THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
by
BETTY NEELS

MILLS <slbooist

CHAPTER ONE

viewed from the comparative comfort of the ambulance's interior, the Ml
looked uninviting.  Miss Julia Pennyfeather, too occupied with her
patient to have bothered overmuch with the passing scenery, now
realised that the motorway was becoming more and more shrouded in fog,
which, coupled with the fast darkening sky of a December afternoon,
boded ill for their chances of reaching their destination as early as
they had hoped.  She pulled her cloak closely around her, cast a quick
look at her dozing patient and peered out once more.  There seemed to
be a lot of traffic surging past, at great speed and in a confusion of
lights, a sight which made her thankful that she wasn't called upon to
drive the ambulance.  She frowned in thought, then, moving cautiously,
opened the little glass window behind the driving seat and said softly
to the man sitting beside the driver, "Willy--the fog, it's getting
worse, isn't it?"

The man the back of whose neck she had addressed turned a cheerful face
to answer her.

"Proper thick, Nurse, but it's not all that far.

We're coming up to Newcastle now; it's about sixty miles to the Border
and another twelve to the crossroads where we turn off--and the house
is another ten miles or so.  "

"It's nearly four o'clock," said Julia.

"We shan't get there much before nine..."

"Just in nice time for a bit o' supper.  Nurse, before

6 THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

we 'ands over the patient and goes to our warm beds.  "

They were off the motorway now and almost clear of Newcastle; two
hours' steady driving would bring them to the Border, and once they
were in Scotland.  She broke off her speculations as the girl on the
stretcher asked, "Where are we.  Nurse?"

Julia told her, adding in a determinedly cheerful voice, "We shan't be
long now--three hours at the most, perhaps less.  I expect you'd like a
drink, wouldn't you?"  She unscrewed a vacuum flask and poured the milk
less tea into a mug.

"As soon as we arrive, you shall have your insulin and your supper- I'm
sure they'll have it ready for you, for your nurse will have arrived
some time this afternoon."

"I hope I like her."

Julia glanced at her patient.

"I'm sure you will," she replied in a soothing voice, and privately
hoped that she was right.  Miss Mary Mac Gall hadn't been the easiest
of patients-eighteen years old, pretty and spoilt and a diabetic who
somehow never managed to achieve stabilisation, she had been a handful
the Private Wing of St.  Clare's Hospital had been glad to see go.  In
the two short weeks she had been there, having an acute appendix
removed, and then, unfortunately, peritonitis, which naturally played
havoc with the diabetes, she had been rude to the Matron, flirted
outrageously with the young housemen, and exasperated the consultant
staff; only with Julia was she amenable, and that was something neither
Julia nor her fellow workers could fathom, unless it was that Julia's
dark and striking beauty was such a magnificent foil to her own blonde
prettiness.  And Julia didn't fuss, but treated her with the pleasant
calm that a well-trained nanny might have shown to a recalcitrant
child.

Not that Julia looked in the least like a nanny--indeed, just the
opposite, with her almost black hair and great brown eyes with their
preposterously long lashes.  Her mouth was a little large perhaps, but
beautifully shaped and her nose was straight, with the merest hint of a
tilt at its tip.  She was well above average height, nicely rounded and
refreshingly and completely natural.  She was just twenty-two and had
achieved State Registration only a few months previously.  And only the
day before she had left the hospital where she had spent several happy,
busy years, not because she had particularly wanted to, but to look
after her sister-in-law who had just had a second child and was
suffering from depression.  It had been, therefore, a happy chance that
Mary Mac Gall should have demanded to be sent home by ambulance, and
also demanded, at the same time, that Julia should go with her on the
journey.  Julia was due to leave anyway, and it would give her a couple
of days' respite before she went home.

When next Julia looked out of the window it was snowing hard and the
fog had become dense.  The ambulance was travelling slowly now, with
its blue light flashing, and Julia was uneasily aware that they were
skidding from time to time.  She opened the little window once more and
said softly into Willy's ear, "Is it freezing as well?"

He nodded without looking round.

"Are we lost?"

She heard his chuckle and took comfort from the sound.

"Not a bit of it, Nurse.  We're over the Border--we'll be at the
crossroads soon."

"Is Bert all right?  Does he want to stop?"

She peered ahead, the visibility was down to about ten yards and that
was obscured by driving snow.

Bert answered for himself.

"I'm OK, Nurse.  It's not far now and I think we'd do better to keep
going.  It might clear."

She agreed softly, knowing that he had said that to reassure her, and
closed the window, observing for the benefit of her patient, "We've a
dozen miles or so to go.  Are you very hungry?  I've some cream
crackers here and there's plenty of tea."

But Mary was disposed to be difficult.  She said rather peevishly, "I
want a huge steak with lots of duchesse potatoes and creamed
cauliflower and lashings of gravy and sauce, then Charlotte Russe with
masses of whipped cream and a plate of petits fours--the gooey ones,
and a huge whisky and soda--oh, and Kummel with my coffee."

Julia felt sympathy with her patient.  After all, she was very young;

she would be on a fixed diet for the rest of her life.  It was a pity
that she was so spoiled that she refused to accept the fact, and
anyway, once she was stabilised, the diet wouldn't be too awful, for
her parents were wealthy enough to give it the variety those in more
straitened circumstances couldn't afford.  She said kindly, "You make
me feel quite hungry too, but you'd pay for it afterwards, you know."

The girl beside her scowled.

"Who cares?  That's what you're for--to see that I don't die in a
coma."

Julia looked at her reflectively.

"There's always the possibility that someone might not be there..."

"Oh, yes, there will," declared Mary, and sat up suddenly.

"I suppose you wouldn't like to stay with me--for ever, I mean."

Julia smiled, feeling a little touched.

"How nice of you to ask me.

But I have to go home and look after my sister-in-law for a bit, then I
thought I'd get a job abroad for a year or two--and I've still got my
midwifery to do.  "

"Marry a rich man instead."

"Why rich?  As long as he's the right one, the money doesn't matter
very much, does it?  You need enough to live on and educate the
children."

"And pretty clothes and the hairdresser and jewellery and going to the
theatre and out to dine, and a decent holiday at least twice a year."

Julia said soberly, "Perhaps I'm not ambitious," and turned away to
look out of the window again- a pointless act, for it had been quite
dark for some time now.

When the ambulance at last stopped, Julia couldn't believe they had
arrived, for the last hour had been a nightmare of skidding and
crawling through the blanket of fog and snow and now there was a gale
blowing as well.  She stepped out of the ambulance into several inches
of snow and then clutched at her cap as a gust of wind tossed her
backwards as though she had been a leaf.  It was pitch dark too, but in
the ambulance lights she could just see the beginning of steps leading
upwards.  She stood aside to let Bert and Willy get into the ambulance
and asked, "Shall I ring the bell?"  and thought how ridiculous it
sounded in this black waste of snow and fog and howling wind.  But Bert
said cheerfully enough, "OK, Nurse--up them steps, and look out for the
ice."

She advanced cautiously with the beam of her powerful torch guiding
her: it wasn't so bad after all--the steps ended at a great door upon
whose knocker she beat a brisk tattoo, and when she saw the brass bell
in the wall, she rang that for good measure.  But there were no
lights--she peered around her, unable to see anything but the
reassuring solidarity of the door before her, and that hadn't opened.

She was about to go down the steps again to relay her doubts to her
companions when the door swung open, revealing a very old man holding a
hurricane lantern.  She was still getting her breath when he spoke
testily.

"Ye didna' need to make all that noise.  I heard ye the Just time."

Julia, who had nice manners, apologised.

"Is this Drumlochie House?"

she asked through teeth which were beginning to chatter with the
cold.

"Aye--ye'll be the nurse with Miss Mary?"

"That's right-could you turn on the lights, please, so that the
ambulance men can bring her indoors?"

"No lights," said the old man without annoyance.

"Wind's taken the electric--can't think how ye got here."

Julia couldn't either, but it hardly seemed the right moment to discuss
it.  She said instead, "Then would you leave the door open and we'll
bring Miss Mary in."

She didn't wait to hear his reply but went carefully down the steps
again.

She followed the two men, with the carrying chair and Mary in it,
between them, back up again, shuddering at the possibility of a broken
ankle or two added to Mary's diabetes.  But they achieved the entrance
without mishap and went inside where the old man was waiting for them,
his lamp held high.

"So ye're back.  Miss Mary," he was, it seemed, a man of few words,
'your room's ready.  "

He turned and started to walk across the hall towards the staircase
discernible in the gloom, and the ambulance men, still with Mary
between them, followed him with Julia bringing up the rear, shivering a
little partly because she had got cold waiting at the front door and
partly because her surroundings were, inadequately lighted as they
were, a trifle forbidding.  They seemed to walk a great distance before
the old man at length opened a door and they entered Mary's bedroom-a
large apartment with a fire burning in its open fireplace and most
pleasantly furnished.  Julia, looking round her, heaved a sigh of
relief.  If their rooms were half as comfortable they would have
nothing to grumble about.

"Where's the nurse?"  she asked the old man.

He stood and thought, his head on one side, for an aggravating
moment.

"The nurse?  Weel, she's to come from Edinburgh, but it's been snowing
a blizzard since daybreak hereabouts.  There'll be no nurse."

"No nurse!"  Julia looked at him with something like horror.

"But I'm going back to London with the ambulance in the morning--I
can't leave my patient.  Where's the telephone?"

"The wind's had it."

The wind, thought Julia bitterly, was answerable for a lot.

"There must be some way of getting a message- to the village or a
doctor--or the police."

He didn't even bother to say no, just shook his head.

"Snow's deep," he observed without emotion.

"There's Jane the cook and Madge the maid gone to Hawick yesterday to
shop for Miss Mary's return.  They'll not be back for twa days,
maybe."

Julia's dismay was smothered in a flood of practical thoughts.

"Food?"  she asked.

"Hot water, candles?"

"Food's enough--candles and lamps we've got-hot water, now, that's
another matter.  I've no call for hot water, stove's gone out."

"If you could possibly light it for us again?  Miss Mary-all of us, we
need to wash at least.  Are there any rooms ready for us?"

He shook his head.

"No.  Madge was to have done that, and me thinking ye'd not get here in
this weather--I didna' light the fire..."

"Never mind--could the ambulance men come and help you?  They're tired
and hungry-they must have a meal and a good sleep.  If you'd give them
the bed linen I'm sure they'll make up the beds, and I'll come down to
the kitchen and cook something."

He looked at her with a glimmer of respect.

"Aye, do that if ye will.

Miss Mary--she's all right?  "

"Once she has had her supper she will be."  Julia smiled at him and
went to fetch Bert and Willy.

There was food enough once she could find it in the vast semi-basement
kitchen.  She pottered about, still wrapped in her cloak, while the men
made up beds and lighted fires, making Mary's supper as attractive as
possible.

It was getting on for midnight when Julia removed the supper tray, and
Mary, still grumbling, had consented to go to bed.  Julia left an oil
lamp the old man had produced in the room, wished her patient a good
night and went in search of Willy and Bert.  She found them, after a
great deal of tramping up and down draughty corridors, very snug in a
little room on the floor above.

"Nothing but fourposters downstairs," Willy explained.

"We've found you a nice room below, Nurse, got a fire going an' all.
First left at the bottom of the stairs."

She thanked them, warned them that she was about to cook supper and
went in search of her sleeping quarters.  The room was reasonably near
her patient's, she was glad to find, and at the head of the stairs, and
although there was a piercing draught whistling round the hall below,
the room itself looked pleasant enough.  She sighed with relief, went
to look at Mary, who was already asleep, and made her way downstairs
once more.  The old man had disappeared; to bed probably, having
considered that he had done enough for them.  She set about frying eggs
and bacon and boiling the kettle for tea, and presently the three of
them sat down to a supper, which, while not being quite what they had
expected, was ample and hot.

The three of them washed up, wished each other good night, and crept
upstairs, bearing a variety of candlesticks and yawning their heads
off.  Julia, with a longing eye on the comfort of the bed, undressed
with the speed of lightning, unpinned her hair,

brushed it perfunctorily and went to find a bathroom.  There were
several, none supplying more than tepid water, so she cleaned her
teeth, washed her face and hands with the same speed with which she had
brushed her hair and, after a quick look at the sleeping Mary, retired
to her room, where, without daring to take off her dressing gown, she
jumped into bed.  And as she closed her eyes the front door bell
rang.

She waited a moment, pretending to herself that she hadn't heard it,
but when it pealed again she got out of bed, picked up her torch,
thrust her feet into slippers and started downstairs.  The wind was
fiercer now and the draughts eddied around her, chilling her to the
bone.  Only the thought of the unfortunate person on the doorstep urged
her on.  It would be the nurse, arrived by some miracle Julia was far
too tired to investigate, or perhaps the cook and the maid from Hawick,
although she fancied that the town was a good many miles away.

She undid the bolts of the front door, slid the chain back and opened
its creaking weight on to the fog and wind and snow outside.

There was a man on the top step, a very large man, who stood wordless
and patient while she allowed her torch to travel his considerable
length.  She knew that he was staring at her from the gloom and when
she said impatiently, "Oh, do come in--we'll both catch our deaths of
cold..."  he stepped into the hall without uttering a word, only when
he had locked the door behind her did he say without heat, "Of all the
damn fool things to do--opening a door to a complete stranger in the
dead of night!"

Julia's beautiful eyes opened wide.

"But you rang the bell."

"And have you never heard of opening a door on its chain?  I might have
been armed with a shotgun."

Julia interrupted him in a matter-of-fact voice, "Don't be
absurd--who'd be out on a night like this with a shotgun?"

He laughed then.

"Since you're kind enough to trust me, could I beg shelter until the
morning?  I'm on my way down from Edinburgh and quite obviously I've
taken the wrong road."

He gave himself a shake and the snow tumbled off him, to lie un melting
on the floor.

"You're not alone in this place?"

"No," said Julia with calm, "I'm not--there are two ambulance men
asleep upstairs, so tired they won't hear a sound--and my patient--oh,
and there's a kind of ancient family retainer, but I haven't seen him
for several hours."

He took the torch from her hand and shone it deliberately on her.

"You are a fool," he remarked mildly.

"Here you are, a very beautiful girl unless my eyes deceive me, with
two men sleeping like the dead upstairs, an old retainer who's probably
deaf and a patient chained to his bed..."

"Look," said Julia patiently, "I'm very tired-you're welcome to a bed,"
she waved a vague arm towards the staircase.

"There are plenty of empty rooms if you like to choose one.  Are you
hungry?"

She had taken the torch once more from his grasp and shone it briefly
on him.

"Take off that coat," she advised.

"I'll go and put the kettle on--will bacon and eggs do?"

"Not only beautiful but kind too," he murmured.

"Thank you, I'm famished.  Where's the kitchen?  Go back to bed and
I'll look after myself."

She was already on her way kitchen wards

"It's warmer there than anywhere else.  Come along."

Ten minutes later he was sitting at the kitchen table devouring the
food she had cooked, while she made the tea.

"Thank heaven there's a gas stove," Julia commented as she fetched two
cups.

"The wind took the electric and the telephone."

"How very whimsical!"

Julia poured him another cup of tea and then filled her own cup.  In
the little silence which followed a clock wheezed dryly and struck
twice, and the wind, taking on a new strength, howled like a banshee
round the house.  Julia looked up to see the stranger's eyes fastened
on her.  He smiled and said, "If you trust me, go to bed--I'll clear up
and find myself a room."

She got to her feet and picked up her torch, yawning as she did so.

"There's your candle," she indicted a brass candlestick with its
snuffer which she had put ready for him.

"Don't come into my room, will you?  It's at the top of the stairs--nor
the third one on the right--that's my patient's.  Good night."

She wondered why he looked amused as he wished her good night, getting
politely to his feet as he did so, which small action somehow reassured
her.

Not that she needed reassuring, she told herself, lying curled up in
her chilly bed; the fire had died down and the warmth it had engendered
had already been swallowed up by the icy air.  She shivered and decided
that she liked him, even though she knew nothing about him, neither his
name nor his business,

but she liked his face-a face she felt she could trust, with strong
features and steady blue eyes and a mouth that was firm and kind.  And
even though he had called her a fool--which she was bound to admit was
the truth--he had also called her beautiful.  She fell uneasily asleep,
smiling a little.

Something wakened her in the pitch darkness, a sound, not repeated.

She switched on the torch to find that it was just after six o'clock,
and sat up in bed, the better to listen.  The sound came again--a
hoarse croak.  She was out of bed, thrusting her feet into her slippers
as the list of post-operative complications liable to follow an
appendicectomy on a diabetic patient unfolded itself in her still tired
mind. Carbuncles, gangrene, bronchopneumonia.  the croak came again
which effectively ruled out the first two, and when she reached her
patient's bedroom and saw Mary's flushed face as she lay shivering in
bed, she was almost sure that it was the third.

As she approached the bed Mary said irritably, "I feel so ill, and I
can't stop coughing--it hurts."

"I'll sit you up a bit," said Julia with a calm she didn't feel.

Sudden illness on a hospital ward was one thing, but in an isolated
house cut off from the outside world, it was quite a different
matter.

She fetched more pillows and propped the girl up, took her temperature
which was as high as she had expected it to be, and gave her a drink,
while all the time she was deciding what to do.  Presently, when Mary
was as comfortable as she could be made, Julia said, "I'm going to send
someone for the doctor--once we've got you on an antibiotic you'll feel
better within hours.  Will you stay quietly until I come back?"

She found the stranger in the third room she looked into, lying on his
back on a vast fourposter bed, fast asleep.  She put out an urgent hand
and tapped a massive shoulder and he opened his eyes at once, staring
at her with a calm which she found most comforting.

Before she could speak he said reflectively, "The hair's a little wild,
but I still think you're a beautiful girl.  What's the matter?"

Julia swept her long black hair impatiently on one side the better to
see him.

"My patient--she's ill.  I'm afraid I must ask you to go and find a
doctor or a telephone or--or something.  I can't ask the ambulance men
to go; they've got to go back to London today and they must have a
night's sleep."

He had sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"And I, being a man of leisure, am the obvious one to sacrifice on the
altar of frostbite and exposure."

Julia just stopped herself in time from wringing her hands.

"I'd go myself, but who's to look after Mary if I do?"

"A moot point," he conceded, and stood up, reassuringly large.

"And before I detect the first rising note of hysteria in your very
delightful voice, I must tell you that I am a doctor."

Julia's first reaction was one of rage.

"You beast," she said roundly, 'letting me get all worried!  "

He smiled at her and lifted her neatly to sit on the bed and then sat
down beside her.

"I am of the opinion that if I were not a doctor I should even now be
meekly dressing myself, preparatory to tramping miles in search of aid,
while you coped with great competence with whatever crisis has arisen.
Now, let's have the bad news."

She shivered, and was glad when he put an arm around her shoulders.

"My patient's a diabetic--an un stabilised one.  She had appendicectomy
followed by peritonitis two weeks ago.  She made a good recovery
although she isn't very co-operative and has had several slight
comas.

She wanted--insisted on coming home and it was arranged that she should
travel from St.  Clare's in London by ambulance.  We had a job getting
here, but on the whole she had a comfortable journey and her usual diet
and insulin.  Her TPR was normal last night.  She's loaded with sugar
and acetone now and her temp's a hundred and three.  "

He got off the bed, taking her with him.

"Well, you pop back to the patient and make soothing sounds while I put
on some clothes and fetch my case--it's locked in the car just outside
the door."  He gave her a gentle push.

"Go along now, there's a good girl."

Mary was restless when Julia got back to her.  She said as soon as she
caught sight of her, "I'm going to die, and there isn't a doctor."

Julia gave her another drink of water and then went to build up the
fire.

"Yes, there is."  She explained about his arrival during the night in a
few brief words because Mary was too feverish to concentrate on
anything.

"He'll be here in a moment," went on Julia soothingly,-'he'll take a
look at you and then prescribe something which will have you feeling
better in no time.  "

She went and got the case history notes and the charts and diets she
had prepared so carefully for the nurse who was to have taken over from
her, laid them neatly on a table and then hastily plaited her hair. 
She had just finished doing that when the doctor knocked on the door
and came in.

Not only had he donned his clothes, but a faultless professional manner
with them, which somehow made the whole situation seem normal and not
in the least worrying.  He knew what he was about, for he dealt with
his patient gently and with a calm air of assurance which convinced her
that she was already getting better, and then went to bend over Julia's
papers, lying ready for them.  When he had finished reading them he
looked up and asked, "Is there a doctor's letter?"

"Yes," said Julia, 'it's in my room.  " She didn't offer to fetch it.

"I think I should see it-I'll take full responsibility for opening it.
Nurse.  Would you fetch it?"

She did so without a word, not sure as to the ethics of the case, and
stood quietly by while he read it.  Which he did, refolding it into its
envelope when he had finished and adding some writing of his own before
handing it back to her.

"Penicillin, I think.  Nurse.  Shall we give her a shot now and repeat
it six-hourly?  And the insulin--she's been on Semilente, I see.  We'd
better increase it this morning and test every two hours until this
evening.  Now, diet..."

He went away when he had given Mary her penicillin and told her
cheerfully that she would be out of bed in a couple of days, leaving
Julia to reiterate all he had said before she went to dress.  Once more
in uniform and intent on perching her cap on her neatly arranged hair,
she turned in surprise when there was a tap on her door.

"Tea," said the stranger, 'and if you'll tell me where the ambulance
men are I'll wake them for you.  "

Julia took the proffered cup.

"How kind," she said with surprise, and felt suddenly downcast when he
answered carelessly, "Oh, I'm handy about the house," for it made him
sound as though he were married.  She said hastily because she wanted
to change the trend of her thoughts, "Is the weather better?"

He sat down on the end of the bed and started to drink the ambulance
men's tea.

"No--the snow's in drifts--the car's almost covered and so is the
ambulance.  There's no snow at present, but there's more to come as far
as I can see in this light.  The fog has lifted, but the ground's like
glass."

She sipped her tea.  It looked as though they would be there for
another day at least and she was surprised to find that she didn't mind
in the least.  When he asked, "What's your name?"  she answered without
hesitation.

"Pennyfeather, Julia Pennyfeather."

"Miss Pennyfeather--it is Miss?"

She nodded.

"You're drinking Willy's and Bert's teas," she pointed out.

"I'm thirsty.  Don't you want to know my name?"

She nodded again.

"Van den Werff--Ivo.  Very nearly thirty years old and until now, a
confirmed bachelor."

She ignored her sudden delight.

"Dutch?"  she hazarded.

"Do you work in England--no, Scotland?"

"I've been on a course at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh.  I'm on my
way back to Holland, but I intend to spend a day or so in London before
I cross."

Julia drank her tea, conscious of a sense of loss because presently he
would be gone and she would never see him again.  He got up off the bed
and picked up the tray with the two empty cups and went off.

Julia went downstairs herself a few minutes later and found the old man
sitting by the gas stove, drinking tea.  She said good morning
pleasantly and was told there was nothing good about it, so she busied
herself getting her patient's diet and went back upstairs with it.  It
was another ten minutes by the time she had given the insulin and
arranged Mary more comfortably to have her tea and bread and butter,
and when she got back to the kitchen the old man had gone.  She set
about laying the table and got out the frying pan once more; lucky that
there were plenty of eggs and a quantity of bacon, she thought, peering
into the old-fashioned, roomy larder.  She was making the tea when the
three men came in, Willy and Bert very apologetic at having slept
through the night's calamities.  They looked well rested though, and
volunteered cheerfully to do any chores she might choose to set them.

Bert looked at Julia an asked worriedly, "And what's to be done about
you.  Nurse?  We'll 'ave to go the minute we can--will you be able to
come with us?  You can't stay here alone."

"She won't be alone."  The doctor's quiet voice sounded quite certain
about that.

"I'll stay until the patient's own doctor can take over and the nurse
can get here."

"That's quite unnecessary," said Julia quickly, "I'm perfectly able to
manage..."  she remembered how she had awakened him that morning and
went faintly pink, and before she could finish what she was going to
say, Bert observed with obvious relief, "Ah, well, if the doc's going
to be 'ere, that's OK, 'ain't it, Willy?  Can't do better than that."

"Then that's settled, said Dr.  van den Werff, ignoring the light of
battle in Julia's fine eyes.

"In any case, we can do nothing today except get this mausoleum warm.
If the snow holds off we might reconnoitre later on ... in the meantime
shall we share out the chores?"

Something which he did with a pleasant authority which neither Willy
nor Bert disputed, and which Julia, even if she had wished to do so,
was unable to argue against because she had to go back to her patient,
leaving him to explain to the old retainer, who had appeared from
nowhere to join them at breakfast, just why they were forced to remain
at Drumlochie House for at least another day.

CHAPTER TWO

julia had plenty to do, for not only did she have to see Mary
comfortably settled and work out her diet for the day; there were meals
to cook for the five of them as well.  Fortunately she was a good cook;
at one o'clock she was able to call them into a solid meal of soup,
followed by bacon omelettes with jacket potatoes done in the Aga, and a
baked rice pudding to follow, and when she would have apologised for
the plainness of the fare they looked at her with astonishment,
declaring that it was one of the best meals they had eaten for a very
long time.

It was after this warming meal that Julia found herself with the doctor
while he went over Mary's tests and wrote up the insulin.  Mary had
responded very well to the penicillin; her chest condition had already
improved, although she was sorry enough for herself, but she was too
listless to complain about her diet, and for once there seemed no
danger of her going into another coma.  Julia had given her another
penicillin injection at noon and rather to her surprise, her patient
had made very little fuss about it and had even laughed a little at the
doctor's jokes when he came to see her.  Julia stood by him while he
wrote up the insulin chart for the rest of the day and as he was
putting his pen away, said, "I--we are very grateful to you, doctor.
Mary's better, isn't she?"

"Yes."  He gave her a thoughtful glance.

"Are you in a hurry to be gone?"

"If you mean do I have a job to go to, no.  I left St.  Clare's three
days ago-I came here with Mary to oblige her parents--they're abroad,
and Matron..."

"You're going on holiday?"  He put the question so gently that she
answered him without hesitation.

"No, I'm going home to my brother's --his wife- that is, he thinks it
would be nice if I stayed with them for a bit and..."  She stopped, for
she really had no intention of telling him anything about herself.

"Oh, well," she finished airily, 'it's all arranged," and if she had
expected him to press for more of an answer than that she was
disappointed, for all he said was, " We've dug out the car and
ambulance.  If it doesn't snow any more today Bert and Willy might get
away in the morning.  "

Julia was examining what he had written with unnecessary interest.

"Did you mean what you said?"  she asked, not looking at him, "I mean
about staying?  Don't you have to get home?"

"I can't very well leave my patient, can I?"  he wanted to know with an
air of reasonableness which she found infuriating.

"I can't deny it's most inconvenient, but then we're all being
inconvenienced, aren't we?"  He gave her a sideways look.

"Would you like to go for a walk?"

Julia gave him a surprised look and then said sensibly, "Yes, but I
can't--I haven't any boots and I can't leave Mary."

"We'll get the old retainer to fit you out, and Bert and Willy can
mount guard over Mary for an hour.

You've got to get some fresh air some time.  "

She was given no more chance to protest but caught firmly by the arm
and walked back to the kitchen, where Bert and Willy immediately agreed
to look after their patient and the old man, wink led out of some cosy
haunt of his own, produced rubber boots which more or less fitted and a
great hooded cape which reached her ankles and had obviously been cut
to fit someone of majestic proportions.  The doctor fastened the hood
under her chin with a large safety pin Bert obligingly produced, got
into his own outdoor clothes and opened the back door.

