‘You’re a touchy young woman, aren’t you? Ready to swallow me alive, given half a chance.’ He passed his cup yet again. ‘Any plans to marry?’
Really, the cheek of the man! She said haughtily: ‘No.’
The haughtiness went unnoticed or he had a thick skin. ‘Boy friend?’
‘Certainly not!’
‘Ah—I apologise, I shouldn’t have asked such a silly question.’
Cressida fired up immediately. ‘And why not, pray?’
‘Because you are as good as you are beautiful, Cressida.’ He smiled at her across the desk, his eyes very bright. ‘You are also sad. Why is that?’
She made a great business of putting the cups and saucers back on the tray. The unexpected urge to tell him took her by surprise so that she had to keep a tight hold on her tongue. He didn’t even like her, and she was almost sure that she didn’t like him, with his easy self-assurance. She shook her head and said nothing at all, and after a moment he said quietly: ‘Ah, well, you shall tell me some time—it’s good to talk about one’s sorrow. It eases it—you must know that from your patients.’
‘Yes, oh yes—but listening isn’t the same as telling someone…’
He got up and wandered to the door. ‘We all do it at some time,’ he pointed out. ‘Any messages?’
‘Who for?’ Her lovely eyes opened in surprise.
‘I’m on my way to London, I shall be at the Royal General tomorrow.’
Cressida stared at him; he would ask anyone there and they would tell him why she had left; that her parents had died; that she had had to get away. She said: ‘No, thanks,’ in a doubtful voice, and he said at once: ‘Don’t worry, I shan’t try to find out anything about you—you’ll tell me yourself sooner or later.’
He left her sitting there, staring down at the sheet of typewriting in front of her, the only thought in her head that he would keep his word.
He was back in two days and this time she saw him arrive, for she had been for a brisk walk after lunch, well wrapped up in her good tweed coat against the cold and damp. The sky had been sullen all day and now it was rapidly darkening, the little village looked sombre and bleak and there were already lights in some of the small houses. An afternoon for tea round the fire… She sighed involuntarily and quickened her step. The book was going very well, but she would have to keep at it. The next day was Sunday and she would be free, but she already had plans to work for a large part of the day. She had nowhere to go and nothing much to do. She would go to church in the morning and then browse through the bookshelves until she found something to her liking. She had her knitting, and any number of letters to write too, but still she felt sure that there would be time and to spare for her typing.
She started round the square towards the doctor’s house and then turned her head at the sound of the car coming from the other end—a Bentley, silver grey and sleek, whispering powerfully to a halt. She stood and watched while Doctor van der Teile got out and took the shallow steps two at a time to the front door of her employer’s home. Even at that distance she could see that he was elegantly turned out, his car coat making him appear even larger than he was. When the door opened and he had gone inside, she walked on, but instead of using the great brass knocker on the front door, she went past it to the surgery entrance and so to Doctor van Blom’s study, where she took off her outdoor things, warmed her chilly hands by the stove and then sat down at her desk. It wasn’t time for tea yet, she might as well get another page done.
She had typed just three lines when the door opened and Doctor van der Teile came in. Cressida jumped a little at the suddenness of his appearance and made a muddle of the work she was typing—he was a disquieting person. She erased the mistake, said ‘Good afternoon, Doctor,’ and gave him an inquiring look.
‘Hullo.’ He sounded friendly. ‘You weren’t here just now. Do you use a secret passage or something?’
‘I came in through the surgery.’
His eyes rested briefly on her coat. ‘Ah—you didn’t want to be seen, was that it? Probably you saw me arrive… All right, you don’t have to say anything; your face is an open book. What are you doing tomorrow?’
Really it was no business of his, and yet she found herself giving him a brief resumé of her plans.
‘I’ll be here at nine o’clock,’ he told her. ‘Where would you like to go?’
‘Go?’ repeated Cressida.
‘Come, come, girl, you must have some preference. Leeuwarden? Groningen? the Afsluitdijk? Amsterdam?’
‘Are you asking me out?’ And before he could reply: ‘I was going to church.’
‘We will go to Groningen, there is a very beautiful church there, then we might go back to Leeuwarden and then Alkmaar.’
She said stiffly: ‘You’ve very kind, but I can’t impose on your free time.’
‘You won’t be; I have to see a friend of mine who lives close to Leeuwarden. He has an English wife who asked me for lunch, and when I told her about you being here she asked me to bring you.’ He paused and went on persuasively: ‘They have a baby and two toddlers and three dogs.’
Cressida had to laugh. ‘Are those an inducement?’
‘Yes. I think you like babies and children and dogs. Am I right?’
‘How on earth…’
‘Did I not tell you that your face was easy to read? Will you come?’
‘Thank you, I should like to—you’re sure your friends won’t mind?’
‘No, they’ll be delighted.’ He straightened up from leaning against the door and opened it. ‘Shall we have tea?’
‘I was going to type…’
‘After tea.’ He waited while she joined him. ‘Doctor van Blom is delighted with your work; he’s a clever man and this book has been his pleasure and study for some time. I fancy it will be well received when it is published.’
Surgery was over for the afternoon and both doctors were back from their rounds. They all had tea together, talking about nothing in particular, and presently Cressida excused herself and went back to her desk. She worked hard until bedtime, spurred on by the thought of her day out on the morrow. She hadn’t seen Doctor van der Teile again, although she had heard the Bentley’s quiet engine as he drove away later in the afternoon. It struck her that she still had no idea where he lived; it couldn’t be far away if he worked in both Leeuwarden and Groningen, and besides, Doctor van Blom had told her that as a general rule he took a surgery with them at least twice a week, but of course he had been in England…
It would be super to have a day out, seeing something of Holland. She frowned; it would be vexing if they annoyed each other, though. She would have to be careful and frightfully polite whatever he said. After all, he would be giving up quite a lot of his day too, even though they were going to visit his friends. The happy thought that she might be able to glean some information about him from his friend’s wife popped into her head as she got into bed and turned out the light. It would be interesting to know—she wasn’t being curious, or was she? She fell asleep wondering.
The sky was still sullen when she woke up the next morning and there was more than a hint of rain in the air; she put on a dark green woollen dress she had been saving for some special occasion and brushed her hair into shining smoothness before going down to breakfast. The two doctors were already at table, deeply immersed in some medical argument which Cressida begged them to continue while she drank her coffee and gobbled her roll and cheese. She was putting on her coat when she heard the car draw up in the square below, and pausing just long enough to tug on her round fur hat, snatch up her handbag and gloves and take one