"George, you're a smasher--cor love a duck!" he added, and cocked a
questioning eye.
"I beg your pardon?" she said repressively.
"And where did you learn that vulgar term?"
He looked innocent.
"Vulgar? Mr. Legg often says it."
"I daresay. But does your guardian?"
"You mean Cousin Julius," he repeated patiently.
"No. At least, I've not heard him."
"I should think not indeed! If you want to grow up like him you must try and
speak as he does."
Cor wriggled.
"But Cousin Julius has an accent;
sometimes he sounds like a Dutchman. "
Georgina looked severe.
"That has nothing to do with it, and well you know it," to melt instantly
when he said plaintively:
"My left knee hurts."
She was by him immediately, saying in a motherly voice, "Oh, dearest, you've
wriggled and wriggled--you're worse than a worm!"
They giggled comfortably together while she took out the small pillow under
the offending limb and smoothed it and put things to rights once more. She
tidied his bed ruthlessly too, for, she said, "You will be having
visitors--ever so many."
"Will you come and see me, George dear?"
She laughed a little and said gently, "Cor, how absurd you are! You see me
every day and almost all day too--it'll be a nice change for you to see other
people."
He nodded.
"Yes, I know, but you don't always look like you do now.
Please come, George. "
She gave his bed a final pat.
"All right, dear, I'll come I won't be late anyway, because I want to go to
church at seven in the morning, then I'll be back in time to watch you open
your presents-that's if you can wait until then?"
"Rather, will you open your parcels too?"
"If I have any." He looked mysterious.
"You'll get some I expect."
He looked round as the door opened, and Beatrix, very pleased with herself in
a new cherry red dress, came in, followed by Dimphena in a pink velvet
trouser suit and the pearl earrings, looking equally pleased. They stopped
short inside the door and said in unison:
"George, you look gorgeous," and Dimphena went on, "You always look nice, but
now you look..."
"Smashing," supplied Franz, and not to be outdone, Beatrix cried:
"No, she's beautiful!" and was echoed by Karel from the door. "
"Just wait until Julius sets eyes on her; not a word, any of you. He will
have a lovely surprise."
He looked at Georgina with admiration in his eyes, and made his way to where
she was standing, produced a sprig of mistletoe from a pocket and kissed her.
"Quite, quite beautiful," he said again, and she laughed, a little
embarrassed but delighted too at their admiration.
"Go on with the lot of you!" she cried.
"You'll turn me into a horrible conceited creature. I'm sure it's time we
went down. Do go, all of you, I'll just fix Cor's table ready for his supper
and slip down presently."
At the door Karel looked back, laughing.
"Don't be long you gorgeous girl---Julius will be speechless!"
She made some lighthearted reply, thinking that Julius had had six months in
which to become speechless at the sight of her without once giving any
indication of doing any such thing; it was unlikely that he would be carried
away by a pretty dress. She busied herself with Cor, wishing all at once
that she wasn't going downstairs. It had been possible, so far, to maintain
the cool friendly attitude towards the Professor which she felt he wished her
to have--she had long ago worked out for herself that if he was considering
marriage, the last thing he would want to do would be to give his future
bride any cause for doubt or jealousy-he was that kind of a man, and because
she loved him, she had striven to be exactly as he wanted. She remembered
his kisses for a brief moment, and banished the thought. Men kissed girls
for a variety of reasons; he could have been lonely, or happy, or unhappy,
there was no telling, and she had been the nearest female. all the same,
they were becoming good friends, despite their squabbles; a little too good
perhaps, and there were still six weeks before she was due to go.
She sat Cor up before the tempting supper arranged on his bed table stayed
long enough to make sure that he was going to eat it, and then went to the
door, to hesitate on its threshold and go to her room. She had had an
idea--a splendid one. She didn't stop to think about it, but opened the
small jewel case on the sofa table, took out a rose diamond ring from its
velvet box, and put it on. It had been her mother's, and was a perfect fit.
She twisted it around her finger as she went slowly along the corridor to the
staircase, and just as slowly down its broad steps, her left hand on the
rail. A few stairs from the bottom, she stopped, looking down at the faces
raised to her and feeling unexpectedly shy. She looked uncertainly at
Julius, standing a little apart from the rest, and despite her resolution,
her heart skipped happily at the look on his face. It was Dimphena who
cried, "George, I never knew you were engaged--just fancy you being here all
these weeks, and none of us ever asked you!"