They made their way through the snow and, presently, out of the gate at
the back of the garden.  It led on to moorland, which, in the right
kind of weather, must have contained magnificent views.  Now only the
nearest of the foot-hills could be seen.  The Cheviots, she knew, were
close but shrouded in the still lingering mist into which the trees
ahead of them marched, to disappear into its gloom.

"Do we know where we're going?"  Julia asked with interest.

"Vaguely.  We're quite safe as long as it doesn't snow, and I don't
think it will."  He took her arm to help her along and at the touch of
his hand she felt a little glow of warmth deep inside her.

"It's only three weeks to Christmas," she observed, trying to ignore
the glow.  She would be with her brother and his family and his friend
James would come over for Christmas dinner.  She frowned at the thought
and the doctor said, "And you're not looking forward to it."  It was a
statement, not a question.

"Well, no, not very.  I've spent my last few Christmases in hospital
and it was rather fun..."

"But that's not the reason."

He was far too perceptive.  Julia stood still and looked around her.

"How quiet it is," she almost whispered.  She looked up at the lowering
sky too and her hood fell back.  The doctor undid the safety pin and
pulled it back over her black hair, then fastened the pin again and
before she could turn her head away, bent down and kissed her.

"Only a seasonal greeting," he explained gravely, and Julia striving to
behave as she felt a sophisticated young woman should, said a little
breathlessly, "Yes--well, should we be going back?"

He took no notice of this remark but tucked her hand in his and
continued walking through the snow, while she, hampered by the boots
which were a little on the large side, plodded beside him.

"Tell me about yourself," he invited, and for a moment she was tempted
to do just that--to tell him how she disliked the idea of going back to
Stoke- cum-Muchelney, because she was afraid that she would never get
away again, only if she married James.  She looked sideways at the man
beside her, comparing him with James, who came off very second best.
James was already getting thin on top, while her companion had plenty
of hair on his handsome head, of a pleasing fairness and elegantly
cut;

James hadn't a square chin and his mouth was small and a little thick
in the lip.  The doctor had a firm, well-shaped mouth and his voice was
pleasant too, deep and unhurried, and he didn't say H'm each time he
spoke.  The thought that Doctor van den Werff would make the splendid
husband of her vague dreams crossed her mind, to be dismissed
immediately.  He was a complete stranger--well, almost complete; she
knew nothing about him, and, she told herself firmly, she didn't intend
to.

In a couple of days' time, when the nurse arrived and he could contact
the doctor, he would go, and so would she, both to their respective
worlds.

"There's nothing to tell," she replied with a cool politeness which
wasn't lost on him, for he said instantly, "Ah, yes--not my business,
eh?"

He let go of her arm and stopped to scoop some snow into his gloved
hand, looking at her and laughing as he did so, and she, guessing that
the snowball was meant for her, made haste to dodge it, a difficult
task with the boots hampering her every step.  It would have been silly
not to have defended herself, which she did with some success, for he
was a large target and although quick on his feet, not quick enough.

She tossed the snow at him with all the pleasure of a small child,
laughing and shouting and momentarily forgetful of her prosaic
future.

Presently, still laughing and panting from their exercise, they turned
back to the house.

The rest of the day seemed a little dull after that.  Julia, her hair
tidied once more and crowned with its nurse's cap, returned to her
patient, her pink cheeks and sparkling eyes belying the extreme
neatness of her person, a fact which Bert and Willy duly remarked upon
when she saw them.  They had been discussing her, she sensed, as she
entered the room, and they made no attempt to hide the fact from her,
for Bert said at once, "We were wondering, Willy and me, if we ought
ter go--it don't seem right, leaving you alone.  Yer don't mind
staying--just with the doc, I mean?"

Julia smiled very nicely at him.

"No," she said gently, "I don't mind, Bert.  In fact I shall feel quite
safe."

"E seems a nice sort of fellow," said Willy, 'even though 'e is a
foreigner.  " He got up and went to the door.

"If yer're quite happy about it, Nurse?"

She answered him seriously.

"If I weren't, Willy, I should have asked you both to stay.  What time
do you expect to leave in the morning?"

She frowned.

"I must write to Sister..."

"Eight o'clock or thereabouts.  We'll go back the way we came, though
the Carlisle road isn't all that far, but it wouldn't be easy to reach.
The doc says he'll come a bit of the way with us, just in case we get
stuck.  We're going to ring Miss Mary's doctor for him too, so's 'e can
come over just as soon as the road's clear.  Doc's written it all down
for us.  I'm to tell 'im you're 'ere as well."

Julia said uncertainly, "Oh, are you?  I never thought of that."  Nor
had she.  It seemed Doctor van den Werff had taken the welfare of his
fellows very much to heart; she felt pretty certain that when the time
came, he would arrange for her departure, buy her ticket and see that
she had enough money for necessities on the journey back.  Which
reminded her, she had a little money with her, but not nearly enough to
take her back to London.  She would have to borrow, and from the
doctor, for it was unthinkable to ask her patient for it and the old
retainer was equally impossible.  The family doctor might be of help,
but she disliked asking for a loan from a stranger.  That Doctor van
den Werff was a stranger too had for the moment escaped her.

Mary woke up and Julia, who had been standing idly by the window, went
to draw up the penicillin before getting her patient's tea and then,
when the doctor obligingly said the he would sit with Mary, went down
to the vast kitchen to get supper for the rest of them.

She was up early the next morning making sandwiches for the two
ambulance men and filling the thermos and then cooking as generous a
breakfast as she dared for them.  The food was getting a bit low by
now, although she would be able to go on making bread for some time,
and there were plenty of potatoes, but there was Mary to think of, for
as soon as she had recovered from her bronchopneumonia she would want
to eat again.  Julia had set aside as much as possible for her, which
meant that she and the doctor and Hamish would have to make do with a
restricted though ample enough diet.

The morning was a mere glimmer at the end of the long night when she
went to the door to see the men off.  They wrung her hand, took the
letter she had written and trudged through the frozen snow towards the
stable.  The doctor followed them.  He had hardly spoken during
breakfast, but now he paused at the door.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," he said cheerfully, 'but don't worry
if I don't turn up until later in the day-we might get held up with the
drifts and have to dig ourselves out.  If I can get as far as the main
road I'll try and find out what's happening about the telephone, or get
a message into Hawick.  The men will telephone there from Newcastle
any 1

way, but I don't think we should leave any stones unturned, do you? 
"

Julia asked, "Will you be able to telephone your family in Holland?

Won't they be worrying?  " and went faintly pink when he said coolly, "
Time enough for that, Miss Pennyfeather--we have to get you settled
first, don't we?  "

He grinned suddenly, turned on his heel and set out into the icy
morning.

The house was very quiet when they had gone.  She had listened to them
starting up the ambulance and then the car and, minutes later, their
horns blaring a goodbye to her as the noise of the engines became
fainter and fainter and then ceased altogether, leaving her lonely.

But there wasn't much time for loneliness; there was Mary to see to and
the rooms to tidy and the food cupboard to be frowned over once more.
Hamish had brought in some more eggs, but everything else was getting
on the low side, though there was plenty if someone arrived that
evening and brought food with them, but Julia had looked out of the
window as soon as it was light and had been disquieted by the grey sky
with its ominous yellow tinges streaking the horizon, and the wind was
getting up again as well.  She went back to Mary's room and built up a
magnificent fire as though by so doing she could ward off the bad
weather she guessed was coming.

The wind began to whine in real earnest about three o'clock and the
first snowflakes whirled down, slowly and daintily at first and then in
real earnest.  It didn't look as though the nurse would arrive that
day, nor the cook and the maid, nor, for that matter,

thought Julia gloomily, Doctor van den Werff.  He was probably stuck in
some drift miles from anywhere; she was thankful that she had made him
take some sandwiches and a thermos too.

She took Mary's tea up presently, to find her awake and more cheerful,
and she was still with her when she heard the car return.  It was dark
outside and the fast falling snow almost obliterated its headlights as
it went past the house in the direction of the stables.  Julia left
Mary to finish her tea and went downstairs, her cape held close against
the draughts, and reached the kitchen as the doctor came in from
outside, bringing a rush of cold air in with him.

Julia went to the stove and opened one of the plates so that the
singing kettle could boil.

"I thought you'd never get here," she said, trying to make her voice
light.

The doctor took off his coat and shook a quantity of snow from it on to
the floor, then hung it on the back of a chair where it began to steam.
Only then did he speak, and the extreme placidity of his voice annoyed
her.

"My dear Miss Pennyfeather," he remarked, "I told you that I should
come," which calm and brief speech caused her to burst out, "Well, I
know you did, but sitting here waiting for you isn't the same..."

"Waiting for me, were you?  I'm flattered-at least I should have been
in any other circumstances.  Unfortunately the telephone wires are
still down--I wasted a great deal of time.  Still, the snow ploughs
have been out on the main road."  He sat down at the table and she
realised that this meagre information was all she was going to get
about his day.  She poured him some tea from the pot she had just made
and offered him bread and jam.

"Is the weather very bad?"  she wanted to know.

"Quite nasty, but I don't fancy it's going to last.  Has everything
been all right here?"  He glanced at Hamish, who nodded before Julia
could answer.

"Aye, the fires are lit, and there's plenty of wood.

I'll kill a chicken tomorrow.  "

The doctor nodded.

"Good idea--otherwise I'll have to go out with a gun."

"What," said Julia indignantly, 'and shoot any small creature,
half-starved and frozen?  "

He didn't laugh at her.

"I shouldn't enjoy it," he said gently, 'but we have to eat.  But don't
worry, if Hamish here lets us have a chicken we'll do very well for a
couple of days--Mary can have it too.  "

Julia agreed, wondering the while what Mary's mother would say when she
arrived home and found no food in the cupboards and several beds in
use.  But of course they would all be gone by then and she herself
would never know, she would be in Somerset and this strange adventure
would be a dream--so would the doctor.  She sighed and got up to refill
the teapot.

She had tucked Mary up for the night and had gone to her room to sit by
the fire before beginning the chilly business of undressing when there
was a knock on the door and the doctor came in.

"Mary?"  asked Julia as she started to her feet.

"No--she's asleep, I've just been to look.  I want to talk to you and
your room is warmer than mine- do you mind if I come in?"

Julia felt surprise, pleasure and finally a faint excitement which she
firmly suppressed.  She sat down again.

"There's a chair in that corner, it's larger than the others," she said
sensibly.

His lips twitched, but he went obediently and fetched it, sat down
opposite her and began without preamble.

"The reason I was going to London before returning to Holland was in
order that I might engage a nurse to take back with me.  There is a
young lady staying with my family--an English girl who contracted polio
just before I came over to Edinburgh.  She went to hospital, of course,
but now she is back with us, but I hear that she is very bored with
only my sister to talk to, for she doesn't care to learn Dutch.

She's convalescent and has made a splendid recovery which I feel could
be hastened even more by having someone with her to whom she could talk
freely.  "

He paused and looked across at Julia, his eyebrows lifted in an
unspoken question.

The?  " asked Julia, and felt a pleasant tingle of excitement.

"Yes--it would save me hunting around in London, and I think that you
may suit admirably.  You are very much of an age and capable with it.

If you could see your way to coming for a few weeks?  I know it is
sudden, but I fancy you wouldn't mind overmuch if you didn't go to your
brother's.  Am I right?  "

"Yes--I don't want to go in the least," she said bluntly, 'but I really
should.  "

"Forgive me, but is your brother not able to afford a nurse for his
wife, or help of some sort?"

She flushed.

"Yes, of course he can, only I expect he feels it's a waste of money to
pay someone when there's me."

"So you would have no feeling of--er--guilt if you were not to go?"

Julia was a little surprised to find that she didn't feel in the least
guilty.  She said briefly, "No."

"Then, Miss Pennyfeather, will you come?  I know this is a most
irregular way of offering a job, but in the rather peculiar
circumstances in which we find ourselves.  you trust me?"

Julia looked startled.

"Trust you?  Of course I trust you."  Her voice sounded as startled as
her face.

"I hope I shall suit your patient."

She hoped that he might give her a few more details, but it seemed that
he didn't intend doing so, not at that moment anyway, for he went on to
ask her if she had a passport and would she mind being out of England
for Christmas.

She said a little breathlessly, for she was still surprised at herself
for her rash acceptance of a job she knew nothing about, "Yes-I've a
passport, it's with my things in London.  I've never been out of
England at Christmas time, but I don't suppose I shall mind."

"No?  I daresay you'll find it much the same as in England.  We have
the same family gatherings, but I don't think we put quite such
emphasis on presents.  We have St.  Nikolaas, you see, earlier in the
month."

She nodded, having only a slight inkling of what he was talking
about.

She had heard of St.  Nikolaas, naturally, and she knew all about his
white horse and Black Peter, but that was already over and done with;

it was almost Christmas.  A Christmas she might enjoy much more than if
she went to her brother's.

His voice cut through her thoughts with a gentle persistence she
couldn't ignore.

"If I might have your attention, Miss Pennyfeather?

We shall have to stay here until such time as the nurse, the doctor and
the servants arrive, then I propose to drive down to London where you
can collect your clothes and whatever else you want.  We can cross from
Harwich when it suits us and drive home from there.  "

Julia watched him put another log on the fire.

"I don't know where you live."

"Near Tilburg, a small town called Oisterwijk.  I work at the hospital
in Tilburg--I'm an anaesthetist.  I also go once a week to Breda and
s'Hertogenbosch and occasionally to Eindhoven.  My father has a
practice in which I am a partner and when he retires I shall take it
over.  My sister runs the household and I have two brothers younger
than I--one is married, the youngest is still finishing his
post-graduate course at a Utrecht hospital."

"And my patient?"

He gave her a sharp glance and took so long in replying that she
thought that probably he was deciding what to tell her.

"Miss Marcia Jason," he said at length, 'who was staying with us when
she was taken ill.  We are all very fond of her, and to get her
completely well again is our dearest wish.  "

Julia ignored the pang she felt at his words, for she suspected that it
had something to do with the doctor being fond of his patient.  It was
extremely foolish of her to get interested in him.  She told herself
that it was only because they had been thrown together in trying
circumstances that she felt .  she decided not to pursue her train of
thought and looked up to see the doctor regarding her steadily.

"And now," he invited, 'tell me something of yourself.  "

To her surprise she did, although she hadn't really meant to.  Out it
all came, her brother and Maureen and her home and how lovely the
garden was in the summer and how awful London was if you hadn't
anywhere to go--and James.  He didn't speak, just sat and listened as
she enlarged upon James and his tedious perfections.

"He's s-so right always," she ended, 'and so dreadfully patient and
good when I lose my temper.  He says I'll be better when we settle
down: But I don't want to settle down--not with him.  "

"Have you anyone in mind?"  queried her companion mildly.

She said uncertainly, "No--oh, no," and knew in her heart that it
wasn't quite true.  James and Maureen and her brother too had told her
a great many times that there was no such thing as love at first
sight;

love came gradually, they had explained patiently, and Julia, an
unwilling listener, had considered that it all sounded rather dull.

She had said so, passionately, and they had smiled at her with pitying
coolness.  She said now, "I shouldn't have said all that about
James."

She gave the doctor a direct look.

"It was disloyal."

He smiled nicely.

"No.  As far as I can judge, you owe this James nothing, and you can be
sure that I'll forget everything about the tiresome fellow, and I
suggest that you do too, otherwise you'll find yourself living in a
semi-detached with a great deal to do and a string of babies."

"But I like babies!"

He closed his eyes.

"So do I, Miss Pennyfeather.  How delightful that we agree upon such an
important aspect of life.  If we persevere we shall undoubtedly find
other things just as important."

Julia stared at him, her lovely eyes wide.  As though it mattered if
they agreed about anything!  The fewer things the better, she was
inclined to think, bearing in mind Miss Marcia Jason.  "Is she pretty?"
she asked suddenly.  The doctor looked as though he was laughing
silently, but he had that sort of face, anyway.

"Very," he answered without hesitation, 'small and fair, with large
blue eyes.  She has an extremely intelligent brain.  "

"Has the polio affected her badly?"

"Luckily the damage is slight.  It's a question of constant
encouragement, that's why I thought a nurse, someone sensible and her
own age, would give her the stimulus she needs for the last few weeks
of convalescence."

Julia nodded while she seethed.  She had had her share of men friends,
none of whom had ever called her sensible in that matter-of-fact voice.
She gave him a cross look and went scarlet when he added, "Not that
being sensible is your only attribute, my dear young lady, but it is
the only one which applies in this case, I think."  He got up, taking
his time, and at the door he said, "Let us pray for good weather so
that we may get away from here as soon as possible; I have never
suffered so many draughts.  Goodnight, Miss Pennyfeather."

It snowed again the next day, but late in the after 9

noon the weathered cleared and at teatime Hamish offered the
information that the worst was over, and neither Julia nor Doctor van
den Werff thought to question his pronouncement, for after all, he had
lived in the Border country all his life, and he should know.  As if to
bear him out the radio in the doctor's car proclaimed exactly the same
state of affairs, if in somewhat more elaborate language, adding a
rider to the effect that telephone communications were being reinstated
as quickly as possible.  But the telephone at Drumlochie House remained
silent and no one arrived, which wasn't surprising, for the snow plough
hadn't got so far.

The snow plough, however, came the next morning and Doctor van den
Werff went up to the road and brought the driver back for coffee.  The
road was clear, the man told them, at least a narrow lane of it, and
once on the main road the going wasn't too bad, although he warned them
about skidding and went on to relate, to the delight of old Hamish,
several unfortunate incidents which had occurred owing to the bad
weather; he would have gone on for some time in like vein had not the
doctor reminded him that he still had the stretch of road to Hawick to
clear.  When he had gone the doctor looked at his watch and remarked.

"He should be there by midday or a little after.  I should think we
might expect someone by this evening.  It is to be hoped that the
telephone will be working again before then so that I can talk to
Mary's doctor--he should have had my message by now, that is, if Bert
managed to get it to him."

The doctor didn't telephone, but came in his car with Jane and Madge
sitting inside it.  By the look on their faces, Julia thought that
perhaps the journey hadn't been all that smooth, a supposition the
doctor bore out with forceful language when he got out of the car.

"But I got your message," he said as he looked round the hall for
Doctor van den Werff, who wasn't there, 'and I came as soon as I
could--I had no idea .  is Mary all right?  "

Julia, easing him out of his duffle coat, said that yes, she believed
so and that Doctor van den Werff would have heard the car and would be
in to tell him all he wished to know.  She then offered everyone tea,
introduced herself to Jane and Madge, begged them to go and get warm in
the kitchen and then inquired of the doctor if he had brought any food
with him.

"In the boot, I'll bring it in presently.  Nurse."  He turned away as
Doctor van den Werff walked in and Julia made her escape, leaving them
to introduce themselves, for she had no idea of the doctor's name.

They were drinking tea while Julia apologised for the amount of food
they had eaten during their stay, when the two men came in with the air
of people who were quite satisfied with each other.  She poured them
each a cup, offered a plate of scones and murmuring something about
seeing to Mary, went upstairs, followed almost immediately by Jane and
Madge, who made much of the invalid and listened with patience to her
highly coloured version of her journey home.  They rose to go at
length, promising supper within a couple of hours, and went away,
discussing the merits of a nice toad-in-the-hole as opposed to Quiche
Lorraine. Scarcely had they gone when the two doctors presented
themselves at the door and spent half an examining their patient and
studying charts after which her own doctor pronounced himself well
satisfied as to her condition and promised to be out the following
morning.

"And the nurse," he observed, "I fancy she'll be here very shortly," he
smiled at Julia.

"You'll be free to go, Nurse, with my grateful thanks."

Julia murmured a reply, thankful that she had made up the bed in the
room next to hers.  She would get someone to light a fire there as soon
as possible.  The doctor shook her hand in a powerful grip, thanked her
once more and went downstairs.  Presently she heard his car making its
careful way back to the road.

When she went downstairs presently the doctor was nowhere to be seen,
but when she went into the hall she heard his voice in the sitting
room, an icy apartment which housed the telephone which she was pleased
to see he was using.  He looked up as she went in and said cheerfully,
"We're on again, and the wind has brought back the electric too."  He
got up and came towards her.

"What do you think of Doctor Maclntory?"

Julia looked at him, her head a little on one side.

"He seemed very nice--so that's his name.  Do you plan to go tomorrow
if the nurse comes tonight?"

He nodded.

"If you have no objection, I'm anxious to get home."  He smiled
suddenly and because his smile gave her a faintly lightheaded
sensation, she said the first thing which came into her head.

"What sort of car have you got?"  she wanted to know.

"Come and see," he invited, and went to fetch the cloak hanging behind
the kitchen door and wrapped her in it and gave her his hand to hold
because the steps were ice-covered again.  The stable was gloomy and
cold and could have housed half a dozen motor cars; there was only one
there now--the doctor's and well worth housing.  It was a Jensen
Interceptor, gleaming and sleek and powerful.  She walked round it
exclaiming, "What a lovely car--how fast does she go?"

He laughed.

"Just over a hundred and thirty miles an hour, but we'll be lucky if we
manage fifty in this weather."

Julia withdrew her head from the interior of the car and turned to look
at him.  She said politely, "Look, I'm sure you're anxious to be gone.
Would you like to go now?  There's nothing to keep you, you've seen the
doctor and done more than you need ... the nurse might not come...1 can
go back by train."

She got no further, for the doctor had her by the shoulders and was
shaking her gently.

"I have no patience with you," he said a trifle testily.

"Of course I'm anxious to get home, but you don't really think that I
would go just like that and leave you here?  Besides, I like company on
a long journey and I should have to wait for you in London."  His hands
tightened on her shoulders as he bent his head to kiss her.

"Have you forgotten, Julia, that I've engaged you to look after
Marcia?"

Being kissed like that had made her forget everything, but it didn't
seem very wise to say so.  She withdrew a little from him and said in a
commendably sensible voice, "No, of course I hadn't."  A very large
image of the beautiful Miss Jason floated before her eyes.  She said
firmly, "I think I must go and see how Mary.  " then paused,
frowning.

"I can hear ... there's a cat here," she said quickly.

"Oh, the poor thing!"

The doctor went past her to a corner of the stable.

"Yes, there is," he said casually.

"At least, there are five--mother and kittens--look!"

Julia peered down into the apple box filled with straw which he
indicated, and the mother cat, with the kittens crawling around her,
peered back.  Julia said in a voice soft with pity, "Oh, please can't
we take them inside and feed them?"

"She's the stable cat and won't stay in the house.  I found the box for
her before the kittens arrived and I've fed her regularly.  She's
fine.

I'll tell Jane or Madge to keep an eye on them when we go.  "

Julia stooped and put out a finger, and the cat licked it politely and
then turned to the more urgent business of washing her kittens.  Julia
stood up and looked at her companion.

"You're very kind.  A lot of men wouldn't have bothered," she said.

"Why didn't you tell me?  I could have fed her."

"You had enough to do.  You're a practical young woman, aren't you,
Julia?"

Part of her mind registered the pleasing fact that he had called her
Julia twice within a few minutes while she replied, "I don't know--I
suppose being in hospital makes one practical."  She started walking
towards the door.

"Do you think the nurse will come today?  It's already five o'clock and
very dark."

The doctor opened the stable door before he replied.  The wind was
slight but icy cold and Julia shivered and wrapped her voluminous cape
more closely round her as they made their way back to the house.

"I should think the trains are running," said the doctor.

"She's coming straight from Edinburgh to Hawick and if the doctor could
get through so can a taxi."

It seemed his words were to be ratified.  Barely an hour later a car
rolled to a halt at the front door.  Julia heard it from Mary's room
where she was doing the evening chores, and hurried downstairs to
welcome the arrival, but Doctor van den Werff had heard the taxi too
and was already there, talking to a small woman, who could have been
any age from forty to fifty, and whose pleasant face lighted up with a
smile when she saw Julia.  The doctor performed the introductions
smoothly, giving them barely time to utter the most commonplace
civilities before suggesting that the kitchen might be a warmer place
than the draughty hall.

"Oh, how thoughtless of me," cried Julia, 'you and the driver must be
frozen!  " She led the way to the kitchen.

"I'm sure Jane won't mind if I make you some tea.  She arranged Miss
MacBonar on one side of the stove and the driver on the other and went
to where Jane was making pastry at the table.

"You don't mind," she begged that lady, 'if they sit here get warm, and
would you mind very much if I made them some tea?  I'm afraid we've
used the kitchen to live in while you've been away.  "

Jane smiled.

"Aye, it's a cold house.  Nurse-it's been none too easy for you, I
daresay.  And don't worry about the tea.  Madge made it when she heard
the taxi.  Should I keep the driver here for his supper,

do you think?  It'll be easier going on the way home if he's got
something hot inside him.  "

"What a good idea.  I'm going back to Miss Mary now and then I'll come
back and take Miss MacBonar up to meet her.  I expect you know that the
doctor and I are leaving tomorrow?"

Madge gave her a quick glance.

"Aye, he told me.  A kind gentleman he is, ye'll have a safe journey
with him."

Julia said a little shyly, "Yes, I'm sure I shall," and made her way
through the icy hall and up the stairs to Mary, who was sitting up in
her chair by the fire, demanding to know exactly what the new nurse was
like.

"Nice," said Julia promptly.

"If I were ill I should like her to nurse me--I'm going to fetch her in
a few minutes and then I'll get your supper and take her down to have
supper with us."  She picked up the insulin syringe.

"Now roll up your sleeve, Mary-it's time for your injection."

Nurse MacBonar and Mary took to each other on sight; Julia left them
together while she went down for Mary's tray and having settled that
young lady to her satisfaction, took her colleague along to her own
room to give her the details of her patient.

"And your room's next door," she explained, 'and I'm sure if you don't
like it no one will mind if you change.  I'm afraid we just took the
first ones we saw when we arrived.  There's a fire going and I've put a
hot water bottle in the bed.  I wondered if you would like half an hour
to yourself until supper?  I'll come and fetch you.  "

They went downstairs together a little later to find that the table had
been laid in the dining room, a forbidding apartment with a great many
hunting trophies on its walls and a quantity of heavy mahogany
furniture arranged very stiffly beneath them.  But there was a fire in
the hearth and the supper was ample and well cooked.  The three of them
sat at one end of the large oval table and Nurse MacBonar told them at
some length and a good deal of dry humour of her difficulties in
reaching them.

"But I hear from Doctor Maclntory that you had your ups and downs too,"
she remarked cheerfully.

"I can imagine how you felt when you arrived," she looked at them in
turn.

"Did you get here to together?"

It was the doctor who answered.

"No, for I am on my way to London from Edinburgh--I got hopelessly
lost, and how I got here I have no idea, but Miss Pennyfeather was kind
enough to take me in..."

"Weren't you scared?"  inquired Miss MacBonar of Julia.

"A strange man coming to the door like that?"

Julia avoided the doctor's eyes.

"I was so cold and tired I didn't think about it," she confessed,
'otherwise I daresay I should have been frightened.  "

"Oh well," said Miss MacBonar comfortably, 'it was only the doctor
here, so there was no need.  "

This time Julia glanced up to find him watching her and although his
face showed nothing of it, she knew that he was laughing silently.  He
said pleasantly, "You invest me with a character I fear I cannot lay
claim to.  Miss Pennyfeather, who has had to put up with me these last
few days, could tell you how tiresome I can be at times."

Nurse MacBonar chuckled.

"Aren't all men tiresome at some time or another?"  she wanted to
know.

"Not that the world would be much of a place without them, and I should
know-I've buried two husbands.  Are either of you married?"

Julia shook her head and the doctor murmured in a negative manner.

"Ah, well, your turn will come.  Do you plan to leave early?"

