"I hope it doesn't thaw before Karel and Franz arrive."
He answered carelessly; she could see that she hadn't got his attention.
"I daresay it will hold until then. By the way, I must ask you not to go on
the lake, either alone or with the children, until you have checked with me
that it's safe." He looked at his watch.
"Shall we go round once more before we go in?"
The magic had gone. He talked pleasantly about the house and the grounds and
the small farm abutting his land, which he owned too; but he was a thousand
miles away from her, and she realised sadly that now guests would be in the
house, she would see less of him. After a little while she said timidly,
"I'd like to go in now, please," and his "Of course' was so willingly said
that her eyes sparkled with tears which she had no intention of shedding.
They walked back to the house, and parted in the friendliest possible fashion
in the hall.
They met again at lunch, and again during the pleasant half hour in the salon
before dinner, when the whole family fore gathered to chat about their dAy-
She had expected him to ignore her as far as good manners would allow, she
certainly didn't expect him to go out of his way to talk to her. She
couldn't have been more wrong. He kept her by his side, discussing where she
should go, and what sr>6 should see, and even complimented her upon the blue
dress. And when she went upstairs to see Cor and Beatrix safely to their
beds, he insisted, with a charm which yielded nothing to her excuses, that
she should go down again. It was certainly pleasant with just the three of
them. The Professor arid Dimphena discussed their guests and their plans for
entertaining them, taking care that Oeorgina was included in their talk.
There was to be a luncheon party, to which some local friends v^ould come,
and a family dinner party as well, "And," said Dimphena hopefully, 'perhaps a
little dancing afterwards, Julius? "
"Why not?" he agreed lazily, 'though remember that most of the family are
too elderly to do anything more modern than the foxtrot. " They all laughed,
and he went on, " I think we should tell (5eorgina who will be coming. It
will be less confusing. There will be Uncle and Aunt Van der
gerg--fiftyish--they live in Wassenaar; then ijncle and Aunt Kuppers-Eyffert,
who come from 3 small place near Amhem, and some cousins of mine---doctors,
I'm afraid--and their wives, of course. There will be some children
too--nice for Beatrix and Cor. " He turned to Dimphena.
"It's short notice, Phena, but I telephoned Therese LeFabre this afternoon.
She will be coming some time after lunch. She can have the little bedroom at
the end of the corridor."
Dimphena looked upset as well as surprised.
"But, Julius, you said you were never..."
He gave her a blank look which brought her up short.
"Did I really?"
He smiled.
"Poor Phena--but Therese knows us well enough to take pot luck."
Georgina found that the evening held no pleasure for her any more;
which was stupid and illogical of her, her common sense assured her.
She had known about Madame Lefabre, hadn't she? She had known that Julius
would almost certainly see that lady while he was in Holland, so why should
she feel as though the world had come to an end for her?
She rearranged the folds of her long blue skirt meticulously with fingers
that trembled despite her efforts.
"By the way," said Julius, and she looked up to find his eyes upon her; they
gleamed with an expression she was unable to read, "Uncle Ivo-my Great-Uncle
Ivo--will also be coming. He's eighty, and proud of it, and he is very prone
to speak his mind. He is also very wise."
She went to bed soon after, because she didn't want to be left alone with the
Professor. She said her good nights and went upstairs, aware that he had
known what had been in her mind about Madame Le Fabre. She got into bed,
determined to think of nothing but her bright future at St. Athel's. But it
was no good and she gave herself up to speculation about Therese LeFabre and
presently she began to think about Julius.
CHAPTER TEN
the visitors arrived in ones and twos, the aunts and uncles in
chauffeur-driven cars, the cousins later in the day, in small fast cars which
pulled up before the house with a good deal of horn blowing and squealing of
brakes. Neither of them were quite as large as Julius, but they had his
straw- coloured hair and blue eyes and the same placid manner, which Georgina
was beginning to realise wasn't always as placid as it seemed. Their wives
were young, neither of them good-looking, but possessed of a charm which
could, on occasion, turn them into beauties. They both had an excellent
taste in clothes, and the one was as dark as the other was fair. Between
them they brought four children, small, well-mannered and gratifyingly
curious about Cor's calipers. They gravitated without urging to Georgina,
and she was pleased, for she was able to try out her rudimentary Dutch on
them. She didn't mind them laughing at her in the least, and it amused them
to correct her.
