being in a muddle.’
There was a gleam in his eyes, quickly quenched. ‘You would like me to telephone him?’
Her ‘No, thank you,’ was uttered so strongly that the gleam came back again. She went back to Rienieta without saying any more.
He didn’t have much to say to her at breakfast; the conversation was general and in any case Gemma ate her meal quickly and excused herself on the grounds of keeping an eye on an excited Rienieta. She went reluctantly, though she was enjoying the family chatter going on around her. The professor got on well with his parents and there was a good deal of laughter—the kind of laughter she could share; it didn’t make her feel uneasy like the laughter of Leo’s friends.
The professor was driving the Aston Martin. He packed his sister into the back seat and bade Gemma take the seat beside his, explaining that Rienieta would be tired enough by the time they reached Utrecht and if she were on her own, would be more likely to sleep. ‘So close your eyes, Rienieta,’ he begged her. ‘I’ll stop for coffee on the way.’
He drove with smooth speed, not saying much. Gemma, peeping at him sideways, saw that his handsome profile looked severe and wondered why. But the idle remarks he addressed to her from time to time were made in his usua
l good-natured manner, and when they stopped for coffee some miles north of Breda, he carried on a light-hearted conversation with his sister which quite belied the profile. They were in Utrecht soon after that, shepherded straight into the hospital and taken without delay to the private wing on the top floor, where they were met by a Ward Sister, a hovering nurse, a grave young man in a pristine white coat and another young man in a short white jacket.
The professor was greeted with respect and wished the entire party an affable good morning before introducing them briefly: Hoofd Zuster Blom, Zuster van Leen, Doctor Woolff and Doctor Hemstra. He then assured his sister that he would see her shortly, nodded to Gemma and ambled away with various people flying in front of him to open doors. He rewarded their efforts with polite thanks and Gemma found herself smiling; for an important man, and he seemed to be that in the hospital, he was singularly modest in his manner.
Rienieta had a small comfortable room at the end of a long corridor of similar rooms and Gemma had one next to it. There was to be nothing done until Rienieta had rested and had lunch—the professor had primed Gemma about that. She busied herself getting her patient nicely settled in her bed with the magazines her parents had thoughtfully provided, unpacked their few odds and ends and then went back to sit with Rienieta until Zuster Blom stuck her head round the door with the news, in very tolerable English, that Rienieta’s lunch was on the way up and if Gemma cared to do so, she could go to the hospital canteen and have a meal herself.
Leaving Rienieta with a dainty meal on a tray and assuring her that she would be only a very short time, Gemma started off down the corridor, through the swing doors at the end and down the stairs as she had been told. She was shy of going to the canteen, for she had no idea whether she paid for her food there or would it be put on Rienieta’s bill, and supposing no one spoke English, how could she find out? The professor might have told her, or had he forgotten that she had to eat like anyone else?
She was halfway down the first flight of stairs when she met him, coming up two at a time, to bar her way. ‘Hullo,’ he said casually. ‘I took a chance on you being scared of the lifts, and I was right.’
‘I don’t even know where the lifts are,’ she told him, faintly peevish with worrying about how to get her lunch. ‘I’m on my way to the canteen.’
‘That’s right—with me.’ He had turned and started down the stairs beside her.
She stopped to look at him. ‘Oh—but I told Rienieta…’
‘Zuster Blom will have told her by now that you’re lunching with me—we’ll go back together. There’s a pleasant little restaurant just round the corner from the hospital.’
He marched her down the remainder of the stairs and out of the hospital entrance and then down a narrow street which opened into a miniature square lined with old houses, most of which were antique shops. The restaurant was small and dim and fairly full, but there was a table in a corner for them and Gemma seated herself with a small sigh of pleasure. The room was panelled in some sort of dark wood and there was a large tiled fireplace and no more than half a dozen tables, each with its stiffly starched tablecloth and well polished silver and glass. It undoubtedly had the edge on the canteen.
‘I thought you might be a little shy of being on your own in the canteen,’ explained her companion, and Gemma, murmuring suitable thanks, found herself wishing that he had asked her for her company and not out of kindness. ‘And I’m not being kind,’ he continued, unerringly reading her thoughts so that she coloured faintly. ‘I wanted to have lunch with you.’
‘Oh,’ said Gemma, and regretted her inability to give a clever answer to such a remark; Mandy or Phil would have known exactly what to say. But the professor didn’t look as though he expected her to say more, only inquired if she would like sherry and ordered a Jenever for himself. ‘They’ll start on Rienieta at half past two. I’ve a full afternoon until five o’clock, so if you wouldn’t mind being around? She’s scared, though I can’t think why, unless she managed to get hold of some medical book or other and read up all the complications she could have had and didn’t. Reassure her if you can. She has complete confidence in you, Gemma—and she likes you.’
‘I’ll do my best. If she gets the all clear today, will she be able to…that is, you won’t want me any more?’
He looked at her over the menu he was studying. ‘You want to know when you can return home? Are you so anxious to go?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘No, how stupid of me, you want to know how much time you have in which to be with de Vos.’