Doctor van den Werff picked up his fork preparatory to demolishing the
portion of bread and butter pudding Julia had just handed to him.

"Eight o'clock-that will allow for any small holdups on the way."  He
looked at Julia with lifted brows.

"That is if our Miss Pennyfeather is agreeable?"

Julia, smouldering inwardly at being addressed as our Miss
Pennyfeather, said coolly, "Yes, quite, thank you," and then addressed
herself to Miss MacBonar.

"I'll call you before I go, shall I?  Mary sleeps until eight or
thereabouts, so you'll have plenty of time to dress."

They separated to go their various ways after supper.  Julia to get
Mary into bed and settled for the night.

She was a little silent as she went quiet-footed about the room putting
everything to rights.  Her patient lay watching her and then asked,
"Aren't you excited about tomorrow?  Lucky you--all day with Ivo."

"Ivo?"  asked Julia.

"Doctor van den Werff, silly.  Isn't it a nice name?  I like him, don't
you?"

Julia, looking for a clean nightie for her patient, agreed.

"Oh, yes, and you have cause to be grateful to him too."

"Well, I am.  I told him so.  I'm grateful to you too.  Have I been a
good patient?"

Julia looked across the room at her charge, a little wan still but
pretty for all that.  She said generously, "Yes, you have.  It hasn't
been much fun for you, has it, but you've stuck to your diet like a
brick and not fussed over your injections.  Go on being good, won't
you?  Nurse MacBonar is nice, don't you think?  We both like her very
much and she'll look after you splendidly, and if you keep to your diet
and do as you're told you'll be able to lead the same life as any of
your friends."

"Yes, Ivo told me that too.  I'll try.  I like you, Nurse
Pennyfeather--I like Ivo too.  You'd make a handsome pair."  She
narrowed her blue eyes and stared at Julia, who stared back, mouth
agape.

"We'd what?"  Julia reiterated.

"Make an awfully handsome pair.  I can just see you coming down the
aisle together, you with your eyes sparkling like they do when you're
pleased and happy and your cheeks all pink, and him, proud and
smiling."

Julia contrived a laugh, a very natural one considering her heart leapt
into her throat and was choking her.  She said with admirable calm, "Go
on with you, Mary, it's your own wedding you should be thinking about,
not anyone else's.  Now go to sleep, because I shall wake you early to
say goodbye in the morning."

They wished each other goodnight and Julia, as it was still early, went
along to Miss MacBonar's room, trying to dismiss Mary's words from her
mind and failing utterly.

Her colleague had finished unpacking and had arranged her small
possessions around her so that the room looked almost cosy.  She looked
up as Julia knocked and went in and said, "There you are, dear.  Should
we go down and have a last word with the doctor?  I think he expects
it."

Julia ran a finger along the carved back of the rather uncomfortable
chair she was leaning against.

"He doesn't expect me," she said positively, 'but I'm sure he'd like to
see you--last-minute things," she added vaguely.

"Doctor Maclntory said he'd be along tomorrow if we've forgotten
anything.  The charts are in the table drawer in Mary's room, and I've
brought the insulin and syringe with me-I keep them in my room, here
they are."

She handed them over and Nurse MacBonar nodded understandingly and got
to her feet.

"Then I'll pop along then and see that nice doctor of yours."  She
beamed at Julia as they went out of the room together.

"You won't come too?"

"No, I don't think so.  I'm tired," said Julia mendaciously.  They
wished each other goodnight and she went along to her room and started
to undress slowly, oblivious of the room's chill.  She wasn't tired at
all.  There was no reason at all why she shouldn't have gone downstairs
with Nurse MacBonar, at least no reason she was prepared to admit, even
to herself.

CHAPTER THREE

it was cold and dark when they left the next morning after the ample
breakfast Madge had insisted upon them eating.  And the road was like a
skating rink.  Julia clutched her hands tightly together under her
cloak, sitting very stiff and upright beside the doctor, expecting
every minute to go off the road or land upside down in a ditch.

"Sit back," commanded her companion quietly, 'nothing's going to
happen.  You aren't frightened?  "

"I'm terrified!"  declared Julia.

"You must have realised that it would be like this?"

"Yes, of course I did."  She spoke crossly.

"And yet you came with me?"

"Well, I--I'm sure you're a good driver," she answered lamely.

"So you trust me as a driver as well.  Good.  Go on trusting me,
Julia.

Lean your head back and relax- I shan't take any risks.  "

She did as she was told and found to her surprise that after a little
while she was actually enjoying the nightmare journey in an
apprehensive sort of way, and when presently the doctor asked her if
she was warm enough and then went on to talk about a hundred and one
unimportant things, his quiet voice never altering its placid tones,
flowing on through even the most hair-raising skids, she found herself
answering him in a quite natural voice, and if her lovely face was a
little paler than usual, there was no one to remark upon it.

Once on the main road the going was easier, although woefully slow in
places so that when they reached Newcastle the doctor judged it wise to
order sandwiches with their coffee in case it might prove difficult to
stop later on.

The Ml, when they got to it, was almost clear of snow, however,
although lumps of it, frozen solid, added to the hazards of the already
icy surface, but traffic was sparse at first and there was no fog so
that they made good progress; so much so that south of Doncaster the
doctor suggested that they should stop for lunch.

"There's a place I've been to before," he said, 'a mile or two off the
motorway.  I think it's called Bawtry.  "

It was pleasant to get off the monotonous highway for just a little
while, and the old coaching inn where he stopped looked inviting.

"I'm sorry about my uniform," said Julia as they went inside.

"I don't look very glamorous."

He gave her a sideways glance.

"And what makes you think that I like a glamorous companion?"

She said in a prosaic voice, "I thought men did."

He took her arm because the pavement was still slippery.

"Not always," he said, half laughing, 'in any case you've no need to
worry; with your looks you could get away with anything you choose to
put on.  "

He said it so carelessly that she felt doubtful if he meant it as a
compliment.  She sighed and he said at once, "You're tired, you need a
meal."

The food was good and the dining room pleasantly warm.  They ate roast
beef with all its traditional accompaniments washed down with burgundy,
and while the doctor contented himself with the cheese board, Julia,
who had a sweet tooth, applied herself to a chocolate souffle.  She ate
with relish and as she put down her fork, remarked, "You know, food you
haven't cooked yourself always tastes different--besides, we had rather
a monotonous diet at Drumlochie House, didn't we?"

"But excellently cooked.  We were all glad there was no bread, yours
was so delicious."

"I enjoyed baking it," said Julia simply.

"What time shall we get to London?"

"Almost a hundred and sixty miles--it's hard to say.  Three hours
normally, but I should think we might double that allowing for slow
going and holdups.  Getting bored?"  he asked with a smile.

Julia shook her head, wishing very much to tell him that she was
enjoying every minute of his company.  Instead she remarked, "Not in
the least.  I like motoring, though I don't do so much of it."

"Hasn't James got a car?"

She pinkened.

"Yes--a Morris, but he doesn't believe that you should travel fast on
the roads nor that you should use a car solely for pleasure."

The doctor choked.

"Good God--what kind of pleasure?"

"Well, short trips to the sea, somewhere where we could do the shopping
at the same time, and--and picnics..."

"Sandwiches and a thermos flask?"  he wanted to know.

"Yes.  James considers eating out is a great waste of money."  Her
already pink cheeks went a little pinker.

"Oh, I beg your pardon, that sounds rude and ungrateful just after
you've given me such a gorgeous lunch.  I--I didn't mean that at all; I
love eating out and driving miles.  I'd forgotten what fun it was." 
She sounded wistful.

"I can see that I shall have to rescue you from James."

"How?"

"By a method which will prove quite infallible."  The doctor's voice
was light.  Julia decided that he was joking.  She asked equally
lightly, "Do tell me."

He shook his head, "No--not yet, but I promise it will work."

They got up to go and Julia, still persisting, asked, "You mean if I
take a job away from home for a long time he might forget me?"

"Something like that."

The short winter's day was already dimming although it was barely two
o'clock.  Julia looked anxiously at the sky as they got into the car.

"It's not going to snow again, is it?"  she asked worriedly.

"I shouldn't think so.  If it does and it gets too bad we'll just have
to stay the night somewhere, but I don't think that will he
necessary."

She settled down as he started the car, drawing her cloak around her,
thankful for the warmth and comfort.  Presently she closed her eyes;

they were back on the MI once more and there was nothing to see, only
the road running ahead of them and the traffic weaving in and out of
the lanes in a never- ending, tiring pattern.  The doctor was doing a
steady fifty, overtaking whenever he had the opportunity;

he didn't seem disposed to talk.  She opened her eyes and peeped at him
once; his good-looking profile looked stern and thoughtful.  Immersed
in dreams of Miss Marcia Jason, thought Julia pettishly, and closed her
eyes again, sternly dismissing her own dreams.  She opened them a few
moments later, aware of something wrong, although the man beside her
had made no sound.  They were on the point of passing an articulated
lorry and as she looked behind her the doctor accelerated to a sudden
breathtaking speed, sliding ahead of it with seconds to spare as a car,
roaring down the motorway, passed them within inches.

Julia caught a glimpse of its occupants laughing and waving.

"That was a bit near," she said in a voice which quavered just a
little.

"I'm glad you're a good driver."

The doctor sounded grim.

"Yes, so am I--they're the sort who cause a pile-up.  He passed us at
over a hundred and twenty."

"What were we doing when you overtook?"  Julia wanted to know.

He grinned.

"Never you mind," he replied, 'but it was either that or being pushed
into the next world.  " He broke off and said something harsh and
sudden in his own language, and Julia watched with silent horror as the
car, careering madly half a mile ahead of them, tried to pass a huge
transport which was on the point of crossing into the fast lane, and
even as she watched she was aware that the doctor had slowed and was
edging back on to the slow lane and on to the hard shoulder of the
road, to stop close to the appalling chaos.

The transport driver, in a last-minute attempt to avert disaster, had
slewed to his left, but the oncoming car had been too fast for him.  It
was wedged, no longer recognisable as a car, under the huge back
wheels, its recent occupants lying untidily around it.  Even as they
were looking, two more cars crashed into it.

The doctor reached across Julia, locked the door and undid her safety
belt.

"When I get out," he commanded, 'get into my seat and don't put a foot
outside the door until I say so.  "

He took his bag from the back seat and got out himself, and then after
a quick look around, turned to help her.  The traffic, for the most
part, was still moving south down the slow lane, Julia could hear the
urgent squeak of brakes behind them as they made their way to the
wrecked cars.  There was already a small crowd of people-the doctor
tapped the nearest man on the shoulder and said with mild authority,
"Would you go to the side of the motorway and find the telephone?  One
shouldn't be too far away-tell the police and say we shall want several
ambulances."  He didn't wait to see if the man would do as he asked but
shouldered his way through the little group, propelling Julia along
beside him.  The first victim lay very quietly, which was only to be
expected of someone with a compound fracture of skull and a badly torn
leg.  Doctor van den Werff examined her swiftly, grunted gently and
said, "Get a tourniquet on that leg, Julia, and try and get a pad and
some sort of bandage on her head, then come to me."  He opened his
case, gave her a handful of slings and a packet of gauze and went
away.

Once she had something to do, it wasn't so bad.  Julia forgot the
horror of it all in the urgency of her work.  She begged a tie off a
man standing nearby, tightened her home-made torniquet with her pen and
then turned her attention to the woman's head.  There wasn't a great
deal which could be done.  She covered the wounds carefully with gauze
and slid a cotton sling carefully around the woman's head and fastened
it loosely, then enlisted the tieless man's help, explaining what he
had to do about the tourniquet, and went to find the doctor.

He was sprawled across the wreckage of the first car, his head and
shoulders out of sight in the tangle of twisted steel; she worked her
way to his side and looked inside too.  Her almost soundless "Oh' was
full of horror and she closed her eyes, willing herself not to be sick.
She opened them again as the doctor pulled her out to stand beside him.
He said in a perfectly ordinary voice, " Very nasty, but I doubt if he
knew anything about it.  Who's next?  "

Julia, her face very white, spoke with a mouth which shook a little.

"That woman--I left a man with her, he seemed sensible.  There's
someone screaming..."

"Hysterics," said the doctor briefly.

"Let's have a look at this one."

A man this time, conscious and miraculously only slightly injured.  The
doctor sent him to the side of the road, accompanied by two willing
helpers, who, now that they had got over the initial shock, had
offered, as had several others, to help in any way they could.  The
next one was a man too, with a leg twisted at a strange angle and a
pale,

unconscious face.  The doctor felt the man's head with gentle fingers
and said, "I think we'll leave him as he is until the ambulances get
here.  But we'll splint that leg."

Which he did, with the aid of two planks of wood torn from a packing
case and two more ties.  Two children came next, both sadly dead. 
Julia turned away from them with a heavy heart to join the doctor at
the side of the last victim--a woman, and conscious.  Her pale lips
sketched a smile as they knelt down beside her.

"It's my back," she whispered, 'it feels funny.  "

The doctor said with gentle decisiveness, "They'll put that right in
hospital.  Stay exactly as you are, will you, my dear?  You'll not have
to wait long, I can hear the ambulance now."

He stayed where he was, a gentle hand on her shoulder, and said to
Julia, "Tell the ambulance men to come to this patient first and
fast.

Then find the driver of the transport--he's not amongst this lot,
probably he's all right, just shocked, and if I'm not about see if
anyone was hurt in the other two cars.  I don't think so, they'd all
better be examined in hospital.  "

Julia sped away, glad to have something to do.  The driver was still
sitting in his cab, dazed with shock and but for a few bruises, unhurt.
All the same, she persuaded him to go with her in search of the doctor,
whom she found helping to load the woman with the broken back on to an
ambulance.  He gave her a hasty glance.

"He's all right?

Leave him here, I'll have a quick look before he goes for a checkup.

See about the others?  "

She saw about them; bruises and a cut or two and some nasty grazes,
nothing that half an hour in hospital casualty wouldn't put right.  She
led them, unnaturally quiet with shock, over to the ambulances too and
sat them on the blankets someone had spread on the grass at the side of
the road, then looked for the doctor.  He was with the group of police
and ambulance men and a breakdown lorry gang, bending over the wreckage
where the dead man lay.  She looked away as they began to draw
something covered in a blanket out of the tangled mess, her stomach
turning over, and most fortunately had her attention immediately
distracted by the arrival of another ambulance, complete with doctor
and nurse.  By the time she had answered their immediate questions, the
little group had dispersed from around the wrecked car and Doctor van
den Werff was wiping his hands on a towel produced by one of the
ambulance men, and while he talked to the doctor Julia went with the
nurse to see what help they might give the ambulance men in stowing the
remainder of the slightly injured passengers into the last two
ambulances, but she had only been with them a very few minutes when the
doctor tapped her on the shoulder, picked up his car coat from the
ground where he had tossed it earlier and instead of putting it on,
draped it around her shoulders; it was only as he did so that she
discovered that she was shivering violently.  They had reached the car
when she said in a surprised, tight little voice, "I think I'm going to
faint," and did so.

She came round in the car, with her cap off and her head against the
doctor's shoulder, as she opened her eyes he said mildly,

"Stay as you are," and she was glad to do so; his shoulder felt
comfortably solid under her swimming head and the weight of his arm
round her shoulders was reassuring.

"I've never done that before," she said in a surprised apologetic
voice.

"That man in the car..."

His arm tightened.

"Forget him," his voice was calm and matter-of-fact and very kind.

"Think instead of the help you were able to give to the others."

"I didn't do much," she said forlornly, almost on the verge of tears.

"You did all the work ... those two children..."

He ignored her last muttered words and said briskly, "If you hadn't
helped me I should have wasted a great deal of time bandaging and tying
splints and so forth, and while I was doing that someone else might
have died."

"The man in the car, and the children..  do you think they...?"

If he felt impatience at her insistence he gave no sign but said in his
calm way, "None of them knew anything about it, and that's the truth,
Julia; you're too nice a person to lie to."

For some reason Julia couldn't even guess at, she began to cry then.

She cried and snivelled and sniffed while the doctor sat silent, and
when at last she fumbled for her handkerchief, he offered her his own,
still without speaking.

Her face mopped, she sat up, feeling a great deal better, and made
shift to repair the damage to her face and tidy her hair, still
sniffing from time to time.  When she had finished her eyes still
looked red and so did the tip of her nose, but neither of these things
could dim her vivid good looks.  She said soberly, "If you want to
change your mind about employing me to look after Miss Jason, I shall
quite understand."

He looked completely taken aback.

"But I don't want to change my mind.

Whatever put the idea into your head?  I want only the best for Marcia,
and I think you are exactly what I hoped to find.  " His voice was very
decided and Julia heaved 3 sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank you--I thought I'd better ask after making such a fool of
myself.  Have you a very deep regard for her?"

She heard him sigh, but all he said was: "I haven't seen her for six
months."  Which didn't quite answer her question.  He bad sighed very
deeply, though;

Julia, who had a romantic nature, thought that it was probably with
longing.  She quelled a fresh desire to burst into tears once more,
although for quite a different reason this time, and when he suggested
that they should stop for tea at the earliest opportunity, she was able
to agree in a calm little voice which was, nevertheless, quite unlike
her usual tones.

The accident had occurred a fe miles north of Nottingham.  The doctor
started the car and drove past the chaos.  He was going faster now
despite the icy road, but there was no fault to find with his
driving;

Julia sat back relaxed in a friendly silence until a sudden thought
struck her and she asked, "Have you somewhere to go tonight?  Will it
be a little late for you to go to a hotel?"

She could not see his face, but s^e was sure that he was smiling.

"I think I shall be all right--1 Usually go to the same hotel when I'm
in London-'they know me there.  What about you?  Your friend will be
home?"

"I'm sure she will, and even if she isn't I know where the second key
is hidden."  She added shyly, "I'm sure she'll be glad to give you a
meal."

"That's kind, but I believe I'll go straight to the hotel when I've
seen you safely there.  I want to telephone to Holland."

Miss Jason, thought Julia sadly.  How he must dote on her to telephone
her all that way at that time of night!  She wondered what it would
feel like to be loved like that and was unable to pursue the thought
further because he was speaking again.

"I'll come round and see you some time tomorrow if I may.  Do you
suppose you could be ready to catch the night boat from Harwich?"

"Yes, of course, I've only to pack a few things."  She stared ahead of
her into the dark night, made darker by the car's powerful lights,
aware that if he had asked her to go with him to the other side of the
world she would have given him the same reply because she loved him;

she admitted the fact to herself without surprise and with the unhappy
satisfaction of knowing that her brother and Maureen and James had all
been wrong--love for her, at least, hadn't come gradually.  It had come
when she had opened a door to a stranger on a bitter cold night.

They reached Connie's flat just after ten o'clock and as the doctor
stopped the car outside the tall terraced house he put his head out of
the car window and looked upwards.

"There are lights on the top floor," he announced.

"Good," said Julia, 'that's Connie's.  " She started to open the door,
but he put a large gloved hand over could dim her vivid good looks. She
said soberly, " If you want to change your mind about employing me to
look after Miss Jason, I shall quite understand.  "

He looked completely taken aback.

"But I don't want to change my mind.

Whatever put the idea into your head?  I want only the best for Marcia,
and I think you are exactly what I hoped to find.  " His voice was very
decided and Julia heaved a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank you--I thought I'd better ask after making such a fool of
myself.  Have you a very deep regard for her?"

She heard him sigh, but all he said was: "I haven't seen her for six
months."  Which didn't quite answer her question.  He had sighed very
deeply, though;

Julia, who had a romantic nature, thought that it was probably with
longing.  She quelled a fresh desire to burst into tears once more,
although for quite a different reason this time, and when he suggested
that they should stop for tea at the earliest opportunity, she was able
to agree in a calm little voice which was, nevertheless, quite unlike
her usual tones.

The accident had occurred a few miles north of Nottingham.  The doctor
started the car and drove past the chaos.  He was going faster now
despite the icy road, but there was no fault to find with his
driving;

Julia sat back relaxed in a friendly silence until a sudden thought
struck her and she asked, "Have you somewhere to go tonight?  Will it
be a little late for you to go to a hotel?"

She could not see his face, but she was sure that he was smiling.

"I think I shall be all right--I usually go to the same hotel when I'm
in London--they know me there.  What about you?  Your friend will be
home?"

"I'm sure she will, and even if she isn't I know where the second key
is hidden."  She added shyly, "I'm sure she'll be glad to give you a
meal."

"That's kind, but I believe I'll go straight to the hotel when I've
seen you safely there.  I want to telephone to Holland."

Miss Jason, thought Julia sadly.  How he must dote on her to telephone
her all that way at that time of night!  She wondered what it would
feel like to be loved like that and was unable to pursue the thought
further because he was speaking again.

"I'll come round and see you some time tomorrow if I may.  Do you
suppose you could be ready to catch the night boat from Harwich?"

"Yes, of course, I've only to pack a few things."  She stared ahead of
her into the dark night, made darker by the car's powerful lights,
aware that if he had asked her to go with him to the other side of the
world she would have given him the same reply because she loved him;

she admitted the fact to herself without surprise and with the unhappy
satisfaction of knowing that her brother and Maureen and James had all
been wrong-love for her, at least, hadn't come gradually.  It had come
when she had opened a door to a stranger on a bitter cold night.

They reached Connie's flat just after ten o'clock and as the doctor
stopped the car outside the tall terraced house he put his head out of
the car window and looked upwards.

"There are lights on the top floor," he announced.

"Good," said Julia, 'that's Connie's.  " She started to open the door,
but he put a large gloved hand over hers and said mildly, " Not so
fast--I'll get your case.  Wait there until I open the door.  "

Julia did as she was told meekly, not that she was a meek girl by any
means, but she had discovered in the last few days that sometimes it
was nice to be told what to do.  At the door she put her hand out for
her case, but he shook his head.

"Lead the way up, I'll see you safely indoors."

Connie came to the door, in her dressing gown and with her head crowned
with a complexity of rollers tied into a pink hair-net.  She flung her
arms round Julia and exclaimed, "Where have you been?  Come in at
once..."  She caught sight of the doctor and asked instantly, "Who's
that?"

Julia performed the introduction with a certain amount of haste, not
because she didn't want Connie to meet her companion, but because he
had said that he wanted to go to his hotel as quickly as possible.

"Come in," invited Connie, "I'll knock up a meal and some tea," and
added as an afterthought, "Sorry about the hair, I've just washed
it."

The doctor smiled charmingly at her, but shook his head.

"I should have liked that, but I really must go."  He turned to
Julia.

"You'll have a lot to do tomorrow, I expect, so I won't bother you, but
may I call for you about six?  We could have a meal before we leave and
iron out any problems."

"That will do very well," stated Julia calmly, wondering how she could
bear to see him go.  But he did, almost at once, and Connie closed the
door and pulled her into the little sitting room and sat her down in
one of the shabby armchairs by the gas fire.

"Tell me at once," she breathed, 'where are you going?  "

Julia told her while they got supper together; she told Connie about
her stay in Drumlochie House too--at least, she told her most of it.

It was when they were parting for the night that Connie asked, "What
about James?"

"And what about James?"  asked Julia in her turn, a little coldly.

"He doesn't own me.  I've never encouraged him to think that I would
marry him, you know; he's conceited enough to take it for granted- and
George and Maureen have egged him on..."  Her beautiful black brows
drew together in a frown, she looked flushed and angry and quite
strikingly lovely as she stood in the doorway of Connie's spare
bedroom.

"James," she said with vehemence, 'makes me sick!  "

She slept the deep sleep of the young and healthy and got up in time to
cook breakfast for them both while Connie got ready to go to St.
Clare's.  She tidied the little flat after her friend had gone, washed
up and got dressed herself and went out.  First to the bank for some
money, then to purchase a suitable number of white uniforms and caps
and a number of articles she felt it necessary to take with her.  She
was on her way back when her eye was caught by a wool dress with a
narrow, ankle-length skirt and full sleeves caught into long tight
cuffs.  It had a high neck and she knew that the deep rose of its
colour would suit her.  She bought it recklessly and without a pang for
the hole its price had made in her savings.  Savings at that moment
didn't matter in the least.

She had a sketchy lunch and went round to St.

Clare's to see Private Wing Sister, who listened to Julia's somewhat
expurgated account of her journey with Miss Mary Mac Gall expressed
pleasure that she had got another patient so quickly and wished her
luck, adding, "So you won't be going home yet.  Nurse Pennyfeather?"

Julia hedged.

"Well, not for a short time--I don't imagine that this job will last
more than a week or two--probably I shall bring Miss Jason back to her
home."

She hadn't imagined anything of the sort until that moment, but it
satisfied Sister, a stickler for having everything cut and dried long
before it was done.

"Splendid," she said now, 'and remember.  Nurse, when you feel free to
leave your sister-in-law we shall be glad to have you back with us.
Matron was only saying so this morning on her round.  "

Julia thanked her and got up to go; there was still George to telephone
and the afternoon was advancing.  She rang his office in Frome, where
he had a flourishing solicitor's practice, and told him, with the
brevity he always required on the telephone, what she was about to do. 
He wasted no words on recriminations but plunged into a reproachful
speech of such tenor that if she had been listening she would have felt
a complete heel; but she heard hardly a a word of it;

she was thinking that in two hours she would see the doctor again.

When George paused for breath, she said kindly, "I'm sure you can get a
nurse from that agency in the High Street, George.  I'll write from
Holland.  Be good.

"Bye!"

She smiled as she hung up; George hated being told to be good.

The doctor arrived punctually, but Julia was ready and waiting for him.
She was wearing her Jaeger coat and skirt of a pleasing turquoise and
brown check with its matching turquoise jersey and a fur bonnet on her
black hair, and had completed this outfit with brown boots and gloves
and a shoulder bag.  She was aware that she looked rather nice;

nevertheless it was gratifying when he said quietly, "How charming you
look, Julia," and although that was all he gave her a look of
admiration which warmed a mind chilled by thoughts of Miss Marcia
Jason.

They were in the car and already moving when he observed, "It's early
to dine in any of the restaurants, I thought we might go back to my
hotel- there's a grill room there."

Julia, thinking of her sandwich and cocoa lunch, felt relieved, for she
was hungry.  She murmured suitably and wondered which hotel it was.

Something smallish, she decided, where he would be treated as a person
and not a room number, because he was that sort of a man.  He drove
westward away from the city and presently turned into Dover Street and
stopped outside Brown's Hotel.

"Is this it?"  inquired Julia, a little taken aback.  She didn't know
much about London hotels, but she thought that this one was amongst the
best of them in a quiet way.  Certainly they were treated with an
old-fashioned courtesy which she imagined no longer existed--probably,
she reminded herself wryly, because she wasn't in the habit of
frequenting such places.  When they were seated the doctor said, "I
hope you're hungry--I am.  I've had so much to do all day I didn't stop
for a decent meal and I don't suppose you did either.  Shall we have
some sherry while we decide what to eat?"

They settled for Crabe a la Diable followed by baked gammon and
peaches.  It was while Julia was choosing a sweet that she looked up to
ask apprehensively, "Will it be rough?--the crossing, I mean.  Should I
not have any more?"

The doctor said on a laugh, "I should think it will be very rough, but
don't let that worry you now--I don't fancy you're the sort to be
bowled over by a mere storm at sea," and when she still looked
uncertain: "Try a water ice, that's harmless enough."

She took his advice and as she was eating it asked, "Are you in a hurry
to be gone?"

He was sitting back in his chair, watching her.

"No," he said slowly, "I'm in no hurry at all--we have all the time in
the world."

Ordinary words enough, but somehow she had the impression that they had
another meaning.  She finished her ice, accepted his offer of coffee
and sat back too.