Before luncheon she went upstairs to repair the ravages to her person
consequent on the entertainment of six small children, and it was as she was
coming downstairs again that she saw the old gentleman in the hall. She knew
who it was immediately, for Julius had a likeness of him, in spite of the
white hair and the slight stoop. She looked around for Hans, but there was
no sign of him, and the old gentleman caught sight of her and burst into
resounding and incomprehensible speech. She advanced to meet him, saying
inadequately, "How do you do?
I'm afraid I cannot understand a word you say. "
He waited until she was close to him, then produced a pair of old-fashioned
gold-rimmed spectacles the better to examine her. He took them off again
before he said, "So you're the girl Julius told me of." His English was as
good as her own and delivered in a deep rumbling voice.
"Nice- looking too," he went on, 'plenty of flesh on your bones--can't bear
skinny women myself, nor can Julius. " Georgina blinked, but was saved from
replying, for he hadn't finished.
"You've got an outlandish name."
"Georgina," she said faintly.
"Georgina Rodman. I'll tell Professor Eyffert that you're here."
Before she could move, he bellowed mildly, "Good God, girl, do you call him
that all the time?" He looked down his nose at her, making his resemblance
to his great-nephew more marked than ever.
"Afraid of me?" he asked.
"My goodness, no. Why should I be?" She smiled at him and watched the
answering smile on his pleasant old face, as he pronounced:
"You're a nice girl. Why doesn't Julius..."
"Why don't I what. Uncle Ivo?" He came across the hall and shook his
uncle's hand.
"It's good to see you again. I see you've already met Miss Rodman."
"Is that what's she's called? I shall call her Georgina--that is provided
she has no objection."
"None at all," she answered in a composed voice. She took care no
t to look
at Julius even when he said, "Shall we join the others?" and ushered them
into the salon.
Therese LeFabre arrived during tea. The children had spent a noisy happy
afternoon playing in the snow, and Georgina had played with them while their
parents tried out the ice.
They were all warm and pleasantly tired when they joined the less mobile
members of the party in the little room for tea. She sat the children
together, supplied them with food and drink and went to sit by Uncle Ivo, who
while making an excellent tea, asked a great many questions of her. She did
her best to answer them and was just wondering how to counter his forthright
enquiry as to why she had not married, when Hans opened the door, and a woman
came in. It had to be Therese, for she was everything Georgina had expected
her to be, and even more than that. She was strikingly good-looking, as slim
as a wand, and looked as though she had stepped straight from the pages of
Vogue. She paused with studied grace just inside the door, stretched out her
arms with a tinkling of bracelets and cried in a ringing voice, "Julius!"
He had got up and was advancing to meet her with every appearance of
pleasure. Georgina, suddenly cold inside, extracted a small scrap of comfort
from the fact that he only took one of the outstretched hands and shook it.
But that was really no comfort, for she didn't imagine that he was a man to
kiss a girl in front of a roomful of relatives.
She looked away and encountered the penetrating gaze of her companion.
He said softly, without taking his eyes from hers, "She's been after him for
years--she's thirty if she's a day and no shape at all." He gave a whispered
snort, which was none the less ferocious.
"All those damned jingling bracelets!" He added fiercely, "I hope he knows
his own mind."
Georgina hoped so too, but this was hardly the time nor the place to give the
matter thought. She sought to lead Uncle Ivo's thoughts into pleas anter
channels.
"I think she's lovely," she said evenly, intent on betraying nothing of her
feelings.
"Don't you like modern clothes?"
"Of course I like them--I'm not an old woman, even if I am eighty." He put
his spectacles on and stared at her through them.
"You're as transparent as glass, my dear," he said, suddenly gentle.
"I hope you've got a pretty dress for dinner tonight."
She said lightly, "I've no intention of competing," and smiled widely.
"I promised I'd play the piano for the children in the nursery. If they've
finished their teas, I'll take them upstairs now, I think."
She went unhurriedly to fetch them" and was almost at the door, ushering the
last child through it, when the Professor reached her.
"Before you go, my dear Miss Rodman, come and meet Therese LeFabre."
His voice was silky.
"A very old friend."
She shook hands, and was overwhelmed by charm, turned on deliberately and
impossible to ignore. It was cloying and spiced with small pinprick remarks
which somehow contrived to make Georgina feel a prig and someone to be
pitied. She smiled her way through the conversation, glad that Julius had
left them alone, although probably being a man, and in love, he would have
noticed nothing. She followed the children upstairs, and said, "Oh, dear,
love is so very blind!" which mystified the children considerably.