She watched the Professor's face go blank. He said smoothly:
"Considering how delightful Miss Rodman looks, I don't feel that we should be
surprised." He looked at her with a half-mocking smile.
"My felicitations."
The others added their good wishes, and she wanted to tell them that it
wasn't true at all, and was on the point of doing so, when he said:
"Shall we go into the drawing room and drink your health before our guests
arrive?" and somehow it became impossible for her to speak, then there was
no more opportunity, for people started to arrive. She had been stupidly
impetuous again. Gregg was right, after all. She might have a ring upon her
finger, but she had, in the heat of the moment, given no thought at all as to
her fiance.
At dinner, she was glad to find that she was seated between Mr. Sawbridge and
a rather peppery old gentleman, who looked her over with a colicky eye and
thanked heaven rather loudly that she wasn't one of those disgraceful young
women who went about half naked. She surveyed him nonplussed, for it seemed
an unpromising opening to conversation, but apparently he approved of her,
and, when she asked cautiously if he had been in the army, embarked on a
monologue of his life's history which lasted well into the roast goose. The
little bouchees, filled with smoked salmon, which had preceded it had taken
up very little of his attention, but she saw that the goose, handsomely
accompanied by chestnuts and cranberry sauce, haricots verts and potatoes
noisettes, was a dish worthy of his appetite. She turned to Mr. Sawbridge
with some hesitation. She could not remember saying anything previously to
him that had not been connected with bones, fractures, extensions or their
like. It was a pleasant surprise to find that over and above these things,
they had a great deal in common.
The goose was replaced with something delicious and frothy, which he assured
her with a smile was called Zabaglione. It tasted of sherry, or possibly
Madeira; she ate it up and hoped uneasily that it would mix with the claret
and champagne.
There was coffee in the drawing room afterwards; the women admired the tree
and gossiped about the parties they had been to. They made much of Beatrix,
and were nice to Georgina. When the men joined them, her dinner partner made
a beeline for her, and her heart warmed to him. She had been feeling a
little lonely, due, she had no doubt, to the fact that Julius had not spoken
to her since she had come downstairs. Her own silly fault, she admitted to
herself, but it made no difference. She listened attentively to her
companion, and watched the Professor at the other end of the room, looking
handsome without any effort at all and paying marked attention to the eldest
of the Sinding daughters, a tall willowy girl, with a face like a well-bred
horse. Georgina had disliked her before, now she hated her. It was
fortunate for her peace of mind that Stephens came in at that moment with the
punch bowl, which was the signal for Beatrix to go to bed. She kissed her
guardian good night, and made polite adieux to the guests, leaving Georgina
till last.
"Are you coming with me?" she whispered. Georgina stood up, aware that the
Professor was watching her as she made her excuses to the old gentleman. She
took Beatrix's hand, smiled uncertainly at Julius across the room, and
slipped out of the room. They went at once to Cor, who was already sleepy
from an extra large supper and a superfluity of visitors. All the same, he
had to be told every small thing which had occurred, together with an account
of what everyone wore and ate.
"Cousin Julius said the party was going like a bomb," he confided.
"He came up when they left the dining-room--he said there was galaxy of
lovely ladies, George. What's a galaxy?"
She answered absently. She wouldn't go back to the drawing room. No one
would be likely to miss her, except perhaps the peppery old gentleman.
"You look sad," said Beatrix.
"You oughtn't to, George because you were by far the prettiest lady there."
Georgina smiled rather ruefully at her small admirer.
"No, darling, not really. Though it's sweet of you to think so. Now who's
for bed?
You first, poppet, then I'll come and tuck Cor up, and go to bed too. "
While she was helping Beatrix, that small damsel asked sapiently, "Why aren't
you going back to the party, George? Don't you like the people?"
"Oh, rather," said Georgina, falsely cheerful.
"But they'll be going home soon and I want to be up early in the morning--it
was a lovely party," she added for good measure. It seemed to satisfy
Beatrix, anyway, for she climbed into bed, closed her eyes, and declared her
intention of going to sleep at once. Georgina said comfortably, "That's
right, darling, the quicker you go to sleep, the quicker Father Christmas
will come. Ginger and Toto are tired too."