"May I know something about my patient?"  she asked in a businesslike
voice.

"Your duties?"  he queried smoothly.

"Would you agree to looking after her in the mornings-she needs a good
deal of help still and there are exercises and so on--after lunch
perhaps you would take an hour or two off, and return to duty after
five o'clock until bedtime.  Would a half day when it could be arranged
suit you and any other reasonable time off you may wish to have?  I'm
sorry if it sounds a little vague, but I am a little out of touch with
Marcia's progress.  I'm sure no one will object to you arranging times
to suit yourself."

Very vague, Julia agreed silently, no mention of days off, and half
days when they could be arranged sounded ominous; it was surprising
what one did when one was in love.  If he had said no off duty at all
she would still have gone.

"We haven't discussed your salary," he added, and mentioned a sum which
made her raise her eyebrows.

"That's too much," she said sharply, 'a great deal more than I could
earn in England.  "

"You won't be in England," he pointed out smoothly, 'and remember you
may have to alter your working hours to get up at night.  My father
agreed with me that it was a fair sum to offer you.  "

Julia looked at him thoughtfully.

"If your father...!"  she began.

"Very well, but if I don't find I have enough to do to justify all that
money, I shall say so."

He stretched a hand across the table and they solemnly shook hands.

"Done," said the doctor, 'and there's another thing.  I should much
prefer you to call me Ivo--I feel distinctly elderly each time you
address me so severely as Doctor.  "

"All right, Ivo," she answered, 'you still have to tell me about my
patient.  "

He frowned very slightly.

"I'll tell you all I know, but as I said, I haven't seen Marcia for
more than six months, although I have had frequent reports and in her
letters she me that she has been making progress."  The frown
deepened.

"Slow progress,

I'm afraid; she should have been walking.  however.  " He plunged into
the details of the case and Julia, listening with eyes on his face,
thought how lucky Miss Marcia Jason was, even if she had had polio.

They started their journey soon after that and when they reached
Harwich and were on board, Ivo said, "Go to bed, Julia, it will be a
rough crossing.  I'll ask the stewardess to come to you presently with
a bedtime drink.  If you don't feel like breakfast in the morning, have
something in your cabin."

Julia, who had had ideas about staying up until the boat sailed, meekly
agreed and went to her cabin.  Probably Ivo didn't want her company and
anyway, she was tired and her cabin, although small, seemed the height
of comfort.  She was undressed and in her bunk when the stewardess came
in with a little tray of tea and biscuits and the strong advice to ring
for her immediately she was needed.

"And I'll bring you your tea just after six, miss, and if you wish you
can order breakfast then."  And when Julia thanked her and offered to
pay for her tea, she was told that all that had been taken care of by
the doctor.

So she sipped her tea and ate a biscuit and presently, despite the
uneasy movement of the boat, fell asleep.  She wakened several times
during the night, to feel the violent tossing of the boat and hear a
multitude of creaks and groans, but she went to sleep again and only
awoke when the stewardess arrived with her morning tea, and when that
good lady wanted to know if she would like her breakfast in her cabin,
Julia replied that no, she felt marvelous and would breakfast with the
doctor and could someone tell him.

She found him waiting for her and as she sat down and wished him good
morning he said, "I hear you slept well--I'm glad, for it was a rough
night.  You feel like breakfast?"

"I'm hungry," stated Julia simply, and went on to eat everything he
ordered with an appetite unimpaired by the boat's sid lings The doctor
ate heartily too while they held a lively conversation upon a variety
of topics until he suggested that she might like to go up on deck.  The
Hock van Holland was very near now, its lights twinkling through the
still dark morning, and on either side of it the dark outline of the
flat coast melted away into the wild blackness.  The wind was still
blowing half a gale; it whipped a fine colour into her cheeks and put a
sparkle into her dark eyes; she looked vividly alive and very
attractive as they went below and the doctor stared at her with
appreciation.

They reached Tilburg by eleven o'clock, the doctor having driven most
of the way without haste.  True, he had raced along the highway to
Rotterdam from the Hock, where he had been caught up in the morning
traffic of that thriving city, allowing Julia time to gaze out of the
window and wonder how he could ever find his way out of the maze of the
crowded streets.

They ran out of the sprawling city at last, crossed a bridge over water
again, and still on the auto- baan, took the road south, past
Dordrecht, over the Moeredijk bridge, towards Breda, but just as they
were within sight of that city, Ivo had turned off the main road, and
skirting Breda, had taken the road to Tilburg, a town, which when they
reached it, Julia liked.  It was surprisingly modern and looked
prosperous too and was, explained Ivo as they drove through its heart,
owing to its thriving woollen industry.  It was also, he added, full of
schools of every kind and there was a university as well.

They had left Tilburg on a quiet country road which presently ran
between green fields and increasingly large clumps of trees.  Now,
thought Julia, it began to look more like the Holland she had imagined;
even in the bare greyness of a winter's morning, the countryside had
charm.  But it was when Ivo turned the car into a long avenue of tall
trees, their branches meeting overhead, that she exclaimed, "Oh, this
is lovely!  I didn't expect it."

The trees edged wooded land on either side, dark and still
frost-covered from the night's cold, and presently she noticed that
there were occasional gates barring narrow lanes leading from the road
and winding away into the trees.

When she glimpsed a house, well back from the road, she asked, "Are
there people living in the woods?  How quiet and peaceful it is, and
how beautiful."

Ivo looked pleased.

"You like it?  My home is almost at the end of this road, close to
Oisterwijk.  It is quiet, but we like it like that, and even in the
summer when the visitors come, we are quite undisturbed.  He turned off
the road as he spoke, through an open wooden gate and along a short
sanded lane between larch trees; the lane turned abruptly and the house
came into view-a pleasant house of red brick, flat-faced with big
windows and a front door which looked a little too large for it.  It
was fair sized and Julia, looking at its solid front, thought that it
might be a lot larger than it appeared.  It had a neat lawn, now
heavily covered with frost, and a pleasant backing of trees.  As they
got out of the car, the front door was opened by an elderly woman who
stood back to allow a much younger woman to run out to them.  She was
tall and well built and Julia would have recognised her as Ivo's sister
Jorina anywhere, for her features were a softer, feminine version of
his and her eyes were of the same penetrating blue;

only her hair, short and inclined to curl, was corn- coloured, whereas
Ivo's was straight and pale.  The girl ran to the car and flung herself
into the doctor's arms, crying excitedly, "Ivo--how lovely to have you
home again--how I've missed you!"

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, then drew away a
little to say to Julia, "Forgive me--I'm so pleased to see my brother
again."  Her English was fluent, but with much more of an accent than
Ivo, who introduced the two girls, and waiting only long enough for
them to sake hands and smile at each other, said, "Let's get
indoors-it's cold and I'm sure Julia would like to get settled in."

They all went into the house, where Ivo paused at the door to introduce
Bep, the elderly woman who had opened the door in the first place,
before sweeping the two girls through the hall and into a large front
room, behind whose door Julia had heard a dog barking furiously.

As they entered this pleasant room a large Old English sheepdog
launched himself upon the doctor, who greeted him with every sign of
pleasure if slightly more calmly.

"This is Ben," he explained, 'and you must forgive his boisterous
manners, but he hasn't seen me for six months.  " He fended off the dog
goodnaturedly and went on, " Let me take your coat, Julia, and do go
and sit by the fire.  "

Jorina said quickly, "Yes, do, you must be cold.  Bep's bringing the
coffee."  She took a chair near Julia and smiled at her with friendly
eyes and then turned to look at her brother when he spoke.

"I'll go up and see Marcia--is she still in the same room?"

"Yes-we wanted her to have a room downstairs now that she is at last
beginning to get around a little, but she said that you would be coming
home and could carry her up and down."

She had her face turned away from Julia as she spoke and there was
something in her voice which made Julia long to see her face.  She
looked at the doctor instead and saw an expression she couldn't make
out cross his handsome features, but it had gone at once, too swiftly
for her to guess at.

"Will you take Nurse Pennyfeather with you?"  Jorina wanted to know,
and he, without looking at Julia, said at once, "No-time enough for
that when we've had our coffee and a little talk," and left the room.

Julia stared at the fire, telling herself that it was a relief that he
hadn't wanted her to go with him, for to have had to stand by and watch
their meeting after so long an absence would have been more than she
could have borne.  Her lively imagination was following him upstairs
when it was halted by Jorina saying, "Ivo calls you Julia, would you
mind very much if I do too?  And perhaps you will call me Jorina."

She smiled again and looked so like her brother that Julia's heart
bounced, but she said quietly enough, "I'd like that very much, thank
you," and broke off as Bep came in with a big silver tray loaded with
coffee cups and a plate of little sugary biscuits.  She set the tray
down by Jorina, lit the little spirit stove under the silver coffee pot
and went away again without a word, and Jorina said as she poured the
coffee, "Old-fashioned, is it not?  But my father likes it and so does
Ivo, but when I marry I shall have a modern percolator which makes no
work."

"You're going to be married?"  asked Julia with interest.

"Yes--in six months, perhaps sooner.  My fiance is a--how do you
say--lawyer in Arnhem."

"So your father will have to get someone to run the house?"  interposed
Julia, trying not to be curious but failing lamentably.

"Well, yes-to work with Bep, you know.  But if Ivo marries then there
may be no need, but I do not know."

Julia bit into a biscuit because it was something to do and then had
great difficulty in swallowing it, her throat was so dry.  Even now Ivo
was upstairs with Marcia, probably discussing the wedding date.  She
had been a fool to come.  She closed her eyes for a brief moment,
afraid that she might burst into tears, then opened them again as the
door opened and Ivo came in.

He looked at her sharply as he sat down opposite her and asked,

"Do you feel all right?  You look," he hesitated, 'tired.  "

Julia guessed that wasn't the word he had intended to say.  She said
steadily, "Perhaps I am, but only for a minute.  I think I'm excited,"
and then wished she hadn't said it because she was sure that was the
last thing she looked.

He must have agreed with her secret thought, for he raised an eyebrow
and half smiled as he turned to Jorina.

"Marcia has progressed very well, but I'm glad I brought Julia with me,
for she needs a great deal of encouragement after being an invalid for
so many months."  He took the coffee cup he was offered and asked,
"How's Father?"

"Very well, but working too hard; he talks of retiring now that you are
back.  If you took Theo as a partner later on, you could still do your
work at the hospitals and keep the practice going.  Is that
possible?"

"Of course--if Father will give me time to put my affairs in order
first."  They began to talk about Edinburgh and the course he had been
following there and became so absorbed in their talk that Julia was
surprised to hear the lovely old painted clock on the wall strike
twelve, and so it seemed was Ivo, for he paused in what he was saying
and exclaimed, "Julia, how thoughtless I am--you shall go to your room
and then I'll take you to meet Marcia."

Julia followed Jorina upstairs, stifling the idea that the last thing
she wanted to do was to see Marcia.  She would be with her for most of
the day from now on and might not see Ivo at all, and even if she did,
never alone.  She sighed inwardly and crossed the landing behind Jorina
and into a long passage leading to the back of the house.  She had been
right; the house had a sizeable wing behind as well as a floor above
the one they were now on.  Jorina opened the first door they came to.

"Marcia's room is in the front of the house-' she waved an arm
vaguely.

"We've had a bell fixed so that if she should want you she can ring,
but she's so good I don't expect she will ever use it."

Julia heard faint mockery behind the words and wondered about it, then
forgot it in the pleasure of seeing her room.  It was furnished most
elegantly and with great comfort in the Adam period, with curtains and
bedspread of pink striped silk, a pale echo of the deeper pink of the
carpeted floor.  There was a small button backed chair too with a small
table beside it and a writing desk in the window.  There were even
books piled on a dainty little wall table.  Jorina asked, "You like
it?

The bathroom is across the passage and is for you alone.  Now I leave
you and presently Ivo will come.  " She went to the door.

"I am glad that you are here," she said with a sincerity which was
heartwarming.

Left to herself, Julia spent a few minutes exploring her room.  It was
indeed comfortable, almost luxurious.  She unpacked a few things and
went to find the bathroom--pale pink to match the bedroom and furnished
with an abundance of towels and soaps and bath salts.  Julia heaved a
sigh of pleasure at the sight of them.  Even if she was going to be
lonely here, it would all be most comfortable.

She had tidied herself and was standing by the window looking out upon
the wintry scene outside when Ivo knocked and came in.  He said rather
shortly "Ready?"  and stood aside as she went through the door, then
led her across the landing where he opened a beautifully carved door
and said, "Come in, won't you?"

The room was beautiful, with a high ceiling like the sitting room and
just as beautifully decorated with plaster work.  The walls were hung
with striped silk in a very pale blue and there was a fire burning in
the steel grate and a great many pictures about the walls.  The bed was
a little ornate for Julia's taste;

she didn't like French furniture herself, although she had to admit
that it was beautiful enough.  There were several easy chairs and a day
bed upon which her patient was lying.  Julia walked across to it and
stood looking down at its occupant while the doctor introduced her.  As
she shook the languid hand held out to her she took stock of Miss
Marcia Jason and instantly disliked what she saw.  Miss Jason was a
pale blonde with a long face, rendered thin by illness, no doubt, but
possessing a kind of beaky, austere beauty which Julia found distinctly
chilling.  She had pale blue eyes framed in long colourless lashes and
a mouth that was too thin and which was now turned down at its corners
in a sweetly sad way which made Julia quite out of patience.  It was
impossible to see how tall Miss Jason was as she was lying down, but
all that was visible of her looked ethereal, even if flat- chested. 
She said now in a sweetly gracious voice, "Dear Ivo, to bring me my
very own nurse.  I know you'll help me to bear my burdens--I've done my
best, but sometimes I have felt that I needed someone--robist upon whom
to lean."

Julia said "Oh, yes?"  politely.  No one had ever called her robust
before.  She became aware that her junoesque curves might strike
someone of Marcia's meagre proportions in that light, and probably the
doctor, loving the tiresome creature before her, shared her views.

Julia blushed at the thought and blushed anew when her patient said,
"There--have I been too outspoken?  I've always considered that the
truth is all-important, but I have no wish to offend you."

Julia managed to smile quite nicely.

"I'm not offended," she said serenely.

"I hope that before I go, I shall be able to give you some of my
robustness so that you can get out and about and enjoy life again."

"But I enjoy myself now--I've forced myself to bow to circumstance and
I'm aware that I shall never be as others are.  All the same-' she cast
what Julia could only describe as a melting look at the doctor, " I
still have a number of attributes, I believe, and am not altogether
wanting in intellect.  Ivo will tell you of our conversations when we
first met and of the letters I've written.  I'm a good letter writer.
"

Julia said a trifle woodenly, "That's an accomplishment these days."

She had never before met anyone so conceited and self-complacent;

moreover, she suspected that Miss Jason, in other circumstances, would
have been on her feet by now and struggling back to a normal way of
living.  She had a tussle ahead of her, and for what?  she asked
herself bitterly: so that this pale creature should become the doctor's
wife?

She said bracingly, "I'll come back after lunch and we can talk a
little and perhaps you will tell me how far you've progressed, then we
can work out a routine."

Miss Jason gave a silvery laugh.

"Routine?  My dear nurse, I have no routine-how is that possible with
my state of health?  You find it difficult, a jolly, buxom girl like
yourself, to understand how we frailer women feel.  But we'll have our
little talk by all means, for I'm sure you mean it for the best."

She smiled, the same sweet smile, and Julia smiled back over gritted
teeth.  It had been bad enough to be called robust; now she was jolly
and--unforgivable-buxom.  The girl was detestable!

She went out of the room without looking at the doctor.  He seemed like
a stranger now; not the resourceful friendly man she had spent those
days at Drumlochie House with, or the calm man telling her what to do
at the accident on the Ml and then holding her close while she cried.

This man beside her was calm, but withdrawn too, as though everything
they had done together had been forgotten.  Perhaps it had.

She went downstairs beside him without speaking and sat soberly
throughout lunch, which they ate in a small bright room at the back of
the house.  The conversation, sustained easily enough by Ivo and his
sister, was lively enough and covered a whole range of subjects, but
Miss Jason wasn't mentioned once.

It was after they had left the dining room that Ivo asked her to go
with him to his study-a large room, Julia discovered, lined with books
and surprisingly tidy.  He waved her to a chair and sat down at his
desk.

"Marcia has made great progress," he began, 'though I had hoped that
she would have been more active, but you can see that she needs
encouragement--she has the idea that she will never be quite well
again, which indeed she will be if only she will make the effort.  " He
gave Julia a fierce, daunted look and went on harshly, " I have a great
regard for her, Julia, I hope that you will help her.  "

Julia nodded, wondering why it was he found it necessary to remind her
so frequently that he had a great regard for Marcia.  Once was
enough--too much, she thought.

"Of course I will," she said cheerfully.

"I'll start slowly, don't worry, but I'll persist.  Can I have precise
instructions?"

"You will have to ask my father for those.  Marcia is not of course my
patient.  I do know that she is capable of walking with support.  She
needs other interests."

"Well, she's got them now you're back."  Julia's voice was very even.

She got up and walked to the door.

"I'll get into uniform and go to her now," and Ivo who had gone to the
door with her said suddenly, "Julia, it's impossible..."  She gave him
a kind smile, for of course he was worrying about his Marcia.

"No, Ivo, it's not--nothing's impossible if you set your heart on it!"
She walked past him and crossed the hall and went slowly up the stairs,
her lovely head held high.

CHAPTER FOUR

the elder Doctor van den Werff came home after tea.  Julia was in her
room unpacking and when Bep knocked on the door and signed to her to go
downstairs, she did so.  She had changed into her new white uniform and
made up a muslin cap, and so attired went quickly down to the hall,
rather uncertain as to where she was to go.  She need not have worried,
for Ivo was waiting for her.  He said at once, "I hope we don't disturb
you, but my father is anxious to meet you and evening surgery is in
half an hour.  His study is over here."

He led the way across the hall and opened a door on the opposite side
to the sitting room and motioned her inside.  The man who stood waiting
for her was as tall as his son and just as big.  His hair, not yet
wholly grey, receded from the same wide forehead, his eyes were just as
blue and his mouth just as kind.  Julia, who had been rather dreading
this moment, smiled radiantly at him, for after all, he was only Ivo in
thirty years' time arid therefore no stranger.  She said, "How do you
do, doctor," in a quiet voice and took the seat he offered her as he
took his own chair behind his desk.  Ivo, who had followed her in,
perched on its side, one long leg swinging.  Julia looked around her;
the room was obviously used as a consulting room as well as a
study--there was a couch along one wall and a glass case with
instruments tidily arranged inside it and a hand basin on one corner,
half hidden by a screen.  She finished her survey and turned her gaze
on the older man, who smiled in his turn.

"We're very glad indeed to have you with us.  Miss Penny feather," he
began.

"I hope that you will be happy while you are here--I assure you we
shall do our best to make you so."  He shifted his chair a little so
that he could get a better view of her face and went on, "And what do
you think of your patient?"

Julia hesitated.  It really wouldn't do to tell him her opinion of Miss
Jason; she might get sent back to England by the next train if she did.
She had spent a couple of hours with Marcia during the afternoon and
had to admit to herself that her hastily formed opinion hadn't been
changed in the least.  It had, if anything, become firmer.  She had,
after a polite, exhausting argument, got her patient to her feet and
walked her a few steps about the room, an act which had served to
strengthen her suspicion that her companion could do a good deal more
than she would have everyone else suppose.  Julia, remembering her
promise to Ivo, encouraged her gently and assured her that within a
very short time she would find herself walking normally--even going
downstairs.  They would start tomorrow, said Julia in her kind, firm
voice, but this evening Doctor van den Werff had said that he would
carry Miss Jason down to a family dinner party.

She had left the room, the memory of the smug little smile on her
patient's face very vivid in her memory.  She said now, weighing her
words, "Miss Jason seems to have reached a period of inactivity,

but that often happens, doesn't it?  I think that now Ivo has returned
it will give her the encouragement she needs to make the final effort
to return to a normal life.  It must be difficult after months of doing
nothing much.  How many months is it?  "

"Ten.  You're right, nurse, and I applaud my son's happy idea of
bringing you back with him.  This is a fairly quiet household; perhaps
Marcia has been too much on her own."

Julia pinkened.

"I didn't mean that," she protested.

"I sound as though I'm criticising my patient.  I'm not, but I promised
Ivo that I would get her well and I will, only I think I should tell
you what I think."

She paused after this speech, drew breath, and sat silently waiting for
someone to say something.  It was Ivo who broke the silence, and he
spoke in a silky voice she had never heard before.

"And are you sure that you are not overestimating your powers, Julia? I
am aware that you are a capable and efficient nurse, but surely not
such a very experienced one?"

Julia's bosom heaved as she got to her feet and stood facing him, her
head very erect, her eyes flashing.

"If you feel," she said in austere tones, 'that you've made a mistake
in bringing me here, I'll pack my things and go back on the next train.
"

Ivo had risen too, and they stared at each other for a long a moment
until he said, "Julia, I beg your pardon--I'm behaving like a pompous
ass and I don't mean a word of it-put it down to worry if you will.

The last thing I want you to do is to go away.  "

Julia's heart somersaulted under her white uniform.  She said with
admirable calm, "Then I won't," and sat down again, and Ivo's father,
who had sat silently watching them, gave a dry little cough and
remarked, "Very well, now that the air is cleared, shall we put our
heads together?"

He smiled at Julia, "And may I call you Julia, young lady?  My son
appears to do so and I can see no reason why I should not if you have
no objection."

Julia beamed at him.

"I'd like you to," she said, and he nodded and went on, "Now I will
tell you all I can about Marcia, for we are as anxious as you are to
get her fit again.  She was in Holland on a short study tour--probably
Ivo has already told you that she is a highly qualified teacher of
marked intelligence.  She and Ivo met at a reception in Tilburg," he
paused and looked at Julia from hooded eyes.

They had much in common and she visited us frequently.  It wasn't until
the day she came to say goodbye and arrange to see Ivo in England that
she became ill.  She had been feeling poorly for a day or
two--headache, sore throat--you know all the symptoms, of course-she
was actually with us when the paralysis set in.  She was in hospital
for three months and then returned here where she has been ever
since.

Sheer--bore her illness with almost saint like fortitude and when she
asked if she might come here until she was strong enough to travel
home, we were only too glad to offer her hospitality.  As I am sure you
have gathered from Ivo, he and Marcia.  " He left the sentence in the
air for Julia to finish as she thought best and went Marcia's serious
mind is a great attraction to him, you understand."

He sat back and looked at Julia and she looked back at him and could
have sworn that behind those half closed lids, his eyes were alight
with laughter.  She asked herself silently why and commented soberly,
"A terrible thing to happen..."

"Yes.  Now as to her drugs and treatment--' He became all at once
professional and remained so until Julia finally rose to her feet when
he got up too, saying, " I hope you will come to me with any difficulty
however small, Julia, and if I am not here, Ivo will be, I daresay.  I
shall see you at dinner and I look forward to that.  "

Julia went back to her patient and helped her change into a dark red
velvet dress which drained all the colour from her already pale face
and was cut far too tight.  Julia, zipping it up the back, remarked
cheerfully that the dress was a little close-fitting-- a good sign
because it meant that her patient was putting on weight, whereupon Miss
Jason replied indignantly that she had put on too much weight over the
past months and was anxious to lose a few pounds.

"For," she said with what Julia chose to call a simper, 'we slim girls
owe it to ourselves to keep our figures, don't you agree?  " She gave
her high clear laugh.

"Though of course.  Nurse Pennyfeather, I expect you find that a piece
of nonsense."  She added, "Do you never diet?"

"Never," said Julia goodnaturedly.

"Should you not?"  persisted Miss Jason.

"You are a little--if you'll forgive me--plump, are you not?"

Julia refused to get annoyed.

"I feel like Juno," she said with a chuckle.

"Thank you for the compliment."  Which silenced Miss Jason most
effectively.

They dined in a small panelled room behind the doctor's study, the five
of them sitting round an oval Empire table covered with a fine white
linen cloth and set with heavy silver and a quantity of cut glass.
After dinner Marcia begged, with a great deal of unnecessary charm, to
be allowed to stay up, managing to imply at the same time that she was
a little afraid of what Julia might say if she did.  Julia, listening
to her and feeling like a tyrant, asked, "Did I really order you to bed
after dinner?  I don't remember doing so--I must have been out of my
mind if I did.  Why on earth shouldn't you stay up until a reasonable
hour if you wish?  There's no reason why you shouldn't."  And had the
satisfaction of seeing her patient frown and disclaim any pretensions
to enough strength to remain up late.

Half an hour later Doctor van den Werff was called out to a case, but
before he could get to his feet, Ivo was already at the door.

"Let me, Vader," he said decisively.

"You've had a long day--I know the Bakker children well enough, and I
daresay it's nothing serious;

you know how nervous Mevrouw Bakker is.  " He looked round the room,
saying, " You'll all forgive me, I know.  "

He stared at Julia and then past her to Marcia who was speaking in a
tiresomely reasonable voice which somehow conveyed that her feelings
were hurt.

"Your first night back," she said gently, 'and I had so much to tell
you about my studies of Vondel's work-your father was kind enough to
get me the English translation.  "

Ivo interrupted her gently and with carefully hidden irritation.

"I'm sorry, Marcia, there will be time later on for us to talk.  I'm
home for good, you know.  I'll see you in the morning."

He was almost through the door when Marcia said plaintively, "I'm sure
I don't know who is to get me upstairs.  Must I spend the night
here?"

Her words fell upon her companions' ears, but not upon Ivo's, for he
had gone.  Before anyone else could speak, Julia said briskly, "Just
the opportunity we need, Miss Jason-imagine what a triumph for you when
you tell Ivo that you went upstairs on your own two legs!"

Her patient gave her a fixed look.

"Why do you call Doctor van den Werff Ivo?"  she wanted to know.

"He asked me to.  You see, when we were at Drumlochie House it was
rather--rather like make- believe, if you know what I mean, and it
would have been ridiculous if we had been formal with each other.  I
expect you've heard him call me Julia, haven't you?"  She smiled at
Marcia's cross face.

"I expect you would have done the same in those circumstances."

"I doubt it.  I hope you don't expect me to call you Julia.  I shall
address you as Nurse.  Is that not correct?"

"Quite," said Julia dryly.  She turned to Doctor van den Werff, who had
been sitting quietly listening to every word.

"What do you think, doctor?"  she asked.

"May I help Miss Jason to her room?  We have a stick here and the
stairs are shallow and the balustrade strong.  It would be a marvelous
surprise for Ivo, wouldn't it?"

"Indeed, yes, Julia.  Do so by all means."  He turned to Marcia.

"My dear," he said mildly, 'think how pleased he is going to be--your
first positive step to a normal life.  "

His voice was serious, but Julia felt sure that if only she could have
seen his eyes, they would have been twinkling at some joke of his
own.

There was a great deal of fuss getting Marcia on to her feet, for she
didn't want to, which made it twice as hard.  But eventually Julia, by
sheer stubbornness, had her standing, and after more fuss, walking
slowly, leaning heavily on Julia's arm and wielding the stick with
unnecessary clumsiness.  Going upstairs was a lengthy business,
punctuated by Marcia's dignified protests and audible sighs; she even
so far forgot herself at one point to observe that Julia was a hard
young woman, devoid of all sympathy, to which Julia replied, "Yes, I'm
sure I must seem so to you, and I do sympathise, but I want to help you
to get quite well, you know, and once you've done this, you'll find it
will get easier and easier.  Sit on the stairs a minute and get your
second wind."