Blind or not, and very much on the losing side, she had every intention of
going down with all flags flying. She put on the brown organza and,
watched by Beatrix and Cor, spent a good deal of time arranging her hair in a
shining pile on the top of her head. Therese would doubtless be loaded with
jewels, and they would be real, she had no doubt; she fastened some early
Victorian earrings--little golden tassels--into her pretty ears, and went to
find someone to take Cor down.
The Professor was the only occupant of the salon when they entered. He was
standing in front of the fire, with a glass in his hand, looking
distinguished and remote. He looked up and watched as Georgina settled Cor
in a small armchair, thanked Hans for his good offices, and arranged cushions
where they would be most comfortable. When she had finished, she said,
"There. Now I'm going to see if Beatrix is ready. "
"No," raid the Professor, 'stay here. " He spoke so gently that she wasn't
sure if she had heard him at all.
"Phena is quite capable of helping Beatrix with buttons and things," he went
on. His deliberate glance swept her from head to foot and she willed herself
to remain calm under it. She knew she looked nice--the brown organza was
becoming in its own modest fashion.
He said abruptly, "How delightfully feminine you look," and went over to the
sofa table behind the great sofa to fetch her a drink. She thanked him with
a coolness wholly at variance with her heightened colour, and sipped,
thankful to have something to do. She was cudgelling her brains for a topic
of conversation when the door opened and Therese LeFabre came in. She was
wearing a silver trouser suit and a great many chains and rings; she made
Georgina feel like a mouse.
She stopped when she saw Georgina and Cor and said in her prettily accented
English:
"Oh, you're here already," and then cast a speaking glance at the Professor.
"Julius?"
He was looking at her with no expression on his face at all; now he smiled
faintly and walked over to the drinks tray.
"Your usual, Therese?" he asked pleasantly; if he was annoyed at not being
alone with her, he was concealing his feelings very well.
Georgina got up and went over to Cor's chair, and sat down beside him,
half-turned away from the others and by concentrating hard upon what he was
saying, was able to ignore the murmur of their voices, and presently, when
everyone else arrived, she was caught up in a small circle consisting of the
doctors and Great-Uncle Ivo, who made no bones about admiring her appearance
in a loud and penetrating voice.
The dinner was long and leisurely and delicious;
if it hadn't been for Therese sitting beside Julius at the great oval table,
Georgina would have loved every minute of it. As it was, she was glad when
they at last left the table to stroll in little groups back to the salon, the
children dragging a little by now, the men left behind to drink their port.
She looked at Cor worriedly. He was tired--too tired. The treat of staying
up late was wearing thin. She drank her coffee, and said firmly, "Bed, Cor
dear."
He looked stubborn.
"Not until all the others go too."
"They're coming," she said, and went to drop a word in motherly ears so that
within a few moments she had the small creatures collected, with good nights
said. They were at the door when Therese LeFabre said:
"But it is wonderful. Miss Rodman; all these children who listen to you--you
must be a very good nursemaid."
Georgina had been about to lift Cor to carry him upstairs--he wasn't heavy,
and she wasn't going to disturb the men. She put him down again, her eyes
sparkling with temper. She wasn't sure what she was going to say, but in any
case she had no chance to say it, for the Professor's voice, level and cold,
spoke first.
"Miss Rodman is not a nursemaid, my dear Therese. She is a highly skilled
nurse without whom we should have been lost. She has no need to do anything
at all for the children; it is her nature to help others."
Georgina felt herself enveloped in the warm and unwelcome glow from an
all-embracing blush, which was not improved by Therese's gentle voice.
"Oh, my dear, I had no intention of being rude believe me. I am so envious
of you--that you can do so much for others and that the children are so fond
of you. Alas I have no children whom I can love."
This incredible speech was accompanied by two tears running without harming
her make-up, down her cheeks. She dabbed them away with a wisp of a
handkerchief and smiled wistfully. Georgina watched her with embarrassment
and pity. It must be awful, she thought, to have been married and not to
have had any children. She said kindly.
"Of course you weren't rude, and please don't get upset--you're much too
beautiful," and stiffened when Julius said in a matter-of-fact voice, "Phena
will give you a hand. Miss Rodman." She started to protest, but thought
better of it when she saw his face; he was very angry and hiding it most
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