She indicated the slumbering animals, returned Beatrix's hug, and went back
to Cor. He was ready for bed too. She prepared him for the night, tucked
him up, and went to her own room, where she sat down in one of the little
buttoned chairs and listened to the faint sounds of the party, deep in
thought and from time to time contemplating the ring on her finger.
Presently, she sighed and took it off, went to the cupboard and got out the
Professor's football socks which Milly had unearthed from somewhere, and
began to fill them with the little presents she had collected for the two
children. They would have their big presents after breakfast, but Dimphena
had told her when she had asked that the two little ones always had a sock as
well, and had agreed readily to Georgina seeing to them. She glanced at the
clock when she had finished, astonished to find that it was so late. The
party was breaking up; she could hear distant farewells and the crunch of car
tyres in the snow. She walked softly along the corridor, the well- filled
socks clasped to her green velvet bodice. She was half way down the little
passage leading to Beatrix's room when she heard someone come upstairs, and
turned to see the Professor, with Robby at his heels, coming towards her.
She lifted a warning finger and whispered "Hush!" whereupon he took her by
the arm, opened his bedroom door, and drew her inside.
"Where the devil did you get those socks?" he wanted to know in an
interested voice.
"I haven't seen them since I was at Cambridge."
She had expected him to say something quite different; she wasn't sure what,
but certainly nothing as prosaic as a query about socks. She said quickly,
"Oh dear, do you mind? I asked Milly for some old ones--they're large, you
see," she explained, 'but I can easily find something else. "
He was leaning against the tallboy, with his hands in his pockets. She
envied him his ease of manner.
"Why should I mind? I'm glad I can contribute in some small way to your
splendid efforts." He smiled lazily at her and she was aware that he was
concealing amusement. He went on gently, "You didn't come back to the party."
She said cautiously, "No. By the time the children were tucked up..."
"Two hours ago." His bright gaze flickered over her.
"You look charming." He shifted his weight from one long leg to the other.
"Damsel in green," he murmured.
Georgina gave him a suspicious look. No one had called her a damsel before.
"I've got some in the cellar," he went on surprisingly.
"It's a Dutch liqueur--the names's seventeenth-century..."
She said shyly, "Oh, for one minute I thought you meant me."
"I do. You're a damsel, aren't you? And you're in green.. and just as
heady as the liqueur..." He broke off as there was a gentle tap on the door,
and said without surprise, "Come in, Karel."
Just as his cousin had said, Karel exclaimed "Good lord, Julius's football
socks! Where did you get those?"
She repeated herself patiently.
"Milly found them."
He nodded.
"Good old Milly--always knows where everything is. Are the kids asleep?"
It was Julius who answered him.
"I imagine so. Georgina hushed me severely when I came upstairs ... in my
own house too!"
She said contritely, "I've sorry--I was just going in with this." She
indicated the unwieldy socks.
The Professor straightened himself.
"That's all right, we'll all go."
He opened a drawer in a chest.
"Here, my dear girl, stuff these in as well."
She did as she was told, beginning to enjoy herself. Beatrix was asleep, her
small pink mouth slightly open, her hair all over the pillow. The cats
watched without moving while the sock was tied to the bedpost, not even
stirring when Robby padded in silently and blew gently over them. Cor was
asleep too, and stayed asleep even while the Professor tied his sock within
an inch or so of his head, so that he could reach it on waking.
When they were all in the corridor again, Georgin
a said: "Well, good night."
But the Professor fixed her with a blue eye which held a gleam in its depths.
"You're coming downstairs for a drink." He spoke positively and when she
started to protest, put up a large hand.
"No excuse. Even if I have to carry you--if you're not too heavy."
It would have been useless to argue. She walked between them, and when they
reached the hall, Julius said:
"Go along to Stephens, will you, Karel--tell him to fetch up that bottle of
Damsel in Green, and bring it back with you, I'm going to open it in honour
of our own Damsel in Green."
She was halfway across the hall when he caught up with her, and stopped her
with a big hand on her arm; it sent a tremble up her arm and she moved a
little away from him.
"I'm not in the least heavy," she said.
He chuckled.
"Did that rankle? I can tease too, Georgina."
She repeated in a silly way, "Tease too?"
He nodded.
"Were you not teasing us this evening?" he asked blandly.
Betty Neels - Damsel In Green.txt Page 14