Thus cheerfully admonished, Miss Jason allowed herself to be gently
lowered on to the' staircase and Julia sat down beside her, "For," she
said in her friendly voice, 'we might as well be comfortable.  "

"Comfortable?"  echoed Marcia bitterly.

"I shall never..."  She broke off as Jorina and her father came out of
the sitting room to gaze up at them from the hall.

"I knew you could do it if you tried, Marcia," said the doctor.

"I can see you'll soon be getting around like the rest of us."

Marcia allowed her long face to break into a wistful smile.

"You have no idea of the struggle I've had.  Doctor van den Werff, but
I will not give in-I should have been in my room by now if Nurse hadn't
commanded me to take a rest--though I own I'm quite exhausted."

Julia saw the faint frown on the doctor's face.

"You must not do too much," he began.

"Nurse, perhaps we had better carry Miss Jason to her room."

Julia presented him with an untroubled face, although her thoughts were
the reverse.  She was as certain as she could be that Marcia was far
stronger in the legs than she would have them believe.  But she had,
after all, only just arrived and the fact that she disliked her patient
could be influencing her judgement, though she felt that unlikely; she
was too well trained for that.  She said now, "If Ivo isn't going to be
too long, shall we stay here?  Then he can see for himself how well she
has managed and carry her the rest of the way."

The doctor was about to debate this when the front door opened and Ivo
joined them.  He began.

"Hello, Vader, a false alarm--the baby..."

and then he stopped and stared up the staircase to where Marcia and
Julia, looking a very ill-assorted pair, were sitting.

"What on earth are you doing?"  he demanded.

"Marcia, don't tell me you got there on your own legs?"

Julia had known that Marcia would take full advantage of the situation,
and she proceeded to do so now.

"Are you surprised, Ivo?

Nurse insisted that I

walked upstairs to my room, and I've been absolutely terrified, but
I've managed to get as far as this, and now you're back and I'll go on
again so that you can see for yourself, though I confess I'm ready to
drop.  " She gave a trill of laughter, a combination of courage and
weariness and gentle resignation to the great bully of a nurse beside
her.

"Isn't it lucky that Nurse is such a strong girl?  If I'm to be forced
to walk everywhere, she will need to pick me up a dozen times a day."

He was halfway up the stairs.

"What a wonderful surprise for my first day home," he said lightly, and
bent and lifted her and carried her into her room, put her gently on
the bed, said goodnight equally gently and went away, standing aside
for Julia as she followed them, without looking at her.  Only as he
turned to go did he catch her eye and she knew that he was holding his
anger in check.  Later on, she judged, she would be told off.

But first there was Miss Jason to get to bed--a slow business because
she had known that Julia had been shown in a bad light and she wanted
to extract as much pleasure from the fact as possible by making sly
references to the episode whenever she could turn the conversation to
her liking.  But Julia parried her oblique remarks easily enough,
talking about anything which came into her head and refusing to rise to
any of her patient's barbed remarks.  At length she said goodnight and
went downstairs again; if there was going to be a row, she might just
as well get it over.

Apparently Ivo felt the same way, for he opened his study door as she
reached the foot of the stairs and requested her in a quiet voice to
join him.  He bade her sit down, still very quiet, and asked in a
beautifully controlled rage, "And what in the name of thunder have you
been doing?"

Julia, during the slow half hour of putting Marcia to bed, had had time
to think.  She said reasonably, "It seemed to be a good idea to start
Miss Jason off in the way she must go.  She has to make the effort, you
know--what better moment to start, with the incentive of your delighted
surprise when you returned?"

He said, in low-voiced fury, "I can conceive of nothing less likely to
give me delight--Marcia is a very delicate woman."

"Fiddlesticks," said Julia, who hadn't meant to say that at all but
hadn't been able to restrain herself.

"Miss Jason has been very ill;

she's better, admit it.  If you were checking a patient in hospital in
as good a physical condition as hers, wouldn't you prescribe as much
exercise as she could manage within reason?  She should have been doing
far more than she is.  "

He came and stood over her.

"Aren't you presuming a little too much, nurse?"  His voice was
dangerous.

"And how could you know what I would prescribe for my patients?"

"Oh, I don't," said Julia, "I only guessed," and he made an exasperated
sound which she ignored.

"I'm trying to help you and Miss Jason--I said I would, if you
remember."  She went on in a reasonable voice, "But if you want her to
stay bed bound please tell me and I'll nurse her exactly as you
wish--blanket baths, meals in bed, pressure points--the lot."

She drew breath after this outrageous speech and looked at him to see
what he would say.  He looked so forbidding that she let it out very
slowly so that he shouldn't see that she was just a little frightened
of him.  He said through clenched teeth, "You take too much upon
yourself, Miss Pennyfeather.  I should very much like to.  " He closed
his lips and to her regret, didn't finish the sentence.

She said, her dark eyes very bright, "I seem to remember you saying not
a couple of hours since that you didn't wish me to go.  And," she added
for good measure, 'do you have to be quite so bad- tempered?  He was
suddenly bland, his fine rage nicely under control.

"Don't tell me, my dear girl, that anything I should say or do could
affect your actions in any way.  It is unfortunate that you move me to
anger rather more than most people."

"You're quite right," said Julia disconcertingly.

"You were angry with me the first time we met because I opened that
door."  She added indignantly, "And if I hadn't you'd still be standing
there, frozen to death!"

To her surprise he gave a shout of laughter.

"Julia, you're impossible!  I began by being furious with you and
now..."  He caught her round the waist and when she looked up at him,
kissed her quite roughly on the mouth.  Julia made no attempt to free
herself from his arms, but stood stiffly within them, her eyes on his
shirt front.  She said quietly while her heart rocked under her neat
uniform, "I quite understand that you're happy to be home again doctor,
but wouldn't it be better if you kissed the right girl?"

He showed no sign of penitence and made no effort to loosen his hold,
but said idly, "What a little waist you have.  And who is the right
girl?"

She gave him an open-mouthed look.

"Why, Miss Jason, of course.  She was telling me about--about you this
afternoon."  She took a deep breath and went on, "I'm sorry that I
annoy you so much--I'll keep out of your way as much as I can."

He ignored this.

"What did Marcia have to say?"  he asked in a mild voice which lulled
her into answering, "That you were a brilliantly clever man with a
great future and that you needed a--a helpmate with a similar brain and
that she was glad to have at last found a man who disliked levity
unless it was relevant to the occasion and..."

He asked with interest, "Are you making all this up?"

"No--I wouldn't know how to.  But it must be nice for you, and for
'.er, of course."  She gently disengaged his arms from about her person
and he dropped them to his side and took a step or so away from her.

When he spoke his voice was quiet.

"There's no need to keep out of my way.  Even when you annoy me I enjoy
your company."  His eyes searched her face.

"I must explain if I can--at Drumlochie it was as if we lived in
another world--it seemed more real than this one.  I forgot for the
time the obligations which I had.  They didn't seem to matter--when you
opened the door, you opened it on to make believe, although I'm not
sure now if it wasn't real."  He stopped.

"I'm not explaining very well."

"No," agreed Julia in a wooden voice, 'you're not,

but I understand very well what you mean.  You forgot all about Miss
Jason waiting for you.  It's a pity you didn't remember--you might not
have asked me to come back with you.  "

It surprised her when he smiled.

"No, I think it will turn out to be a very good thing that you came.
You'll get Marcia fit."

Julia walked over to the stove and held out her hands to its warmth.

"Will you marry her when she's well?"  she asked coolly.

Her voice had been cool, his was suddenly icy.

"That, Miss Pennyfeather, is entirely my own business."

There was a little devil inside Julia, egging her on.  She walked to
the door.

"Well, of course it is, but I like to know how much time I have--can
you wait until she's absolutely fit or are you so eager to marry her
that you'll be content with a semi-invalid?"

He covered the room in a couple of strides and took her by the
shoulders, shook her until the teeth rattled in her head and then let
her go and stood staring at her with a set face.  She stared back,
appalled at what she had said.  At length she spoke from a throat gone
dry.

"That was dreadful of me- I'm sorry, I didn't mean a word of it.  I
don't know why ... please forgive me."

She left him abruptly and went up to her room, to sit on her bed going
over and over the scene in his study and wondering what had possessed
her to behave so badly.  Presently she undressed, had a bath and then,
ready for bed, went along to see if there was anything more she could
do for Miss Jason.

"Nothing, thank you," stated Miss Jason firmly.

"I'm relaxed both in mind and body, despite your rough treatment of the
latter, Nurse," this with a little laugh to indicate that she was
joking.

"I shan't need you until the morning.  Goodnight."

Julia, still meek, went back to her own room and got into bed, where
she lay warm and comfortable, reading the same page of a book she had
picked up from the table, and wishing with all her heart that she was
back at Drumlochie House, huddled in bed in her ice-cold bedroom,
knowing that just down the corridor Ivo was stretched out on his
fourposter ready to come at once if she should want him-not the Ivo she
had been talking to an hour ago, but the Ivo she had first met in that
other, happier world.

She saw only Jorina and Bep when she went downstairs in the morning.

Marcia was still asleep; it seemed a good idea to have breakfast before
she wakened.  Jorina greeted her warmly, inquired as to whether she had
slept well and been warm enough and went on:

"Father and I thought you would be down again later in the evening, but
Ivo said he had had a talk with you and you had gone to bed.  I expect
you were tired."  She gave Julia a smiling glance.

"Or was Ivo cross about something?  I thought I heard his voice..
something's worrying, though I don't know what, he'd only been in the
house for ten minutes for me to see that.  Have some more coffee?  I
hope you don't find our breakfasts too strange after your eggs and
bacon."  She handed Julia her cup and passed her a dish of cheese.

"Try some of this on your bread,

it tastes good.  Are you going to get Marcia down today?  "

Julia was soothed by Jorina's pleasant acceptance of her company.  She
said readily, "Yes, going down will be much easier.  Is-will Ivo be in
to lunch?  If not, I'll wait until the afternoon and Miss Jason can be
down waiting for him and he can help her in the evening--that should
encourage her."

"I'm sure it will."  Jorina's voice was dry.

"He won't be back until about five--he's in Tilburg today, but he'll be
helping with the surgery this evening.  If you bring her down about
three o'clock we could have a cup of tea together.  When are you to be
free?"

Julia gave her a grateful look.  No one had mentioned off duty and she
had forgotten to ask about it; anyway, the opportunity hadn't presented
itself.

"I don't know.  Ivo said something about one or two half days each week
and a day off when it could be arranged.  He didn't say anything
definite about off duty."

"Well, how about this afternoon?  If you bring Marcia downstairs about
three and go off until six?"  She slipped arm into Julia's.

"I hope you will be happy with us--it will be nice to have someone to
talk to.

There's Marcia, of course," she added hastily, 'but I'm not clever, you
see, and I bore her."

It was an hour later, while Julia was supervising Marcia's exercises,
that a visitor was announced to see that young lady.

"Mijnheer August de Winter," said Bep stolidly from the door, and Julia
was surprised to see the delight in Marcia's long face--much more
delight than she had shown towards Ivo, for all her gentle speeches to
him.

Julia, on her way to the door with a murmured, "I'll leave you," was
stopped long enough to be introduced as 'my nurse Ivo brought back with
him in the hope of getting me strong again," and then Marcia turned her
pale eyes on her and explained, " This is Mijnheer de Winter, a
schoolmaster in Tilburg, who has been good enough to keep me company
whenever he has had the time to spare.  "

Julia watched her patient simper--really, the woman was fifty years
behind the times!  She belonged in a Victorian novel.  She didn't think
much of Mijnheer de Winter either; his face was even longer than
Marcia's and his eyes pale.  He had mousy hair, brushed neatly across
the baldness on top of his head, and a mean little mouth.  Julia went
out of the room, closing the door softly behind her, thinking that the
pair of them were exactly right for each other.  Hard on that thought
came another.  Did Ivo know about her patient's visitor?

She went along to her room and wrote a letter, and when she went back
after a little while with her patient's lunch tray, it was to find her
alone once more.

Marcia held up a massive tome for her to see and cried in her wispy
voice, "You see, nurse, how kind Mijnheer de Winter is.  He came
especially to bring me this volume of Virgil--I happened to mention
that I should like to read it once more."  She smiled and said almost
playfully, "Don't mention his visit to Doctor van den Werff--I mean
Ivo, of course, I don't want to make him jealous and I've not had the
time to tell him about August's visits yet."

Julia lifted the lid off the omelette she had borne upstairs.

"I don't tell tales," she remarked briefly.

"I hope you enjoy your lunch."

She didn't enjoy her own, although she pretended to for Jorina's
sake.

The more she saw of her patient the less liked her.  She was reasonably
sure that Marcia had the full use of her arms and legs and for some
reason didn't want anyone to know, not for the moment--and now she was
sly as well.  And there was really nothing that Julia could do about
it.

After several false starts and a great deal of shillyshallying on the
stairs, Marcia got down them rather well, probably, thought Julia
nastily, because there was no one to see except herself.  It was
already past three o'clock, for her patient, although she knew that
Julia was to be free at that hour, had contrived a number of
last-minute hindrances, Julia drank a hasty cup of tea and went to
change out of her uniform.  A quarter of an hour later she was walking
down the road, thinking to herself that if she disliked her patient,
the feeling was reciprocated, although she doubted if either of them
would admit it.  It was already dusk, for it had been a dull cold day,
with grey cloud overhead and a blustery wind--it would be dark by the
time she had walked the mile or so into Oisterwijk, but it was a main
road and she couldn't very well miss her way back.

By the time she had looked round the little town it was five o'clock
and almost dark, so she headed for home again.  She had walked for ten
minutes or more when she discovered that she was on the wrong road. 
She retraced her steps, found the right way, and started off once
more.

A car raced past her towards the town, its lights blazing so that when
it had gone by the dark seemed even darker; she heard its brakes squeal
as it stopped and turned and came back towards her, its powerful
headlamps pinpointing her in the night.  She didn't change her pace,
nor did she look round.  Even when the car dropped to a crawl beside
her she looked steadily ahead.  It went past her and drew up and Ivo's
voice, very quiet, said, "Get in, Julia."

She did as she was told, not in the least deceived by his tone.  As she
slid into the seat beside him, she could almost feel his anger.  But
she wasn't going to allow herself to be intimidated.

"How nice," she said chattily as he leaned over her to shut the door.

"Are you on your way home?"

"I've been home."  He started the car, driving slowly, and her heart
began to hammer because she was so very conscious of him close beside
her.  She edged away carefully to stop rigid as he said, still quiet,
"You don't need to do that.  I'm not going to hit you, tough heaven
knows--what possessed you to go out in the dark?"

She could hear by his voice that he was still holding back rage and
made haste to say in mollifying tones, "Well, there wasn't time during
the day and I wanted to go for a walk and I thought it would be nice to
see Oisterwijk.  It's pretty, isn't it?  and the shops are nice, only I
couldn't buy anything."

He made a sound which might have been a laugh.

"Why not?  Don't tell me you allowed the language to stand in your
way."

"No, I don't think I would have done, but I had no money--Dutch
money."

He turned the car into the short lane leading to the house and stopped
and turned to peer at her through the dark.  He said evenly, "You shall
have money tomorrow.  I'm sorry about that, I should have thought of
it."

Julia stirred, a little uneasy; he was being so very calm.  She was
mistaken, for when next he spoke his voice was very nearly a snarl.

"Don't dare to do this again, Julia.  What a little fool you are--good
God, anything might have happened to you!  Supposing you had been given
a lift...!"

She interrupted him a little indignantly, "Two cars stopped, but I
didn't go with them because I wasn't quite sure where the house was in
the dark and it might have been difficult to make the driver
understand."

"You are not to accept lifts...!"

"But I just have," she pointed out calmly, 'from you.  "

She heard his sharp indrawn breath.

"Don't be frivolous," he said violently.

"I came to look for you."

Her heart bounced against her ribs, but her voice was still coolly
calm.

"I didn't know--thank you.  I hope I haven't spoiled your evening." 
She thought him most unreasonable when he answered abruptly, "You might
have thought of that sooner."

Julia protested, "How could I?  I wasn't to know that you would come
and look for me.  I think you're being unreasonable, and I'm
twenty-two, you know, and quite capable of looking after myself.  Thank
you all the same," she added politely.

She heard him sigh.

"Perhaps you will be good enough to go walking in daylight--and if you
must go to Oisterwijk, or anywhere else, after dark, please ask one of
us to run you there in a car."  His hand came down on hers, linked in
her lap.

"Please, Julia."

She wanted to take his hand in hers.  It was an effort to keep her
hands resting quietly under his touch.  She said at once, "Yes, of
course I'll do what you ask.  I hope you're not--not angry any more."

His hand tightened for a moment and slid away.  He said in a very quiet
voice, "Oh, my dear girl," and then in a normal voice, "Have you had a
busy day with Marcia?  I hear she walked downstairs."

Julia gave him a cheerful account of the day's doings, omitting the
small frictions between herself and her patient.  They were
unimportant; the important thing was to get Marcia well so that this
man beside her could marry her, since he wanted to.  She sighed
soundlessly.

After dinner Doctor van den Werff declared that he had letters to write
and within a few minutes Jorina got up too, saying that she was going
to telephone Klaas, which left Marcia lying gracefully on one of the
sofas by the fire, Ivo sitting opposite her in a great armchair with
Ben at his feet, listening with apparent interest to her opinion of
Goethe's works, and Julia, sitting a little apart.

When Marcia paused for breath Julia got to her feet with the fictitious
statement that she had letters to write.

"And I'll get your room ready for you,

Miss Jason, and come back presently, and we'll try walking upstairs.

Shall we say two hours?  "

Ivo raised his eyes briefly from the contemplation of his well-shod
feet.

"If you intend walking upstairs, Marcia, I shouldn't make it too
late--it would never do to overdo things."  He glanced at Julia.

"Would you come back in an hour, Julia?"  His voice held mild authority
and although Marcia pouted prettily, he took no notice.  As Julia went
from the room she heard him ask, "And what do you think of Vondel--not
much known..."

She had expected her patient to make a great fuss about going upstairs,
but as she reached their foot, leaning on Ivo's arm.  Doctor van den
Werff flung open his study door to say that Ivo was wanted on the
telephone at once, and without him for an audience there was no point
in drooping and sighing.  Julia got her to bed, said goodnight and went
along to her room; she might as well go to bed too.  She had taken off
her cap when Jorina appeared.

"I've made some coffee," she said persuasively, 'come on down and have
a cup.  "

They went together to the empty sitting room and over their coffee
talked about Jorina's wedding.  They were deep in the bride maids
outfits when the two men came in and their chat became the pleasant
end-of-day talk Julia remembered so clearly at Drum- lochie House.  And
when after a little while she got up to go to bed it was Ivo who said,
"Not yet, Julia, unless you're very tired."  He put down his coffee
cup.

"Jorina, I haven't had time to tell you about the delicious bread Julia
baked..."

It was when she at length got up to go that Ivo said at the door,
"There's something I want to know.  Why do you call Marcia Miss
Jason?"

"She prefers it--some patients do, you know, just as they prefer to
call the nurse by her full name.  It doesn't mean anything."  She
looked anxiously at him.

"We get on famously," she lied, and smiled, "She's been simply
wonderful today."

"Has she?  It must have been very lonely for her all these months--she
has no friends here and no visitors, only Jorina and her girl friends,
and they... You'll be good company for her.  She told me this evening
how very empty her days have been."

Julia nodded, said goodnight and went upstairs.  So Marcia hadn't told
him about Mijnheer de Winter after all.

CHAPTER FIVE

A week went by, one day slipping without haste into the next, and
Marcia, whether she liked it or not, showed marked improvement.  Julia
had managed to get some sort of routine into the days, and now her
patient was coming down before lunch instead of after--something she
didn't seem to like very much, and it wasn't until Mijnheer de Winter
called again and Marcia was forced to entertain him in the sitting room
with Jorina and Julia there that Julia realised why-her patient's
caller had looked decidedly taken aback when he had been shown in and
had stayed, making rather self-conscious conversation, for a bare ten
minutes.

Later that day, when Julia had been alone with Jorina, she had asked
about him and Jorina had laughed and said, "Oh, him.  Isn't he a
pompous little man?  Marcia told me that Ivo finds him agreeable,
though, and is grateful to him for visiting her all the while he's been
in Scotland.  All I can say is that Ivo must have changed a great deal
if he likes him."  She eyed Julia, placidly making up a muslin cap,
with a thoughtful look.

"He has changed."

Julia didn't look up.

"Well," she said reasonably, 'he does bring her the kind of book she
enjoys.  "

"Homer, Virgil," said Jorina with something like disgust.

"I'd rather browse through Elle."  She put down the sweater she was
knitting.

"Julia, do you think she's a bit too clever?"

Julia clasped her hands round her knees and thought.  Determined to be
quite fair, she said at length, "It depends on whom she marries,
doesn't it?  I expect some men admire a good brain--if they're clever
themselves."

"Well, Klaas is clever, and I don't know one end of the Greek alphabet
from the other," Jorina smiled, 'but he admires me.  "

It was when the question of Julia's half days came up that Marcia
suggested that Jorina should take her into Tilburg one afternoon.

"I'm quite able to amuse myself for an hour or so," she said with her
habitual gravity, and smiled bravely when, Ivo said, "That's very kind
of you, Marcia, but will you be quite all right on your own?" 
Whereupon she had leaned forward and pressed his hand and murmured,
"You forget, Ivo, that I've had many months alone and in pain."

Julia squirmed in embarrassment and looked away so as not to see Ivo's
face, and met his father's stare instead.  She saw the gleam of
laughter in his eyes before he allowed their lids to fall.

So she had gone to Tilburg with Jorina and enjoyed it immensely, for
she had some money now and a pleasant companion with whom to look at
the shops.  She bought presents for her family, because no one had said
how long she was going to stay and for all she knew she might not have
the chance of shopping again.  They went back after tea when the pale
winter sky had darkened and the wind had gathered its strength once
more.

"It's going to be a cold night," observed Jorina as she drove her
little Citroen rather too fast along the icy road.

"You're sure you're happy to come back?  It is your half day, you
know."

"Yes, I don't mind a bit," said Julia.

"After all, I've been out the whole afternoon and what would I do with
myself out on a night like this?"

"Go to Oisterwijk," laughed Jorina.

"Oh, dear, Ivo was so worried about you when he got home--you should
have seen him--and Marcia vexed because he said almost nothing to
her..."

Julia interrupted hastily, "Yes, it was so silly of me.  I have enjoyed
my afternoon, Jorina.  Thank you for taking me."

"I enjoyed it too.  We'll do it again--there are still the Christmas
presents to buy.  We don't have such a gay time in Holland as you do in
England because we have St.  Nikolaas first.  But we do have a party
and a tree and little gifts.  You must wear that lovely pink dress you
showed me."

They talked clothes for the rest of the journey and went into the
house, still talking, their faces glowing with the cold and the thought
of Christmas ahead, and found Marcia sitting where they had left her
with a book in her hand, gazing wistfully into the fire with a sad face
which didn't deceive Julia one bit.  She turned to look at them as they
came in, pretending surprise, and remarked in a resigned voice, "There
you are--I'm sure you must have had a delightful time.  How I wish I
were able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life!"

Julia murmured encouraging as she glanced casually at the book in her
patient's lap--and then down the sweater she was knitting.

"Julia, do you think she's a bit too clever?"

Julia clasped her hands round her knees and thought.  Determined to be
quite fair, she said at length, "It depends on whom she marries,
doesn't it?  I expect some men admire a ^good brain--if they're clever
themselves."

"Well, Klaas is clever, and i don't know one end of the Greek alphabet
from the other," Jorina smiled, 'but he admires me.  "

It was when the question of Julia's half days came up that Marcia
suggested that Jorina should take her into Tilburg one afternoon.

"I'm quite able to amuse myself for an hour or so," she said with her
habitual gravity, and smiled bravely when, Ivo said, "That's very kind
of you, Marcia, but will you be quite all right on your own?" 
Whereupon she had leaned forward and pressed his hand and murmured,
"You forget, Ivo, that I've had many months alone and in pain."

Julia squirmed in embarrassment and looked away so as not to see Ivo's
face, and met his father's stare instead.  She saw the gleam of
laughter in his eyes before he allowed their lids to fall.

So she had gone to Tilburg ith Jorina and enjoyed it immensely, for she
had some money now and a pleasant companion with whom to look at the
shops.  She bought presents for her family, because no one had said how
long she was going to stay and for all she knew she might not have the
chance of shopping again.  They went back after tea when the pale
winter sky had darkened and the wind had gathered its strength once
more.

"It's going to be a cold night," observed Jorina as she drove her
little Citroen rather too fast along the icy road.

"You're sure you're happy to come back?  It is your half day, you
know."

"Yes, I don't mind a bit," said Julia.

"After all, I've been out the whole afternoon and what would I do with
myself out on a night like this?"

"Go to Oisterwijk," laughed Jorina.

"Oh, dear, Ivo was so worried about you when he got home--you should
have seen him--and Marcia vexed because he said almost nothing to
her.."

Julia interrupted hastily, "Yes, it was so silly of me.  I have enjoyed
my afternoon, Jorina.  Thank you for taking me."

"I enjoyed it too.  We'll do it again--there are still the Christmas
presents to buy.  We don't have such a gay time in Holland as you do in
England because we have St.  Nikolaas first.  But we do have a party
and a tree and little gifts.  You must wear that lovely pink dress you
showed me."

They talked clothes for the rest of the journey and went into the
house, still talking, their faces glowing with the cold and the thought
of Christmas ahead, and found Marcia sitting where they had left her
with a book in her hand, gazing wistfully into the fire with a sad face
which didn't deceive Julia one bit.  She turned to look at them as they
came in, pretending surprise, and remarked in a resigned voice, "There
you are--I'm sure you must have had a delightful time.  How I wish I
were able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life!"

Julia murmured encouraging as she glanced casually at the book in her
patient's lap--and then glanced again, for it was a different one from
the volume of Virgil Marcia had been reading when she and Jorina had
left; this one was a prosy tome on mediaeval religion, twice as large
as Virgil and with a different coloured binding.  When Jorina presently
went from the room Julia asked, "Did Mijnheer de Winter come to see
you.  Miss Jason?"  and was rewarded by Marcia's slight flush and
frown.

"How strange that you should ask, nurse.  As a matter of fact he
did--to bring me another book."  She went on in self-assured way, "It
was such a cold afternoon I persuaded him to stay and have tea with
me."

"How nice--and now, if you're not tired, supposing we walk around the
house for a little while?  There's no one about and I daresay you're
tired of sitting all the afternoon."

She saw the flush appear again.  So Marcia hadn't been sitting still
all the afternoon!  Julia, promenading up and down the hall with her
patient, tried to guess what she was up to.

She was on the point of asking in a roundabout fashion when Ivo came in
from the hospital and Marcia, never one to miss an opportunity to
attract attention to herself, cried, "Oh Ivo, look at little me--aren't
I splendid?  I feel so small and fragile and I'm sure I should fall
over if it were not for Nurse Penny feather's arm-isn't it fortunate
that she's such a stoutly built girl?"

Ivo threw off his coat, saying good evening as he did so, then, with
the faintest hint of a smile, he turned to study Julia.

"No," he said mildly, 'not stoutly built--shapely if you like, curvy if
I am permitted to say so, but definitely not stout.  "

Julia gave an enchanting gurgle of laughter.

"What a relief!  I was beginning to feel like the village
blacksmith."

His smile widened.

"I can think of nothing less like," he said, and they laughed at each
other across the hall and Marcia, her well-modulated voice a little
sharp, asked, "Have you had a busy day, Ivo?  I daresay your patients
have been difficult..."