She pinkened. ‘It sounds horrid put like that, but I suppose that’s what I was thinking.’ She added accusingly: ‘How selfish you make me out to be!’ She glowered at him and he made matters worse by laughing at her.
‘Indeed, I had no intention—don’t look like that, Gemma. Have you forgotten that I promised you that I wouldn’t stand in your way with de Vos? None of us would.’ He assumed a look of concern which she didn’t think was genuine. ‘Why, only this morning, I offered to telephone him…’
‘Yes—well, never mind that now,’ she begged him hastily. ‘There’s really no need for you to bother yourself about me—I’m quite capable…’
‘No bother,’ he assured her airily. ‘You have only to call upon me.’ He gave her a bland smile. And now what would you like to eat? Have you tried our herrings—one for starters, perhaps and then how about Steak Orloff?’
They didn’t talk of Leo again. The professor was a surprisingly good talker when he chose to be and Gemma found herself relaxing under his gentle flow of small talk and the delicious food. She ate it with appetite, rounding off the meal with a plate of poffertjes and a large bowl of whipped cream and observing when she had finished, ‘That was one of the nicest meals I’ve ever had.’ She looked around her. ‘This is a delightful place.’
‘There are equally delightful restaurants in all our big cities,’ he assured her. ‘I daresay that sooner or later you will visit them all,’ and before she could challenge this remark: ‘I’m afraid that we must go back to the hospital, much as I regret it…’
He was two men, she decided; the placid friendly one who had fetched the sausages for her and hung out the washing to the manner born, and this suave, elegant host who was so clearly perfectly at home in exclusive restaurants. It was as they were walking back down the narrow street once more that she asked: ‘What did you mean—that I should visit most of the restaurants?’
‘Just exactly what I said, dear girl, and if that is another question burning the end of your tongue, let me assure you in your cryptic English: Wait and see.’
They were going through the hospital doors as he spoke. He stopped just inside them, nodded to a group of white-coated young men and women obviously waiting for him, said: ‘I shall see you later, Gemma,’ and gave her the gentlest of shoves towards the stairs. She went at once without a word; this would be one of his teaching rounds and she knew better than to delay him.
Rienieta was waiting for her and a little disappointed about not seeing Ross. ‘A teaching round,’ explained Gemma cheerfully. ‘And now are we all ready for the first of the tests?’ She chattered on cheerfully, bolstering up Rienieta’s spirits with a nice mixture of elder sisterly advice and professional know-how so that, by and large, the afternoon went smoothly enough. By five o’clock everything had been done and dealt with and the patient was back in her room, sharing a tray of tea with Gemma.
‘I have been good?’ she asked. ‘I have done what I was told to do without fuss and not made a nuisance of myself?’
‘You’ve been quite super,’ declared Gemma warmly, ‘a splendid patient.’
‘Then I shall ask for a new dress—I shall tell Papa that you are pleased with me and he will allow me to go to that dear little boutique and choose what I want. I should also like a handbag. I could go to Wessel’s—they have the very best…’
The tests were over, but the results wouldn’t be known until the next morning; Gemma was relieved that her c
ompanion’s thoughts were so nicely diverted. The pair of them were deep in discussion as to the merits of calf over suede when the professor walked in.
He received his sister’s rapturous greeting with tolerant affection, at once agreed that a new handbag was an absolute necessity, and endeared himself still more to her by offering to take her to Wessel’s so that she might choose one. ‘Let me see,’ he mused, ‘I’m free from ten o’clock until about midday—I’ll fetch you and bring you back here so that we can learn the results of your tests and so on before Vader gets here.’ He sat down and stretched his legs. ‘Will that do?’
‘Oh, Ross, you are my favorite brother—may I buy exactly what I want?’
‘Exactly, lieveling. Are you tired?’
Rienieta considered the question. ‘Perhaps, a little. Zuster Blom says that I must go to bed early. Gemma must be tired too, for she has been here all the afternoon.’
Gemma disclaimed all idea of tiredness, however. ‘I’m bursting with energy,’ she protested. ‘I’ve done nothing all day—I could walk for miles.’
‘How providential—perhaps you will take pity on me and keep me company for dinner, and if you’re so bent on walking, there is plenty to see in Utrecht and it is a pleasant evening.’
Gemma hesitated. She had hoped—still hoped, that Leo would somehow have heard where she was and come to see her, even if only for a little while. There was nothing much for her to do once Rienieta had been settled for the night and there were nurses enough if she should want anything. ‘Always provided, of course, that you have no other engagement,’ said the professor slowly.
‘Well—no. Actually I haven’t. It’s very kind of you—if Rienieta doesn’t mind…?’
Rienieta yawned to make her emphatic: ‘I do not mind, Gemma,’ even more emphatic. ‘But you do not go at once? You will stay for a little while?’
‘I’ll be back about seven o’clock,’ said her brother, and got to his feet. ‘Goodnight, little sister. I’m going to telephone Mama and then I have some work to do.’ He strolled to the door. ‘Gemma, walk to the stairs with me, will you?’