He was still looking at Julia, but now he turned politely to face
her.

"No, not in the least, for the greater part of the time they're under
the anaesthetic."  He looked at Julia again.

"Did you have a good time in Tilburg?  But surely you should have the
evening free as well?"

Julia tried not to look too pleased because he had remembered to ask.

"Lovely, thank you.  Yes, I should be free, I suppose, but I'm quite
happy about it--there's nothing for me to do on an evening like his."

They were sitting down to dinner when Ivo said, "No one minds if I take
Julia to the cinema in Oisterwijk, do they?"

He looked round the table at his father's and sister's approving faces,
Marcia's affronted stare and Julia's astonished one.

"It's her half day," he added blandly.

"I don't see why she should be forced to remain in--you agree,
Marcia?"

"Well, of course--if Nurse wishes to go out she is entitled to, I
suppose, although I should have thought a quiet evening with a book..
"

Ivo was staring at her and Julia noticed that he had his father's trick
of lowering his lids so that it was hard to see his eyes.

"It's an old film," he said mildly, turning to Julia.

"The Sound of Music, if you can bear to see it again."

"Oh, rather!  I loved it."

"A film I've never seen," remarked Marcia tartly.

"A sentimental fairy tale, so I've been told."

"Very sentimental," agreed Ivo gravely, 'just the thing to round off a
half day.  "

Half an hour later, warmly coated and wearing the fur bonnet, Julia
danced downstairs and into the sitting room, to stop short at the door.
Ivo was standing just inside the room and Marcia was addressing him in
the clear tones she affected and which Julia could not but hear.

"It's very good of you, Ivo, to sacrifice your evening in this way,"
her patient was saying.

"I was looking forward to a pleasant conversation, but of course Nurse
must have her amusement.  I can only hope you won't be bored to
tears."

Julia stood in the hall and said to Ivo's back, "I'm ready," in a
rather small voice.  He turned and raked her with a bright glance
before bidding Marcia goodnight and closing the door behind him.  The
moment he had done so, Julia said urgently, "I couldn't help
hearing--I--I didn't think--I wouldn't dream of spoiling your
evening."

He tucked her arm firmly into his.

"The only way my evening will be spoilt is if you don't come.  It's
just exactly what I need after a hard day's work."  He smiled as he
spoke and ushered her into the car and got in beside her.

"The cinema's small," he went on easily, 'and the audience is sometimes
noisy--will you mind?  "

"No," said Julia happily, and meant it.

They had seats at the back of the crowded hall;

they were narrow and not very well-sprung, and her companion by reason
of his size was very close.  It seemed the most natural thing in the
world for him to take her hand in his and hold it throughout the
performance.  Even when the lights went up halfway through, he didn't
let go and she was content to let it remain there.

It was bitterly cold when they came out of the cinema and Ivo said,
"Coffee, I think, don't you?"  and swept her across the street to De
Wapen van Oisterwijk, where in an atmosphere redolent of the evening's
dinner, cigars and the faint sharp tang of Genever, they sat in the
pleasant little coffee room.

"The film was marvelous," said Julia.

"Thank you for taking me.  I don't suppose it was quite your cup of
tea, though?"

"My what?"  Ivo stared at her over his cup, "Oh, I see--aren't men
sentimental?"

"I don't know.  I've never known one well enough to ask.  But wasn't it
a bit lowbrow for you?"

A muscle twitched at the corner of Ivo's mouth.

"No.  Don't you know James well enough to ask him?"

She shook her head.

"No.  Besides, he's not the sort of person you'd ask."

"Then you'd better not marry him."  He spoke lightly.

"If you've finished perhaps we had better go."

She looked idly at the clock on the wall behind him and gasped,

"It's after eleven, Ivo!  I should have been back ages ago-what will
Miss Jason do?  How will she get to bed?  I should never..."

"Panicking, Miss Penny feather?"  His look was mocking.

"It's your half day, isn't it?  I asked Jorina to help Marcia to
bed--she can, you know, and I fancy that Marcia has become stronger in
this last week--you must be having a good effect upon her."

They were walking back to the car and he had tucked her arm in his
again.

"I thought so too," said Julia soberly.

"I wondered' --she hesitated" --I wondered if she were to go out in the
car--you know, for a short trip or to see the shops--if she would enjoy
it.  Just to drive through a town when the shops are lighted up would
make a change for her.  I'm sure she's well enough.  "

She didn't look at him as she spoke because she didn't want to see
pleasure at the idea on his face.  It wasn't until they were sitting in
the car that he asked, "You think that would be a good idea?"

She looked at him, a little puzzled because his voice had sounded
almost reluctant.

"Well, you could ask her," she suggested tentatively.

"It's almost Christmas; she might like to buy some presents."

"So she might.  And you, when will you buy yours?"

It seemed as though he didn't want to talk about Marcia.  Julia said
lightly, "I've got some already, and I shall get the rest when I go
into Tilburg again."

He started the car.

"Very well, I'll take you both in one day next week--will that do?"

"Yes, but..."

"But what.  Miss Penny feather?"

"Well, will you suggest it to Miss Jason and when she says yes, you
could ask me as a kind of afterthought--otherwise it might look as
though we'd arranged it all first and that might hurt her feelings."

He made a small sound which could have been a laugh.  -"If I were James
I should come after you and marry you out of hand, my dear Miss
Pennyfeather."

"Why?  And why do you call me Miss Pennyfeather?"

"You don't like it?  But I always think of you as the magnificent Miss
Pennyfeather.  You are, you know, and you're not only quite beautiful,
you're--alive."

He stopped the car in front of the house, turned towards her, slid an
arm around her shoulders and kissed her hard.

When she had her breath again she said with a kind of stunned
politeness, "Thank you for a very nice evening, Ivo."

His face was only an inch or two from her own and he was smiling a
little.

"I haven't enjoyed myself so much for a long time," he said softly.

"No, that's not quite true.  I enjoyed every minute of our stay at
Drumlochie House."

He got out and walked round the car's bonnet and opened the door for
her.  She went inside without saying anything more, only a quiet
goodnight as she went up the stairs.

Her patient's light was still on.  Julia pushed the half open door a
little wider and looked into the room.  Marcia was in bed with a book
open in front of her.  She said with gentle resignation, "So you're
back, Nurse Pennyfeather.  The per S

formance must have been a long one.  " Her pale eyes searched Julia's
vivid face.

"You look as though you've enjoyed yourself, but I hope you won't make
a habit of this-I had the greatest difficulty in getting up the
stairs."

"I'm sorry," said Julia, not sorry at all and at the same time appalled
at her own feelings.  She should be feeling guilty; spending the
evening with Ivo while his Marcia lay in bed, only she didn't, because
she was so very sure that Marcia didn't love Ivo, and she was almost as
sure that Ivo didn't love Marcia, only perhaps he hadn't realised it
yet. She said now, "You managed very well by yourself
yesterday--perhaps you were a little nervous."

Marcia picked up her book.

"I'm never nervous," she stated repressively.

"Now I'm sure you want to go to bed; you must be tired."

"Not a bit," said Julia comfortably.

"How can enjoying oneself make one tired?  The film was delightful, you
know, after these peculiar modern ones.  I'll go and get ready for bed
and then come back in case you might want something."

But when she went back in half an hour's time, Marcia's light was
out.

It was the following evening when Ivo broached the subject of
Christmas.

"Shall we give our usual party?"  he asked Jorina.

"Christmas Eve, I think, don't you?  Marcia will be able to enjoy
it."

He turned to look at her.

"You might even like to dance a few steps."

"Naturally I shall do my best to enter into the spirit of Christmas,"
Marcia was at her most gracious.

"And if you ask me, Ivo, I'm sure I'll have the strength to take a few
steps of a slow foxtrot."

Julia kept her eyes on the cloth she was embroidering; someone ought to
tell her patient that the slow foxtrot wasn't often danced these days.
No one did;

Ivo said merely in his kind way, "That will be delightful.  And what
about shopping?  I'm sure you are well enough to come into Tilburg with
me one day and choose your presents.  It will only be a question of
crossing the pavement from the car to the shop.  We could manage
that-better still, let us take Julia with us to make it easier for
you."

Julia chose a strand of silk with care, threaded her needle and took a
few stitches, waiting for Marcia's reply.

"Oh, presents--I'd almost forgotten about them.  Am I really strong
enough?  It would be very pleasant, provided you don't let me get
tired."  She laughed her little tinkling laugh.

"How silly I am to say that, for you wouldn't do that, would you,
Ivo?"

"No, certainly not, I've had too much to do with polio cases."

And that, thought Julia judiciously, wasn't what Marcia had meant at
all.  She said aloud, "Yes, of course I'll come if you think it would
help at all.  It might save Miss Jason unnecessary fuss if I hold the
parcels and so on."

So it was arranged, and an afternoon two days ahead was set aside for
the expedition, giving Marcia, as Julia pointed out, plenty of time to
decide what she wanted to buy.

Mijnheer de Winter came the next morning while everyone but Julia was
out.  She left him sitting with Marcia and went to fetch him some
coffee, as they had just had theirs.  Marcia had greeted him with
unconcealed pleasure;

apparently she still lived in the days when servants--and Julia had no
doubt in her mind that she ranked as that in her patient's eyes-were
like furniture, neither seeing nor hearing.  Julia went slowly down to
the kitchen, her thoughts centred on the look Marcia had exchanged with
her visitor and the length of their handclasp.  She poured the coffee,
put it on a tray and bore it upstairs, wondering as she went what Ivo
thought of this odd friendship.  He didn't strike her as the kind of
man who would take kindly to playing second fiddle to anyone else,
especially when it concerned the woman he was going to marry.

She loitered on the landing, struck by the thought that she had never
actually heard him say that he was going to marry Marcia.  Nor, for
that matter, had Marcia said so, although she had been quick enough to
let Julia know that was what she expected.

Julia took in the rapidly cooling coffee, set it tidily on the table by
Mijnheer de Winter's chair and retired to the desk in the window where
she kept her charts and reports, but she had barely reached it when
Marcia said gently, "Oh, Nurse, do go and have half an hour to
yourself.  I shall be quite all right, and you must have so much to
do."

Julia went downstairs again; contrary to her patient's supposition she
had nothing to do.  She began to wander round the hall, studying the
pictures.  She was out staring the penetrating and beady black eyes of
a tyrannical old lady in a plum-coloured dress with a bustles, when the
front door opened and Ivo came in.  Her first sensation was one of
delight at seeing him, the second of apprehension in case he went
bounding upstairs before she had a chance to mention--oh, so
casually--that Mijnheer de Winter had got there first.  He cast his
coat down rather untidily on the nearest chair, said hullo and then, "I
had no idea that my appearance had the power to make you look like
that."

"Like what?"  asked Julia, playing for time.

"As though I'd caught you in the middle of some heinous crime.  Have

I?

"

Julia laughed hollowly.

"No, of course not.  You surprised me."

He was standing just inside the door, and although his eyes were
neither black nor beady, it was obvious that the old lady with the
bustle had handed on the penetrating stare.

"Whose car is that outside?"  he asked.

She should have been ready for that question;

instead she uttered, "Well--that is..."

He put his hands in his pockets and leaned comfortably against the
wall, all day at his disposal.

"Do tell," he invited silkily.

"Of course I'll tell," she said crossly.

"It's no secret--it's Mijnheer de Winter's."

He repeated the name.

"Do I know him?"  he inquired.

"How should I know?"  snapped Julia, getting more and more cross.  If
only the wretched little man would come downstairs and answer Ivo's
questions for himself!

"Visiting Marcia?"  Ivo's voice was very smooth.

"In that case I'll go up and see for myself, since you're so charmingly
ill-tempered and secretive."

He went upstairs unhurriedly without giving her time to answer, which
was just as well, because she had nothing to say.  She didn't think he
was going to like Marcia's visitor, nor was he going to like Marcia
forgetting to mention his visits, especially as she harped continuously
upon her loneliness-almost, it had seemed to Julia, reproaching Ivo
with it.  She went into the kitchen and put the coffee on again, then
wandered round the house, not quite liking to go upstairs but wondering
if it would help if she did.  She had just made up her mind to do so
when she heard steps on the staircase and Ivo's voice, speaking with
the icy civility of a well-mannered man determined not to show his ill
humour The front door opened and shut and a moment later Ivo lounged
through the kitchen door.

"What a detestable fellow," he remarked.

"No wonder you didn't want me to meet him."  He shot her a sudden
fierce glance.

"And it seems that I knew all about him, or so.  Marcia told me just
now."

Julia said quickly, "I daresay if you were busy you might have
forgotten--it's not important, is it--and if you had other things on
your mind..."

"I had nothing important on my mind until a short time ago, and I
should make it plain to you that I seldom forget anything which I am
told."  He grinned suddenly.

"Aren't you going to offer me some coffee?"

She had a cup with him, there in the kitchen while he told that he was
unexpectedly free because the surgeon who was to have taken the list
had 'flu.

"Do you have a list this afternoon?"  asked Julia.

"In Breda, yes.  A pity you aren't free, I'd take you with me."

She had been unable to prevent the look of pleasure on her face,
although she said quietly enough, "That would have been pleasant, but I
think it's a bit too far for Miss Jason, don't you?"  and instantly
wished she hadn't said it because his face hardened into a grimness
which she couldn't bear to see.  Before she could stop herself she
asked impulsively, "Can I help, Ivo--is--is something the matter?"

He passed his coffee cup, his face once more smoothly bland.

"You're the last one to help me, dear girl," he said lightly.

"Is there any more coffee?"

She felt snubbed.  She supposed he had fallen out with his Marcia, in
which case, she thought crossly, it was his own affair.  She left him
to his coffee and went upstairs to her patient, who looked up as she
went in and said with a roguish smile, "There you are, nurse.  Oh dear,
how awkward that Ivo should come home while August was here.  I'm sure
he's not a jealous man--no more than any man would be in the
circumstances," she simpered at Julia, who felt sick, wondering how Ivo
could bear the girl, 'but I must tell you a little secret, just between
us girls.  I've never mentioned Aug--Mijnheer de Winter to Ivo, there
seemed no need, so I pretended that I had written and told him about
his visits.  I flatter myself that my quick thinking saved the
situation.  " She smiled, her eyes wary.

"Don't you agree?"

"No," said Julia instantly, "I don't.  I can't think why you should
have to tell a lie about something so trivial.  Jorina thinks that Ivo
knows about him too, so you must have told her the same tale--you ever
said something of the sort to me.  I can't see any reason for
deceit."

She crossed the room and picked up Marcia's walking stick and handed it
to her silently.  It was more than likely that her patient would
dismiss her on the spot.  She did no such thing, however.

"One can see.

Nurse Pennyfeather," she said archly, 'that you've never been in
love."

Julia resisted an impulse to give her patient a poke where the stick
where it would hurt most.  She was a little tired of being patronised
by someone so foolishly out of date as Miss Jason.

"Are you engaged to Ivo?"  she asked, and was astonished at herself for
asking it.

Marcia looked outraged; Julia, watching her, thought that her pale
prettiness masked a petty nature and that none of her feelings, good or
bad, ran deep.

"My dear nurse, that's rather a personal matter, but since you have
made it your business to ask, we have an understanding--before Ivo went
to Edinburgh, indeed, before I was stricken down."

Julia felt rage and sorrow working strongly under her neat uniform;

she damped them down firmly.

"In that case," she said briskly, 'it's a very good thing that you
aren't stricken any longer.  Another few weeks and you should be ready
to go down the aisle.  "

Marcia cast her a well-bred look of loathing.

"Nurse Pennyfeather, I don't care for vulgar remarks such as that."

"Vulgar?"  asked Julia, the bit well between her nice regular white
teeth.

"What's vulgar about getting married?  Now, if I'd proposed getting you
fit enough to live in sin..  "

Miss Jason, forgetting that she was still a semi- invalid walked quite
briskly across the room.  She hissed: "You coarse, over-blown
creature!"

"I feel sure you will apologise, Marcia," said Ivo from the door.  His
voice was steely, so were his eyes.

"I am aware that you did not mean that, but if it was a joke, you'll be
the first to agree with me that it was in very poor taste."

Julia kept her back to him.

"It's quite all right," she said matter-of-factly, "Miss Jason was--was
joking.  Did you see how well she walked across the room without her
stick?"  She added a little breathlessly:

"It was my fault--I was joking about your wedding, and I had no right
to do it."

She swung round to face him and was shocked at the dark look on his
face, although his voice was calm enough.

"In that case, you can cry quits, I imagine.  Yes, Marcia, saw you
walking-how clever of you to keep it a secret from us all.  Another few
days and you will be fit to travel."

Marcia said quickly in a small soft voice, "Oh, Ivo, I couldn't
possibly do it again.  I can't think what happened, but I feel so weak
and helpless now."  Whereupon Julia, her feelings still much inflamed,
put down the stick and said in a well-controlled voice, "In that case,
I'm sure the doctor will be only too glad to help you--I'll go on down
and get your chair ready."

She smiled bleakly at them both and whisked through the door without
waiting for them to answer.

Lunch was a little difficult.  Julia, who would have preferred to have
gone to her room and had a good cry, did her best, but Marcia remained
stonily polite, answering when she was spoken to but making no remarks
of her own volition; in anyone else it would be sulking, but somehow
she managed to convey a sad air of dolour which effectively damped
everyone's efforts to keep the conversation light.  Julia rose from the
table with a sense of relief, and having seen her patient settled for
the afternoon in the sitting room, begged to be excused.  It was time
for her three hours' freedom--she intended taking a long walk;

the exercise would tire her out nicely and at the same time allow her
to think.  She flung on her clothes with little regard to her
appearance and flew downstairs and out of the door straight into Ivo,
waiting on the other side.  He said midly, "I'll give you a lift.

You're not due back until about five, I gather?  "

Julia nodded, twitching her fur bonnet straight and tugging on her
gloves.

"But I don't want a lift--I'm going for a walk."

As though she were a refractory child, he answered, "Oh, nonsense,"
caught her by the arm and marched her to the car and bundled her in
briskly, paying no attention when she reiterated, "I'm going for a
walk," but getting in beside her and driving off in the direction of
Oisterwijk.  It was only when they were through its main street, on the
road to Tilburg, that she ventured to ask, "Where are we going?"

"I told you--I've a couple of cases in Breda this afternoon."

She looked at him with something like horror.

"But that's miles away!"

"Your geography is sadly at fault, you'll have to study a map.  Breda
is fifteen miles from Tilburg, which we are rapidly approaching.  It's
half past one, the list is at two o'clock, so we have plenty of time.

Why were you in such a hurry?  "

"I--I wanted some fresh air."

He was looking straight ahead, driving fast as he always did, with a
nonchalance which was deceiving until you looked at the speedometer.

"I'm sorry Marcia upset you this morning.  You must forgive her, she's
been very ill."

"It didn't matter, really it didn't," she found herself protesting too
much.

"She must hate being so inactive."  As she said it she remembered very
clearly how well Marcia had walked across the room, and he had seen it
too, although she had been clever enough to pretend it was a flash in
the pan.  Julia went on quickly, "Miss Jason has quite a lot of
shopping to do in Tilburg--it should be fun."

A stupid remark, she thought, and he must have thought so too, for he
didn't bother to reply, but as the outskirts of Breda closed in on them
he said suddenly, "I think we must plan a really merry Christmas, don't
you?  What a pity we can't keep it up until Twelfth Night, as they used
to.  What is that poem in English, something about " The first day of
Christmas.  "

Julia obliged with a few verses, and when she got to the fifth day,
stopped to remark.

"Five gold rings is a bit much, you know.  Where would she wear
them?"

I shouldn't think it mattered; obviously her true love wanted to make
certain that she knew he loved her.  "

"Oh, well, there couldn't be much doubt about that, could there?"  said
Julia, once more lighthearted.  | "I mean, one ring would be nice, but
five--what more could any girl want?"

He didn't answer because they had stopped by the Casualty entrance at
the hospital.

"Hop out, dear girl," he said.

"I'll take you to Zuster Bos before I go up to theatre."

Zuster Bos was middle-aged and round; she had round blue eyes to match
her rotund person and a delightful smile.  She nodded vigorously to all
that Ivo had to say, chuckled, shook Julia by the hand, said in
quaintly accented English, "Go away, bad boy," and turned her attention
to her guest.

Casualty was almost empty; the accidents, said Zuster Bos in difficult
English helped out with a good deal of miming, were more frequent in
the morning when the workers were still sleepy and perhaps a little
careless--and the evening, when they were tired.

"Are you busy here?"  asked Julia, prepared to enjoy herself.

"The book," said Zuster Bos, and led her over to a desk at which a
nurse sat writing.  She looked up and smiled as they approached and
handed over the Day Book, which Julia saw was exactly the same as the
one in her own hospital, only the entries were in Dutch.  But she could
see the number of entries that it was a busy unit and would have
enjoyed trying to decipher the various cases, but her mentor plucked
her arm and led her to the office where she found herself drinking a
cup of coffee and answering, in her turn, a great many questions about
her own work.

She said politely, "Your English is very good Sister," and was rewarded
by a beaming smile.

"Yes?  I learn in the war--I was young girl, but I nurse..."  She
paused, at a loss for a word.

Then who escaped?  " tried Julia, and watched the little woman's brow
clear.

"Yes, they speak no Dutch--I speak English."  She shrugged her plump
shoulders and laughed cosily.  It was a pity that at that moment an
ambulance should shrill its way to the entrance and she had to go.

But not for long.

"Not bad," she announced as she sat down once more, "Zuster van Rijk
and Zuster Laagemaat can do all.  It is," she paused again, 'too much
drug.  "

"An overdose?"  Julia guessed.

"Do you get a lot too?  So do we."

They talked happily together, helping each other when they came to
words they didn't know.  They were absorbed in the technique of
resuscitation when Ivo came back.  Julia watched him walking through
Cas to the office.  The nurses looked at him as they passed and he
greeted them pleasantly without noticing their admiring glances.  He
looked relaxed and cheerful and very good-looking indeed.  Julia turned
her face away in case the admiration on her face showed too.

She was sorry to leave Zuster Bos, but as Ivo pointed out, it was
already after half past two.  He took her round the hospital, as he had
promised, strolling from ward to ward where she was greeted more often
than not in her own language and with a degree of friendliness she
hadn't expected.

They walked back to the entrance.

"Is Tilburg hospital like this one?"

"Very similar.  I go to Eindhoven sometimes, there's a splendid one
there, and s'Hertogenbosch."

"Where?"

He laughed and repeated the name, and standing in the hospital entrance
oblivious of curious passersby, made her repeat it too until she had it
right, and only then did they get into the car again.  They were
outside the town when Julia saw a signpost to Roosendaal and remarked
that she had thought that town to be in the opposite direction to
Tilburg.

"And so it is, but you don't suppose I can travel any farther without
tea, do you?"  He glanced at her.

"Don't fidget, we've plenty of time.

There's a place at Princenhage, just along this road.  "

They stopped at the Mirabelle restaurant and went inside to a warmth
very welcome after the cold outside.  They had tea, each with their own
little pot which amused Julia very much, and some rich and elaborate
cakes, which, she declared, were a shame to eat, although she
contradicted her words by eating hers to the last crumb, and when
pressed to have a second, did so.  She licked a morsel of cream off her
pretty mouth with the tip of her tongue and sighed contentedly.

"I

oughtn't to have them," she said, although the remark was purely
rhetoric, " I shall get fat.  "

He smiled lazily at her across the table.

"Never," he said.

"You'll stay as you are for ever and ever."

Julia pushed back her chair and put on her gloves and said lightly to
cover her feelings, "So now I'm indestructible as well as stoutly
built!"  and giggled so infectiously that he laughed too.

The shopping expedition the next day was, on the whole, a success.

Marcia, well wrapped against the cold, was as excited as she would
allow herself to be and even though it turned out that most of the
shopping was for herself, it was pleasant to spend most of the
afternoon in the bigger stores, even though her insistence on being
treated as an invalid became a little irksome towards the end.  Only
once did she show any desire to do anything for herself and that was to
post a handful of letters, something in which she was frustrated by
Ivo, despite her protests.  Julia, watching him putting them into the
letter box, saw that he was looking at each of them in turn; she knew
when he saw the one addressed to Mijnheer de Winter because of his
quick frown.  He said nothing, however, and nothing in his manner
indicated that he was annoyed, although she caught Marcia's faintly
worried look.  Possibly Ivo had asked her not to continue her
friendship with de Winter, but they weren't likely to discuss it before
her.  They had tea presently and Ivo was at his most amusing and if
anything, kinder and more considerate of Marcia than he had been
before.  Julia, sitting in the back of the car on their way home,
watched him in the gloom, bending his head to hear what Marcia had to
say, and when Marcia laughed, which was often, Julia clenched her hands
tightly in her lap, hurting them, as if by doing so she could ease the
hurt in her heart.

She avoided him for the next day or two, and although they saw each
other at meals and in the sitting room there was always someone else
there.  And on the third day, when she was free after one o'clock, she
walked into Oisterwijk and did her

Christmas shopping; a quite handsome coffret of eau de Cologne for
Marcia, a tobacco pouch for Doctor van den Werff, handkerchiefs--fine
linen ones--for Ivo and for Jorina some French soap as well as the tea
cloth she had embroidered.  For Bep she found a scarf and for the girl
who came up from the village every day to work, a box of chocolates.
She went straight to her room when she got back, did up her parcels and
put them away at the back of the big cupboard in her bedroom, then went
down to dinner.  It was during that meal that Doctor van den Werff
remarked, "It seems to me that Julia has a very bad bargain for her
half day; it is in fact no half day at all.  Here she is, back here
with us, whether she likes it or not, because there's nothing for her
to do."  He looked across the table her, smiling.

"Do you mind, Julia?"

She smiled back, "No, not at all.  I've letters to write and those will
take me all the evening.  I had a nice afternoon in Oisterwijk too. One
day when it's fine, I shall go for a long walk."

Ivo looked up from the pear he was peeling for Marcia.  Well take care
if you do, there's quite a lot of fen country around here and this time
of year it's rough underfoot.  "

Julia thanked him politely and lapsed into silence once more while
Marcia, with a sad little smile, wondered out aloud and at some length
when she would be able to go for a long walk-or, she added bravely, if
she ever would again.

"I can't see why not," said Julia kindly.

"Why not come into the garden with me tomorrow morning?  We needn't go
far and the worst that can happen is for you to fall over, when I shall
pick you up again."

They all laughed except Marcia, who flushed faintly and said gently,
"How kind of you to offer, nurse, but I couldn't trust myself to you-I
need someone big and strong."  She glanced at Ivo as she spoke and he
said placidly, "That sounds like me, but unfortunately I'm going away
for a couple of days."  He looked up briefly.

"I can't see what harm there would be in going with Julia as long as
there's no ice about--you said yourself she was robust."

Julia, who had just taken some wine, choked on it, laughing.

"I'll never live that down, shall I?"  she declared cheerfully.

She went back to her room as soon as dinner was over because she felt
that they expected her to, but once there she wrote no letters at all,
for the only one she had to answer was an angry one from her brother,
full of approaches and pointing out how selfish she had become.  She
sat, instead, in a chair, doing nothing until bedtime.  She heard
Marcia, with Ivo as escort, come upstairs and there Jorina to make sure
Marcia was safely in bed.  She felt a fraud, sitting there doing
nothing and being paid handsomely for it.  They would surely send her
back to England directly after Christmas.  She went on sitting idly,
long after the others came to bed.  Ivo was last of all; she heard him
in the garden with Ben and then presently come indoors again.  The
house was quite silent when at last she went to bed herself.

CHAPTER SIX

the opportunity to go for a walk came sooner than Julia had expected,
for two days later Ivo, back from wherever he had been, took Marcia
into Tilburg in the morning.  She had complained with her usual steely
gentleness that her hair looked terrible, adding at the same time that
she quite understood that no one could spare the time to take her to
the hairdresser, but when Julia had immediately offered to go with her
and Jorina had offered to drive them she refused on the grounds that
she was selfishly taking up their time.  It was inevitable that she
contrived to tell Ivo in such a way that she gained his instant
attention and the promise to take her himself on his way to hospital,
and when Julia had asked if she was to go too, Marcia had said quite
cheerfully, having gained her own ends.

"Of course not, Nurse Penny feather--you may have your free time this
morning, that will make a nice change for you."  Whereupon Ivo had
said, "Why not have a lift in with us, Julia?  There must be something
you can amuse yourself with for a couple of hours."

But Julia had declined because she considered he had listened too
readily to Marcia's curdled account of her efforts to get to the
hairdresser while he was away-besides, the less she saw of him the
better.  She had thanked him politely in a serene voice which betrayed
nothing of her true feelings and declared her intention of taking a
walk.

She tried not to think about Ivo and Marcia while she changed into her
outdoor clothes.  It was cold and a little misty outside and the sky
was a mass of thick grey clouds, but there was always the chance that
the sun would shine.  She tucked a scarf into the neck of her top coat
and tied the fur bonnet securely.  She had studied a local map the
previous evening and knew just where she was going.  She ran downstairs
and put her head round the kitchen door, called goodbye to Jorina and
went out of the house.

The heath stretched away beyond the woods behind the house, and
according to the map, it was crisscrossed by bicycle paths.  She
intended to take one of these as far as the village of Breukelen about
three miles away and then return along another of the paths.

The wind stung her cheeks and whipped her black hair from under her
bonnet, but it was exhilarating and the exercise did her good, and
presently, glowing with warmth, she slowed her pace a little the better
to think.  She would have to go back to England soon--after Christmas,
she thought, and if Marcia was going home shortly, would it not be a
good idea if they were to travel together.  But was Marcia going home?
She had said nothing to that effect; perhaps she intended to remain
until she married Ivo.  The thought of it made Julia catch her breath
and was swamped by the idea she had kept buried until now.

Ivo wasn't in love with Marcia; he didn't want to marry her, although
perhaps he had been attracted to her when they first met, for she was
undoubtedly a very clever girl and in her way attractive too, but the
pity he had shown her when she was taken ill had been mistakenly--or
deliberately?  --misconstrued as love by Marcia and he had been unable
to let her see that she was wrong because she had been so ill.  Perhaps
he had thought that an absence of six months would terminate the affair
in a gentler fashion.  But it hadn't, or so it seemed to Ivo at least,
and Julia had the uneasy suspicion that if he thought that Marcia still
loved him he would never do anything to hurt her because in some way
Marcia had made him feel responsible for her illness.

Julia was certain that this wasn't the case, but she had no proof.  It
was a pity that Ivo held such lofty principles.  She said loudly in
exasperation, "Old-fashioned bunkum--no one behaves like that any
more," and knew even as she said it that Ivo did.

She began to walk faster as if to get away from her thoughts, and when
she came to a fork in the path, took the right-hand one without really
noticing.  It was some time later when she realised that she must have
taken the wrong direction, for by now she should have reached the
village.  She stood still, trying to get her bearings, and decided that
the path would probably end at some houses at least.  But it didn't;

she had walked steadily for some time now and it had no end, she
stopped again and felt the first drops of freezing rain sting her face.
She hadn't noticed that the sky, already grey, had become almost black
behind her, and she would have to find shelter as quickly as possible.
There were woods to the right of her.  She looked at them carefully and
decided that they must be part of the woods she had walked through when
she had started out--if so, she had only to reach them and then walk in
their shelter in the direction she had come from.

With the rain had come a gale of wind, whistling through the trees so
that their branches creaked and groaned about her head, caring twigs
and smaller branches with it.  She was tired by now and very cold as
well as hungry, and once or twice, in the dimness under the trees, she
fell.  It was only too apparent that she was lost, and in the blinding
rain, even if she ventured away from the woods, she had little hope of
finding her way.  The sensible thing to do was to keep on walking; she
knew from the map that the area of heath and fen land round Oisterwijk
was a rough triangle, bounded by roads, so sooner or later, she was
bound to strike one or other of them.  Not too much later, she hoped,
for it was after two o'clock now and getting dark, with the rain still
pouring from an unbroken pall of cloud.

She went on walking, beginning to get a little frightened, for the
night would be long and cold and although she would have liked to rest,
she dared not in case she fell asleep.  Someone would have missed her
by now--Jorina or Bep.  Doctor van den Werff would have been out on his
rounds and wouldn't know anyway, and neither would Ivo, who would
probably stay in Tilburg with Marcia until the weather cleared.  She
stumbled a little and fell into a small hollow between two fir trees.

It was dry, covered in pine needles and sheltered from the wind.  She
hadn't meant to rest, but it was warmer there and surely five minutes
wouldn't hurt.  Julia sat down, drew her knees up under her chin,
clasped her gloved hands round them and rested her head upon them.  She
was asleep within seconds.

She was roused by a hand on her shoulders, shaking her roughly awake.

A voice--Ivo's voice--was telling her, equally roughly, that she was a
damned little idiot.  He pulled her to her feet, which were numb to the
knees so that she lurched against him, and tore off her gloves to rub
her cold hands.

"You fool!"  he said violently, as he rubbed.

"Haven't you got the sense to keep moving in weather like this--and
what possessed you to walk all these miles?"

He stopped his rubbing for a moment, flung an arm around her shoulders
to hold her steady and poured some brandy down her throat in a ruthless
fashion which left her spluttering and choking, and then resumed his
work.

"Ugh!"  uttered Julia, gaining strength from the brandy.

"Leave me alone--shouting at me like that.  You're hurting me!"

He sat her down with a thump, pulled off a boot and started on her
foot.  When he spoke it was forcefully and in his own language.  He
sounded furious, and what with too much brandy on an empty stomach and
pain from the reviving circulation of her hands she felt most peculiar.
She said in a voice that choked a little, "I got lost."

He put the boot back on again, and took off the other one.

"What possessed you--' he began harshly, and then in a rigidly
controlled voice: " Jorina told me you left the house before eleven--do
you know the time now?  "

Julia gave a weak but spirited snort.

"How can I?  It's dark.  When I looked at my watch it was just after
three, but that must be half an hour or so ago."

He gave her a look of such fierceness through the gloom that she caught
her breath.

"It's after six o'clock," he said dryly.

She shivered violently.

"It can't be--I sat down for a minute."

"It was pure chance that I found you--you know what would have happened
if I hadn't?"

"Well, I suppose I should have gone on sleeping."

"And died of exposure."  He sounded grim.

"I--I didn't think of that," she faltered a little.

"Have you been looking for me for a long time?"

"Rub your hands together and then clap them.  Since we got home at
about one o'clock."

Julia was stricken into silence.  She ventured at last, "Just you?"

"No.  Until it became really dark and the weather got too bad, we all
searched--which meant leaving Marcia alone in the house.  We left this
stretch of the woods until last because it didn't seem possible that
you could get so far."

She said stupidly, "But I'm not far.  I'm on my way back to your
house.

If I had walked straight on.  "

"You would have eventually come to the village of Oirschot--ten
kilometres from Oisterwijk--that is, if you had wakened up."

"You must be mistaken."

He put on her boot and stood her on her feet again and gave her a
little shake.

"For God's sake stop arguing with me," he said loudly, then caught her
close and kissed her so fiercely that she had no breath.

"Fool," he declared.

"Fool!"  and let her go so suddenly that she almost fell.  If her mind
as well as her body hadn't been so numbed, she would most certainly
have given this piece of rudeness the answer it so richly deserved, for
she felt certain that it was directed against herself, but her teeth
were chattering so much that she found it impossible to speak.  She
made a small, indignant noise and he said harshly, "Too cold to talk,
eh? That's a good thing, now I shan't have to listen to your excuses
all the way home."  His voice was so furiously angry that Julia felt
her eyes fill with tears and was thankful for the dark, but even as she
had thought, he turned his torch on her face.  She felt his round her
once more, but this time it was gentle and comforting.  He said in a
quite different voice, "Drink this, dear girl--I know you dislike it,
but it will help to warm you."

She swallowed obediently and the spirit's warmth crept over her, making
her feel more cheerful as well as less cold, although the tears ran
down her cheeks still.  But she made no attempt to wipe them away, she
had indeed forgotten them; she sniffed a little forlornly and began to
walk wordlessly, urged on by his arm in the light from the torch.  It
seemed a long way to the car; she stumbled along beside him as he
strode ahead, unworried by the rain and the wind and the blackness of
the early evening, but presently they came with unexpected suddenness
out of the woods and on to a road and she saw the Jensen's lights.

Ivo picked her up and tossed her into the seat beside his without a
word, then got in beside her, and at the same time she became aware
that Ben was in the car too, warm and doggy-smelling.  He leaned his
shaggy head over the back of her seat and licked her gently, then at a
quiet word from Ivo, he slid between them to settle at her feet.  Julia
felt his solid warmth envelop her feet and legs and said through
chattering teeth, "Dear Ben..."

"He'll warm you up," said Ivo in a perfectly ordinary voice as he
wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

"He wanted to come with me, but he's been looking for you too all the
afternoon and he's -as you so aptly say--dog-tired."

He didn't say any more, but turned the car with a good deal of skill on
the icy road and started for home.  The car skidded several times on
the way back, but Julia, now that the effects of the brandy were
wearing off, was feeling too miserable to notice anything as
trivial--her thoughts were entirely of Ivo's anger with her.  It had
perhaps been foolish of her to have gone so far, but she hadn't got
lost deliberately, it was something which could have happened to
anyone.  She said out loud, "How intolerant you are!"

Ivo laughed, sounding amused and irritated too.

"You do me less than justice--at any moment now you will be telling me
that it was my fault that you got lost."  " He sighed.

"Didn't you look to see where you were going when you started out?"

Julia clutched Ben round the reassuring thickness of his neck as the
car went into another skid.

"Of course I did, but I was thinking.  I --I must have taken a wrong
turning."

"What were you thinking of, Julia?"

She said a little too quickly, "I don't remember."

"Liar," he observed blandly, and didn't speak again until they slid to
a halt before the house.  The door was opened before they had stopped,
revealing Bep and behind her Doctor van den Werff and Jorina.  Julia,
still cold and stiff despite Ben's best efforts, was glad of Ivo's arm
as they went inside, although she essayed a smile as the three of them
crowded round her.

"A hot bath," said Doctor van den Werff, 'a hot drink too.  How do you
feel, Julia?  You poor child, I feel responsible.  "

Julia, who had expected a scolding or at least reproaches for being so
stupid, felt a strong desire to burst into tears again.  Kindness was
something she hadn't reckoned with and her voice wobbled a bit as she
said, "I'm sorry I was so silly and gave you all so much trouble," and
was patted and soothed by the three of them, but all Ivo did was to
say, "You'd better do as you're told or we shall have you sneezing over
us all."

She nodded without looking at him and followed Bep upstairs with
Jorina, an arm round her waist, beside her.  As they went she heard Ivo
ask his father, Where's Marcia?  " which had the effect of starting her
tears again, to her own great surprise and when she mumbled an apology,
Jorina said kindly, " You're tired and I expect you were frightened
too--I should have been--and it must have been very cold, yes?  "

"Yes," said Julia.

She went downstairs a couple of hours later, warm once more and looking
exactly as she always did in her neat uniform, save for her beautiful
face which was a little pale.  They were all in the sitting room and
while Ivo had nothing to say his father called to her to go and sit
with him and asked her very kindly if she felt well enough to stay
up.

"We put dinner back," he explained, 'but you can just as easily have it
in bed if you wish.  "

Julia said shyly, "That's very kind of you, doctor, but I feel quite
well, thank you, only very foolish."  She glanced across the room to
where Marcia was sitting by the fire.

"I'm so sorry.  Miss Jason," she began, 'for being such a nuisance--I
hope I didn't spoil your day or cause you any inconvenience.  "

Miss Jason bowed her head in graceful acknowledgement of this apology
and said with a sickening graciousness, "Well, I daresay it has taught
you a lesson, nurse.  You are, I imagine, an impetuous young woman,
lacking the intellectual powers of the more intelligent person, who
would have given all the aspects of a walk in the country at this time
of year the deliberation they deserve."

Julia took a few moments to unwind this prosy speech and make sense of
it.  She didn't care for it all; she was willing to admit that she had
been at fault, but she wasn't going to be preached over.  She opened
her mouth to say so and was forestalled in the nick of time by Ivo, who
said smoothly, "Most unjust, Marcia, as well as making a great fuss
about nothing.  We have all been lost at some time or other, found, and
brought home.

There's nothing so special about going for a walk even at this time of
year, and not all of us find it necessary to weigh the pros and cons
before we do so.  " He turned to Jorina and said easily, " Do you
remember the time you went to find St.

Nikolaas --how old were you?  Five?  You looked like a snowman when I
found you and you kicked me all the way home because I wouldn't let you
go on looking for him.  " They laughed together and Jorina answered, "
And what about that time you felt sure you'd failed your exams and came
in frozen stiff in the middle of my birthday party after Father found
you walking round in circles?  " She laughed across at Julia, seemingly
unaware of the indignant look still on Julia's face.

"You've no idea what a horror Ivo was--still is.  Is your brother like
that?"

Julia smiled despite herself.  Her brother was as unlike Ivo as chalk
from the proverbial cheese.  She shook her head.

"I can't remember him ever doing anything to give anyone a moment's
unease."

"The fellow sounds like a dead bore," observed Ivo carelessly.

"He is."  She saw the little smile curl the corners of his mouth and
added hastily, "He's a very worthy sort of person."

Ivo got up.

"I'll not attempt to compete," he stated lightly.

"Who's for a drink?"

It was when, a moment or two later, he handed her a glass of sherry
that she remembered, far too vividly, the brandy he had poured down her
throat in such an unceremonious fashion a few hours previously, and
flushed up to her eyes under his amused look.  But he didn't say
anything and presently went to sit by Marcia again, and Julia, to her
secret satisfaction, couldn't help but notice that his manner towards
her was a little cool.

There were still several days to Christmas; Julia spent them in
encouraging her patient to overcome what slight disability remained;
determined to atone for the nuisance she had been and doggedly
accepting Miss Jason's chastening lectures, given in her gentle,
modulated voice, which she delivered at least once a day, and if there
was time, twice, so that presently Julia began to feel herself a
slightly inferior being, only tolerated because of her patient's
high-minded principles.  Her common sense told her that this was not,
indeed, the fact, but she was fast losing her self-assurance,
especially as she saw very little of Ivo, and when she did, he treated
her with a casual politeness which made it impossible to talk to him.
Not that she had any desire to talk to him, she told herself
vigorously; let him marry his wretched Marcia and take the
consequences--in five years' time he would be as dreary as his wife;

he would probably wear goloshes and never drive at more than forty
miles an hour and they would have one, or worse, no children because
Marcia would feel herself to be too delicate.  Julia, making her
patient's bed, thumped the pillows with quite unnecessary vigour.

It was that evening at dinner that Jorina announced that she intended
going to the Hague the following day.  Klaas was there for a couple of
days, she said, and she would combine seeing him with some shopping.

"What sort of shopping?"  her father wanted to know.

"Well, there's the party in two days' time, and I might see something I
liked."  She turned to Julia.

"Come with me, its time you had a day to yourself.  Besides, you'll see
nothing of Holland before you go back."

Julia agreed silently; she hadn't had a day off since she had arrived
and although she was paid a handsome salary, she would have liked the
opportunity of spending some of it.  All the same, it had been made
clear to her when she accepted the job that she was to have two half
days a week; nothing had been said about a whole day.  She said now,
"Thank you, Jorina, but that would mean the whole day away, you know,
and you would be away too- I can't leave Miss Jason alone."

Doctor van den Werff put down his knife and fork.

"Why ever not?"  he asked.

"Jorina won't be leaving until ten o'clock or thereabouts;

plenty of time to get Marcia downstairs and Bep can do anything needed
once she is down.  You'll be back long before bedtime.  " He smiled
pleasantly at Marcia.

"You won't mind?  It will be splendid practice for you, for you won't
be needing a nurse much longer, you know.  The quicker you become
independent, the better, eh?"

Thus addressed, there was nothing Marcia could do but agree, albeit
sourly, and she looked even more sour when Ivo said casually, "I've no
cases at the hospital tomorrow, how about going in my car?  I think
that's a better idea than you driving that tin box of yours, Jorina,
and we'll get there much faster.  Besides, the roads aren't too good
and you never could cope with a skid.  There are a number of things I
want to do in the Hague."

Jorina agreed so quickly that Marcia looked up suspiciously, but Ivo's
face was merely blandly inquiring and Jorina looked so innocent that
any doubts she had were discarded.  And Julia listening to this
exchange, had no doubts at all; even if Ivo spent the whole day going
about his own business there was still the drive there and back.  When
he gave her an enquiring look she said at once, I should very much like
to go.  I've been reading a book about the Hague and there are several
places I should like to see.  "

The next morning saw very little improvement in the weather.  A light
frosting of snow had fallen during the night and the sky was leaden.

Although she wasn't a nervous girl, Julia was glad that Ivo would be
driving and not Jorina.  She thought about it with pleasure as she got
Marcia downstairs and comfortably settled with the day's paraphernalia
around her.  She was still thinking about it as she dressed herself
with extra care.  She hadn't many clothes with her, she put on the
brown wool dress, covered it with her top-coat, arranged the fur bonnet
upon her dark head, snatched up her gloves and handbag and danced
downstairs. She hadn't seen Ivo that morning, and the awful thought
that he might have changed his mind about driving to the Hague crossed
her mind as she entered the sitting room.

He hadn't.  He was sitting, ready dressed to go out, on the arm of a
chair, reading the paper and carrying on a desultory conversation with
Marcia while he did so.  He put the paper down as Julia went in and
said, "Hullo, there you are.  Jorina has gone to the kitchen to see
Bep."  He got to his feet then swept her out of the room, saying over
his shoulder as he went, "Goodbye, Marcia--I'll do my best to get that
book for you."

Julia, gabbling farewells as they went, was walked across the hall and
outside to where the car was waiting, but when he opened the door and
said genially, "Get in, dear girl," she hung back and enquired if
Jorina wouldn't prefer to sit in front, whereupon he gave her a little
push with the remark, "I've never met such a woman for arguing," and
shut the door upon her, then before she could think of a suitable
answer Jorina arrived and got into the back of the car saying, "Don't
anyone talk to me until I say so--I'm making lists of food for the
party.  Ivo, you'll see to the drinks?  I'll go into Lensvelt Nicola
and get some petits fours..."  There was a pause while she wrote
busily.

"And there's that place in the Lange Vooruit where they sell those
cheesy things, and I want some shoes and another handbag if I see one I
like."

They were already half way to Tilburg.

"Does Klaas come at the top or bottom of the list?"  asked Ivo.

"Top, of course.  If you drop me outside Metz-he said he's going to
wait until I come.  What are you going to do, Julia?"

"I'm going to the top of St.  Jacobskerk tower to see the view," said
Julia promptly, 'and then the Mauritshuis, and then I'm going to take a
look at the Huis den Bosch.  I can't go in, but all the same I'd like
to see it.  "

The rest of the journey passed pleasantly enough, and for Julia it was
a delight, for she had Ivo beside her and just for a few hours she was
determined to forget Marcia and her own imminent return to England.  It
was high time she made a few plans for her future, for she had nowhere
to go, only to her brother's house, and he, although he would give her
house room, would hardly welcome her with open arms after the way she
had treated him.  But it all seemed very far away from the flat, wintry
landscape they were passing through; she concentrated on studying the
places of interest pointed out to her and joined in the cheerful talk
without giving a hint of her more sombre thoughts.

The Hague, once they had reached the heart of the city, was everything
she had imagined an old Dutch city to be, for although Tilburg had
pleased her very much and she had liked Breda, the Hague seemed, once
they were through the suburbs, like a city from the Golden Age.  They
set Jorina down outside Metz, a shop which Julia resolved to explore
should she find the time, and then went through the city to the Huis
den Bosch where Ivo stopped the car.

"Will this suit you?"  he wanted to know cheerfully.

"You can't get lost--just follow the road back into the city again."

Julia looked behind her.

"But it's miles!"

"Oh no--two perhaps, no more."

She eyed him a little uncertainly.

"Where-where shall I meet you, then?"

"Now as to that, supposing we get out of the car and you can take your
fill of the Huis den Bosch as we walk along and discuss it."

He took her arm and marched her along briskly, away from the main road,
and Julia, having looked her fill, said politely, "Thank you, I've had
a good look."  She paused and went on a little apprehensively, "If you
would tell me your plans."

He halted abruptly, and she with him.

"That's better.  First you refuse to have lunch with me, and then you
try to brush me off... My plans depend upon you, Julia.

You'll waste a great deal of time on your own, you know, and you may
not get the chance to come again.  Supposing I take you back now and
leave you in the Noordeinde--a shopping centre where you can't get
lost.  What I have to do won't take above an hour.  I'll wait for you
at the spot where I put you down presently.  We'll have lunch and then
go wherever you want.  Jorina won't be ready until six o'clock.  "
Julia, before she could stop herself, said, " Oh, how lovely!  " and
then, " I shall be a nuisance to you--you said you had things to do.  "
She stared up at him, her eyes shining, her face eager, despite her
words, to meet his own eyes, bright and intent and with an expression
she couldn't read.  An instant later she felt his arms around her.

"So I did," he said calmly, 'and this was one of them," and he bent his
head to kiss her.  And Julia, her common sense blown away by the winter
wind whistling around them, kissed him back.  Even as she did so, she
was regretting it; she couldn't very well have prevented him from
kissing her, but there was absolutely no need to return his kiss.

She said as lightly as her voice would allow, "What silly things one
does at Christmas," and even achieved a laugh with it as she slipped
out of his arms, to feel immediately and illogically put out because he
gave no sign of minding.  She caught herself wondering how Marcia would
have reacted; there was no way of telling what his own feelings were,
although she fancied she could see amusement behind the calmness of his
face.

He didn't answer her remark, only asked casually,

"Have you any shopping to do?  Will an hour be long enough?"

"Oh, plenty," said Julia.  If he was going to be casual, she could be
too.

"I don't intend to do much shopping, only look."

He talked with a disarming friendliness as they drove to the centre of
the city and left her, with strict instructions to be on that same spot
in about an hour's time.  Julia watched the Jensen slide away in the
traffic and felt lost.  But the shop windows were diverting, and she
wandered along, wishing she could buy a great many of the things she
saw, but beyond one or two trifles, she didn't dare because she would
soon be out of work; even if she went back to her hospital, she
wouldn't get any money for the rest of the month, and she didn't think
her brother would think of paying her if she went there.  She stared
into the window of a tiny boutique, exhibiting in its window exactly
the kind of party dress any girl would fall for.  It had no price
ticket, and presently she walked on, staring up at the old houses above
the shops; it would be delightful to go into a shop like that and buy
the dress without even asking the price.  But it was the jewellers'
shops which caught her attention.  She looked in each one, and it was
while she was feasting her eyes upon the contents of one of their
windows that she saw Ivo coming out of an even more opulent jeweller's
across the street.  He was stuffing a small box into a pocket as he
came through the door and judging from the satisfied look on the face
of the man who had opened it for him, he had spent a lot of money .  a
ring for Marcia?  A wedding ring?  Julia turned her back upon both Ivo
and her thoughts and plunged through the door before her, for if she
didn't Ivo would surely see her.

She found herself in a richly furnished shop housing a great many
showcases containing antique silver, diamond tiaras and suchlike
expensive trifles.  She gazed unhappily at a trio of diamond bracelets,
displayed with studied carelessness upon dark blue velvet, and when a
young man approached her and said something in Dutch she turned her
pretty, worried face to his and said apologetically, "I don't want to
buy anything--there was someone I didn't want to meet..."

She looked so forlorn and so beautiful that he instantly dismissed the
idea that she was a thieves' accomplice and smiled kindly at her.

"Please stay if you wish," he said in quite beautiful English, and went
to the door to study the street, and Julia came to peer over his
shoulder.

"He's gone," she breathed thankfully.

"I'll go--it was kind of you..."

He opened the door for her and she went out into the Noordeinde once
more, to stare unseeingly at the shops until it was time to meet Ivo.

He was waiting for her, although she was a little early, but she could
see no car.

"I haven't kept you waiting?"  she asked.

"The shops are so delightful."

He smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"And you have bought nothing?  I find that a miracle.  Jorina would
have an armful of parcels by now."

Julia smiled, wanting to point out that if she had the money his sister
had at her disposal she would have no difficulty in rivalling her
spending powers.  Did he actually think that she didn't like clothes?

He must have guessed her thoughts, for he inquired.  Didn't you see
anything at all you would have liked to buy?  "

She nodded.

"Any number.  There was a dress--a party dress with no price on it--an
extravagant dress."  She added hastily because he made a sudden hasty
movement and she was afraid he might insist on going back to look at
it, and still worse, buy it, "Not the kind of dress I could ever
wear."

He smiled and took her arm.

"That's an arguable point," he observed.

"Now let's have a meal."

They didn't have to walk far, round the corner into Molenstraat to the
Park Hotel and into its restaurant over-looking the gardens of a former
royal palace.  Julia, who hadn't expected anything as grand, went away
to take off her bonnet and returned, quite unconscious of the stares
directed at her dark loveliness, to find that Ivo had ordered the
drinks.

"I chose this place," he explained, 'because it is close to most of the
places you want to visit.  "

He lifted a finger and the hovering waiter handed them menu cards and
stepped back to a discreet distance.  Julia studied hers with deep
interest.  As far as she could see, everything that anyone could
possibly want was on it.

"A starter?"  prompted Ivo.

"How about Mousse d'Avocat?  If you like avocado pears."  Julia, who
had never eaten one, had no intention of telling him so, she nodded and
chose souffle de Turbot Hollandaise, leaving him to decide upon
quenelle of pike Nantua before going into conference with the wine
waiter, but once the important question of what they were going to eat
had been settled, he gave her his undivided attention.

"And what do you think of our shops?"  he wanted to know.

"Super," said Julia briefly, 'only expensive.  " She was eating her
avocado pear and finding it delicious.

He agreed.

"And of course it is Christmas--the shops show all their most tempting
wares.  Did you look at any jewellery?"

Julia kept her eyes on her plate and wished that she didn't flush so
easily.

"Yes-they're marvelous.  The diamonds!"

"You like diamonds?"

She was surprised into looking at him.  The?  Of course--I imagine all
women do.  "

"A safe choice for a man to make, you think?"  He sounded only casually
interested.

Julia eyed her turbot with a sudden lack of appetite.

"Very safe," she said, but surely he would have asked Marcia.  "But
women don't have to have diamonds, you know.  I should think most of
them are quite happy with-with turquoises or garnets or something
similar."

"Rubies?"  he asked lightly, smiling.

So it was rubies for Marcia; Julia wondered if he knew that bit about a
good woman being above rubies; probably not.  She said woodenly,
"Definitely rubies," and he went on to talk about something else.  It
was when they were eating dessert--mangoes in champagne--that he
remarked, "How delightful the meals were in Drumlochie House--I often
think of them."

Julia, full of false cheer from the wine and the champagne and
Cointreau which had en wrapped the mangoes, smiled at him.  The too. 
But the meals weren't all that good, you know.  I expect it was because
we were all hungry for most of the time and cold as well.  "

"Lord, yes.  Those bedrooms--mine was like an ice house."

She remembered him lying on the great bed, fast asleep, and smiled.

"You looked like a petrified knight on a tomb," she said, and went a
little pink when he said on a laugh, "Did I?  I shan't tell you what
you looked like."

She avoided his eye, concentrating on her coffee cup.  The conversation
was back on their old easy footing, and it wouldn't do.  Marcia's long
face floated in the air before her, looking reproachful, and much as
Julia disliked her, she couldn't take advantage of her behind her back.
She asked briskly, "Where are we going first?  And can you really spare
the time?"

He assured her that he could and suggested the Ridderzaal, followed by
a visit to the Mauritshuis museum, and lastly the tower of St.
Jacobskerk.  If there was any time over from these treats he declared
that he would see that no second of it was wasted.  The afternoon
arranged, they set off for the Ridderzaal, where the beamed roofs,
stained glass windows and flags which adorned the walls of this
thirteenth-century building satisfied even Julia's lively
imagination.

There weren't many visitors on such a cold afternoon, and the guide,
about to conduct a handful of people round, asked without much interest
if they wished to join his party, but Ivo, after a short parley, walked
her off in the opposite direction to the one in which the guide was
taking and they ambled around undisturbed and almost alone, while he
explained the history of the old place at some length.

The museum was just behind the Ridderzaal, housed in a beautiful
sixteenth-century house.  Here they dawdled amongst the Rembrandts,
Vermeers, Franz Hals and a number of other equally famous painters,
with Julia displaying a knowledge of these treasures which, it amused
her to see, rather surprised her escort.  He said at length, "You know
a great deal."

"Not really," she answered honestly, 'but when I was a student nurse I
hadn't a great deal of money so I spent a lot of time in museums and
picture galleries.  " They were standing in front of Rembrandt's
self-portrait and she smiled at him over her shoulder and surprised a
look on his face which set her heart beating a great deal faster than
it should.  She plunged at once into the first topic of conversation
which entered her head, which was, not surprisingly, Rembrandt.  She
kept up quite a dissertation on him, rivalling her patient in both
length and dullness, and only stopped when Ivo said gently, " It's all
right, dear girl--I'm not sure why you took fright, but there is no
harm in us recapturing our happy times at Drumlochie House, is there?
"

"No," said Julia instantly, 'but it was easy and natural somehow,
wasn't it, to be friends-I suppose it was because we were cut off from
everything, in our own world.  Now we're normal again and it seems
unreal.  " She gave him a frank look.

"You're different, too."

They were walking slowly past priceless paintings which neither of them
saw.

"And you are just the same," said Ivo slowly.

"That's what makes it so hard."  With which cryptic remark she had to
be content.

They went up the tower of St.  Jacobskerk after that, climbing the
steps slowly and then standing to admire the view while Ivo pointed out
the landmarks around them, recounting old tales and snatches of legends
as he did so, so that each one came alive as he spoke.  He told her
about the village of Haghe, where William the Second had had his
hunting lodge, which over the years, had become a town and finally the
city it was before them, still keeping its name "The Hedge'.  Only the
threatening dusk sent them down at last, to hurry through the streets
to Formosa for tea, where they lingered, talking of unimportant things,
and Julia, forgetful of everything but the delightful present, was
happy.

Only later as they walked down Noordeinde to where Ivo had left his car
did she remember, with sudden and painful vividness, Ivo coming out of
the jeweller's shop that morning, but she dismissed it instantly and
gave herself up to the delightful make- believe world of the present.
The future, and Marcia, could be faced when she got back;

meanwhile she stopped, obedient to Ivo's hand on her arm, to admire a
windowful of toys, and vied with him in picking out which she would
have chosen if she had been a child again.

They had only been in the car a minute or so when Jorina joined them,
her arms full of parcels and bubbling over with happiness because she
had spent the whole afternoon with Klaas.

"He's coming to the party, of course," she explained to Julia as Ivo
threaded his way through the city's heart and out of it through the
suburbs.

"He'll stay the night and spend Christmas Day with us--then I shall go
back with him to his family in Arnhem."  She drew a breath and went on,
"I found some shoes--brown calf with black patent leather trimming--a
little expensive, but just what I wanted."

She rattled on happily for the rest of the journey home, un noticing of
the other two's silence, but when they were nearly home she asked, "And
what did you two do?"

Julia told her, with occasional comments from Ivo as she did so, making
it last as long possible because it was easier to talk than to sit and
think.  They were all very gay by the time Ivo drew up in front of the
house; they went inside together, still laughing and talking, to part
in the hall, the girls to go upstairs and Ivo, after taking off his
coat, to enter the sitting room, the books he had promised Marcia under
his arm.

Julia hardly spoke to him that evening, for after dinner he went to his
study and didn't come out until after she had coaxed Marcia up to bed.
She went to her own room herself once she had her patient safely
between the sheets, for she was tired after her day's sightseeing and
even more wearied from Marcia's low-voiced utterances, all of which
reiterated her selfless wish to see others enjoying themselves even at
the expense of her own comfort and happiness.  She had taken care to
utter none of these remarks in front of Ivo, though; to him she had
been appealingly wistful, interested in their day in the Hague, and
while expressing her delight at the success of the outing, managed to
convey, without uttering a word to that effect, that both he and Julia
had been both selfish and thoughtless.

Julia, brushing her hair with a violence calculated to tear it out by
the roots, remembered Ivo's slight frown as he had listened to Marcia
and gave her patient credit for being clever.  She got into bed, her
mind a prey to a multitude of thoughts, all of them unhappy.  She was
almost asleep when she remembered that Ivo had kissed her; probably it
had meant nothing to him and it had really no right to mean anything to
her.  All the same, she smiled as she closed her eyes.

CHAPTER SEVEN

the next day was Christmas Eve, and after weeks of bad weather the sun
shone from a pale blue sky, giving the frost it wasn't strong enough to
disperse an added sprinkle.  Julia, going to see how her patient was
before breakfast, stopped for a moment to look out of one of the
landing windows and admire the wintry scene.  It was still not full
daylight, although the sun was making a brave blaze of colour on the
flat horizon, and somewhere outside she could hear Bep calling to Lien,
who came from the village each day to help in the house.  Their voices,
very clear in the frosty air, sounded cheerful, and that, combined with
the sunshine and the aromatic smell of coffee from the kitchen,
contrived to put Julia into a cheerful frame of mind; it was, after
all, Christmas and a time of good fellowship.  She went to Marcia's
room, determined to be kind and considerate and even to try and like
her patient a little.

It was a pity.  that Marcia wasn't of the same mind;

she greeted Julia with a cross face, a muttered greeting and a rather
tart request to hand her a book lying just out of reach.  Julia handed
it to her, forbearing to mention that she could have quite easily got
it for herself, adjusted her patient's pillows to a nicety and went
downstairs to see if the post had arrived.  It had;

she sorted Marcia's scanty mail and went along to the kitchen to get
her early morning tea tray, delaying for a few minutes in order to
practice her scanty Dutch on Bep before going upstairs.  She had
deposited the tray, handed over the letters and was on her way to the
door when she was stopped.

"Nurse Pennyfeather, I must see Ivo at once--ask him to come to me
immediately."  Marcia cast down the letter she.  had been reading and
when Julia didn't move, repeated, "Do go at once!"

Julia stayed just where she was.  She said composedly, "Ivo's having
breakfast--he has to go to Eindhoven this morning.  Had you
forgotten?"

Miss Jason looked at her through narrowed eyes.

"I don't care if he has to go to Timbuktu," she pronounced with
surprising venom.

"He must come and see me!"  She tapped the discarded letter with a
nicely manicured hand.

"Did you know that Mijnheer de Winter hasn't received an invitation to
the party this evening?  After all his kindness to me!

I shall refuse to go unless he is invited immediately.  Go downstairs
and say so, and be quick about it!  "

Julia walked slowly back to the bed and stood looking down at the
bad-tempered face staring up at her.  A pity Ivo couldn't see his
Marcia now--Julia suspected that this was neither the first nor the
last time her patient had allowed her facade of angelic serenity to
slip.  She said in a reasonable voice, her own temper nicely under
control, "I don't much care for the way in which you speak to me.  Miss
Jason.

I'm here to look after you, not to be ordered around or expected to run
to and fro at your beck and call.  You are no longer helpless;

you might try to realise that, I think, and behave with more
consideration to those around you.  If you could remember that we might
get on quite well.  "

She smiled kindly at the astonished face turned to hers and went
without haste from the room.

Ivo was in the hall, putting on his overcoat as she descended the
staircase.  He gave her the briefest of glances, said, "Good morning,
Julia," in an absentminded fashion and made for the door so that she
was forced to put on a turn of speed to reach it when he did.  She said
without preamble, "Marcia wants to see you urgently--she asks that you
should go to her now."

He paused with his hand on the door.

"Well, I can't--didn't you tell her that I was going to Eindhoven? Come
to think of it, I told her myself yesterday evening."

"You must," said Julia firmly, and when he turned a baleful eye upon
her: "It's no good looking at me like that--you didn't invite Mijnheer
de Winter, and Miss Jason says that if he doesn't come, she won't
either.  She's upset."

She saw his frown as he pushed his briefcase and gloves into her hands
and turned and ran up the stairs, two at a time.  She stood at the
door, trying not to hear the faint murmur of voices from her patient's
room, and presently he came down again, his face bleak, took his gloves
and case without a word, opened the door and went away.  She heard the
car tearing down the lane and roar down the road, apparently driven by
a maniac.

The morning went badly after that.  It seemed that Marcia hadn't got
her way and as a result she sulked, although when Jorina was around she
became merely sadly resigned, which was a great deal worse.  How 7

ever, Julia did her best to take no notice of her patient's ill-humour,
but encouraged her to do her exercises in a spirited fashion and when
she was asked to turn up the hem of the dress her patient intended
wearing to the party, did so, although the time spent on it bit deep
into her free afternoon.

The dress was a drab purple, skinnily cut, with a neckline which
exposed far too much of Marcia's boniness, but when Julia suggested,
with all the tact in the world, that the silk jersey hanging in the
wardrobe was one of the prettiest dresses she had seen for a long time,
she met with no success.

"I daresay you do like it, nurse," quoth Miss Jason, 'but with my
slender figure I'm able to wear these clinging styles.  You, of course,
think otherwise, and naturally so, I expect you feel just a teeny bit
envious of us willowy creatures.  It must be difficult for you big
girls to stay in the fashion.  "

Julia murmured a nothing in reply; she had a nice taste in clothes and
had never considered that fashion had passed her by--indeed, from the
admiring glances wolf whistles she collected when out walking, she had
always felt that she was as least as eye-catching at the next girl.

She thought of the pink wool hanging in her cupboard and took comfort
from it.

The party was to be quite a big affair, with a family dinner party at
half past seven and the rest of the guests arriving about nine for what
Jorina had called a chatty evening with dancing.  But Julia, when she
peeped into the drawing room, decided that for once Jorina's English
hadn't been quite accurate, for the room, a large one, had been cleared
for dancing, its magnificent old furniture arranged round its white
painted walls, and the silky carpet rolled up and carried off to some
cupboard or other by Bep.  There were flowers everywhere, and when
Julia put her head round the dining room door, there were flowers there
too, and the table, already decked with a lace cloth and a great deal
of silver and glass, had a magnificent centre-piece of holly and ivy
with Father Christmas, complete with sleigh and reindeer, in the
middle.

Jorina came in while Julia was admiring the flowers and said, "Nice,
eh?  You like it, I hope.  We have twelve for dinner and there will be
about fifty people coming afterwards.  A nice large party, but this
time, bigger than usual, but there is room enough for everyone."

She moved a bowl of hyacinths from one table to another and asked, "And
Marcia, she feels better now?  Does she come to the party after all?"
She didn't wait for Julia to answer but went on, "And why are you not
off duty, Julia?"

"I've been altering a dress for Marcia," said Julia, and choked back a
laugh as Jorina exclaimed, "Not tighter, I hope, or cut lower in the
neck--if there are no curves what is the point of letting everyone
see?"

She turned round as Bep came into the room with a tray of coffee.

"Now we will sit down and drink our coffee-how fortunate that Marcia
feels that she should rest.  Was Ivo very angry this morning?"

Julia accepted her cup.

"Very," she stated simply, remembering his bleak face.  They sipped in
a comfortable silence, broken by Jorina.

"I wish to talk," she stated flatly.

"I have wished to talk for many days now.  I talk to Vader and he
laughs a little and says things have a way of putting themselves right,
and I talk to Ivo and that is worse, for although he listens and is
polite he is also very angry, so now I talk to you because I think that
we are friends."

Julia heard her with mixed feelings.  Jorina was going to talk about
Marcia and Ivo.  That she didn't like Marcia, Julia was pretty sure,
probably she disliked the idea of having her for a sister-in-law.  She
said a little unhappily, "Well, I suppose it's all right and I'm glad
you think of me as a friend, I like you too, but would Ivo mind?"

"Of course he would mind, but you will not tell and I certainly shall
not."  She went on as Julia had expected she would, "It is about
Marcia."  She took Julia's cup and refilled it, then refilled her
own.

"You see he doesn't love her--I don't suppose he ever did.  Only when
they first met she was clever..."  Julia gave her a questioning look
and she went on quickly, "I will explain.  A long time ago, when Ivo
was twenty--twenty-one, he met a girl--she was pretty and--and
frivol--how do you say?"

"Frivolous?"  essayed Julia.

"Bird-witted?"

Jorina nodded.

"Yes--she led Ivo by the nose, she was so very pretty, you see, and gay
and amusing and a little naughty, and then after a few months she
married someone else with a great deal of money, and although Ivo has
plenty of money too, it was not enough, so for years he had not loved
any girl.

"And then last year he meets Marcia at some lecture or other and I
think that someone has told her about him because she does not try to
flirt or attract him, only she lets him see that she has a good brain
and that she reads Greek and Latin and is a very serious person, so he
thinks, " Here is a girl who is not after my money or out for a good
time", and they become friendly and go to lectures and theatres and
concerts--all very dull.  Then she is taken ill, and while she is still
in hospital Ivo has to go to Edinburgh, and although I am quite sure he
has never mentioned marriage to her, she hints and suggests..  it is as
if she has convinced him that he was responsible for her getting
polio--I do not know how."

"Where did Marcia catch it?"  asked Julia quickly.

"At a party to which Ivo took her.  She did not wish to go because it
was to be gay with dancing, but he persuaded her, and it was after that
that she became ill."  She shrugged her shoulders.

"So when she is able to leave hospital she asks that she may come and
stay with us until she is strong enough to travel, and because Ivo is
not here and we do not know how he feels about her, we agree.  But six
months is a long time and I think--I know that Ivo does not wish to
marry her, but she pretends to him that she loves him very dearly, so
he is kind to her, for she is ill and perhaps he thinks that in his
absence her feelings will change and everything will arrange itself.
But you see how she behaves towards him, Julia; she will marry him,
although she does not love him, and I shall not forgive her."

"Can't you tell her--I mean how Ivo feels?"  hazarded Julia.

"No--he wouldn't stand for that, would he?  Can't he tell her?"

"Not Ivo.  You see, he thinks that she loves him and she pretends--you
think that she pretends too?"

"Yes, she doesn't care a row of buttons for him," said Julia
vehemently, and then had to pause to explain about the row of
buttons.

"She's in love-as far as she can be-with that awful de Winter man."

"Then why doesn't she tell Ivo that she doesn't love him?"

Julia thought about this and then said slowly, "I'm not sure," although
she was almost certain she was.  Marcia had been flattered by Ivo's
attention--who wouldn't have been?  Probably she had decided to marry
him within a few weeks of meeting him, but was far too clever to let
him see that.  When she became ill she had made the most of Ivo's pity
and concern for her; possibly she had written him letters calculated to
keep that concern alive while he was away--and then August de Winter
had come along and in her odd way, she had fallen in love with him, but
because she was uncertain of him she had refused to let Ivo go, and
now, although she didn't want him any more, she was going to keep up
her deception until Julia had returned to England and there was no
likelihood of Ivo falling in love with her.  because he had fallen in
love with her, she wasn't sure how much, and it seemed unlikely that
she would ever know.  She could of course go to Ivo and tell him about
Marcia and August de Winter, and he would despise her for it.  She
sighed and said, "Marcia is a very clever woman and there's nothing we
can do about it.  He'll have to find out for himself and let's hope it
won't be too late when he does."

Jorina surveyed her narrowly, her nice blue eyes thoughtful.

"Is it not strange," she said, 'that we are unable to say to each other
what we would wish to say?  One day, perhaps.  What shall we do?  I had
thought of telling Ivo, but I cannot--I suppose you would not?  "

Julia gave her a horrified look.  The?  Heavens, no!  Not for all the
tea in China.  "

She had to explain that too, she was still doing so when Doctor van den
Werff came in and asked with some surprise if they didn't intend to
change.

"I know it's still early, but I daresay you'll take a long time, and we
shall need a drink before everyone arrives."

He smiled at them both and went away again and Julia got up to go.

"I don't take long to change, actually, but Marcia will need help."

Her patient dressed with more eagerness than Julia had expected, and it
was while she was zipping the dreary purple up its back that Marcia
said coolly, "I telephoned Mijnheer de Winter while you were downstairs
and asked him to come on my own account.  Since Ivo disregarded my
wishes I was forced to take matters into my own hands."

Julia fastened the little hook at the top of the zip.

"To dinner?"  she asked with admirable calm.

"There are guests, that will make the numbers wrong.  And he's not one
of the family."

Miss Jason admired herself in the pier glass.

"Nor are you, nurse," her voice was spiteful, 'and Ivo should have
thought of that--he must learn to have some regard for my wishes.  "

Julia tried again.

"But, Miss Jason, it's not your party--you're a guest in the house."

Marcia turned round to face her, without, Julia noticed mechanically,
any difficulty.

"And what business is that of yours?  Perhaps you're afraid you'll be
asked to dine in your room in order to make the numbers right."  She
turned back again and smiled slowly at her reflection.

"This colour suits me-I'll rest now if you want to go."

Julia went.  If she changed very quickly she would have time to go and
tell Jorina so that something could be done about dinner.  She raced
through her bath and was about to put on her dress when she decided to
find Jorina at that very moment and not wait any longer.  She flung on
her dressing gown and with her feet thrust into slippers and her hair
streaming blackly down her back, she ran across to Jorina's room,
tapped on the door and went in.  Jorina was there, also in her dressing
gown, and Ivo, still in his dark grey suit, was sitting on the end of
her bed.

"Oh, lord," said Julia helplessly, and turned to go, to be stopped by
Ivo's half-laughing: "Don't run away, Julia--it's not the first time
I've seen you in a dressing gown with your hair dripping round your
shoulders.  What's the matter?  Or have you come to borrow something
feminine I'm not supposed to know about?"

Julia advanced into the room.

"Look," she said urgently, "I wasn't going to tell you, but since
you're here--and you'll know soon enough anyway-Marcia has just told me
she's invited Mijnheer de Winter to dinner and I feel mean telling you
because I'm sure she didn't mean me to."  She ignored Ivo's laugh and
went on, "But you had to know, because that'll make thirteen at table
and that would never do--I'll have dinner in my room, it's such a good
idea and no one will be any the wiser.  Actually I didn't think of it,
Marcia did..."

"The devil she did," said Ivo, and then seriously, "There's no question
of you not coming to dinner," and she realised then that he was indeed
very angry.

"I'll telephone someone--we'll sit down fourteen.  There's no need to
tell Marcia, for there's no point in arguing about it at this late
hour.  Thank you for telling us, dear girl--no one need know, just we
three, and Bep of course, but she's a tower of silence!"  He smiled
suddenly and Julia felt her heart slide away into a spiralling pulse.

"Hadn't you better finish dressing, dear Miss Pennyfeather?  You look
sensational as you are, but no one would eat anything if you appeared
at table like that."

He accompanied her to the door and opened it and as she went past him
murmured wickedly, "If you need any help I'd be delighted."

She cast him a withering glance and flew down the passage and heard his
laugh as she shut her door.

As she dressed it occurred to her that he hadn't been much upset by
Marcia's conduct; she had been prepared to be sympathetic, but now it
seemed that sympathy was wasted on him.

She put on the new pink dress, piled her hair elegantly and scented her
person with "Femme' before studying herself in the long mirror on the
wall.  The dress suited her with its high neck and long sleeves and the
simplicity of its cut.  She went along to Marcia's room to remind her
that it was time to join the family downstairs and tried not to notice
the inimical look in Marcia's eyes as they lighted upon her.  Miss
Jason, although ready, was unwilling to go down.

"Kindly go and fetch Ivo," she said.

"I should like him to help me downstairs."

It was on the tip of Julia's tongue to tell her that she needed no
help, but there was no point in spoiling she hoped was to be a
delightful evening.  She went downstairs and had reached the bottom
step as Ivo came out of his study.  She stammered a little as she spoke
to him because he looked handsomer than ever in his dinner jacket, as
well as a little remote, but there was nothing remote about his
greeting.  He walked across the hall towards her and took her hands,
held her arms wide and studied her with cool leisure.

"Delightful," he pronounced, and for a moment she thought that he was
going to say something else, but he didn't, so she gave him Marcia's
message, standing there, still holding hands, and was a little
surprised when he said lightly, "Ah, yes--this is Marcia's great night,
isn't it?"

"Because she's going to dance?"

She didn't understand why he smiled.

"That among other things," he said in a teasing voice, and led her
across the hall to the sitting room where the rest of the dinner party
were gathering, and handed her over to his father before he went
upstairs, to return very soon with Marcia clinging to his arm.  Hard on
their heels came August de Winter, looking nervous, and Julia, who
disliked him very much, found it in her heart to pity him because of
the perfect and icy politeness, with which he was greeted by Ivo and
his father;

anyone with a thinner skin might have turned tail and left the party on
some trumped-up excuse, but he seated himself on a sofa beside Marcia
and began a low-voiced conversation with her, while Ivo, looking too
bland for Julia's peace of mind, turned to greet the last and
fourteenth guest.  And no wonder he had looked so bland, she thought,
and was thankful that she had wasted no sympathy on him, as he
obviously needed none.  The girl who came in was small and blonde and
very pretty with laughing blue eyes and a gaiety which was infectious.
She was wearing the sort of dress most girls long to wear and dared
not, and she greeted Ivo with a disturbing familiarity which troubled
Julia a little, and the rest of the company with charm, and then, as if
drawn by a magnet, fastened like a leech upon Mijnheer de Winter, who
was, willy-nilly, prised from Marcia with a neatness which could only
earn Julia's wholehearted approbation.  She felt almost sorry for the
man struggling to withstand the laughing blue eyes of this dolly,
against whom he had no chance, and at the same time retain his dignity
in Marcia's eyes.  He gave up the struggle very soon and was led away,
leaving her on the sofa where she was immediately joined by Doctor van
den Werff, who, disregarding her discomfiture, broke at once into easy
conversation.

Dinner was fun, at least for Julia, who had Ivo's other brother,
Pieter, on one side of her and an uncle on the other--the uncle was, as
was to be expected, a doctor too.  They talked lightheartedly and made
her laugh a great deal as they ate their way through oyster soup, filet
of beef Meurice and gateau St.

Honore, washed down with a variety of wines which certainly
contributed, as far as she was concerned, to a delightful meal.  It was
a leisurely one too; by the time they had all repaired to the drawing
room, they were joined almost at once by the first of the guests, and
when someone started a CD player, everyone took to the floor.  Julia,
partnered by yet another cousin who begged her to call him Bill,
watched Marcia rise to her feet and circle the room slowly with Ivo, an
action made all the more conspicuous because they were doing the
foxtrot while everyone else was gyrating in a more up-to-date
fashion.

Her partner watched them too and observed, "Is that the young lady who
was stricken by polio?  A marvelous recovery--in fact she looks as
though she's been recovered for some time."

"Are you a doctor?"  asked Julia suspiciously.

He smiled at her charmingly.  She thought he was rather nice, not young
any more, but possessed of a friendly manner and a pair of twinkling
eyes which could, she suspected, be keen as well.

"Yes, my dear young lady; married, with three children, otherwise I
would be sitting out with you on the stairs.  Has anyone ever told you
that you're beautiful?"

"Yes," said Julia tranquilly, 'they have, but thank you just the
same.

What made you say that about Miss Jason?  "

She was right about the eyes; they became keen on the instant.

"Nothing, my dear, nothing--only it seems to me that she's been here a
very long time.  In my experience fairly mild cases--fairly severe ones
too--respond well to modern treatment and pull their weight once they
are on their feet.  I should have thought she would have wanted to go
home.  Has she no family?"

"Oh, yes--her father's a solicitor in England, somewhere in the
Midlands."

He made an amused face.

"I don't like your Midlands.  I also would not wish to return there.
What do you think of Lise?"

"She's the prettiest thing I've seen for weeks," Julia said
sincerely.

They were joined then by more people and almost at once Julia was asked
to dance again; this time her partner was young, and although his
English wasn't good, they carried on an animated conversation,
understanding each other very well, laughing a good deal as they
danced.  She had a number of partners after that and would doubtless
have danced all night if she hadn't caught sight of Marcia, sitting
between two great-uncles, and looking discontented.  Julia, who had no
idea of the time, and didn't really care, deduced that Marcia had had
enough of the party;

she slipped between the dancers and joined the little group.

"I wondered if you were tired, Miss Jason," she began, although Miss
Jason didn't look tired, only cross which, Julia thought
sympathetically, was natural enough, for there was no sign of Ivo and
none of August de Winter.

"I thought you danced beautifully," she went on.

"What a triumph after all those months."

"I fail to see what triumph there is in dancing round a room.  Nurse
Pennyfeather.  I shall go to bed in half an hour, if you could remember
I shall be glad of your help."

"I'll remember," said Julia, and smiled at the two old gentlemen as she
slipped away.  If she had only half an hour of the evening left, it
would be nice to dance until the last moment of it.  She was passing
the open door to the hall when Ivo's arm shot out and caught her
gently.

"There you are," he said pleasantly.

"We haven't danced, dear Miss Pennyfeather."  He swung her into the
crowd.

"Having a good time?"

"Super.  Marcia wants to go to bed in half an hour though, and I shall
go up with her.  I--I saw her dancing.  She was marvelous."

She looked up at him and he returned her look with a half smile.

"I think August de Winter has enjoyed himself too," he remarked
silkily.

Julia was stricken by a sudden thought.

"Did you do it on purpose, Ivo?"

He made no pretence of not knowing what she meant.

"Of course, dear girl, surely you know by now how disagreeable I can
be?"  He smiled again, his blue eyes fierce, and then said in quite a
different voice, "Has anyone told you that you look beautiful this
evening?  You do.  I like that demure pink thing-you put every other
woman here in the shade, Julia."

"Who's Lise?"  asked Julia, who had been longing to know all the
evening.

"Pretty, isn't she?  She's theatre sister at Tilburg hospital. Jealous,
dear girl?"

Julia went pink.  She said much too quickly, "Of course not, how
ridiculous," and knew that she was, wildly jealous.

"Anyway, why ask me?  Is that why you invited her?"  she went on,
following her own train of thought.  She gave him a severe look which
he ignored.

"She can't hold a candle to you, Julia.  James must be mad to let you
out of his sight."

"Oh, James--pooh," said Julia impatiently.

"I shan't marry him."

"No, I know that.  Why do you keep looking at the clock?"

She reminded him about Marcia and said hesitantly, "Would you like to
dance with her once more, or--or talk to her before she goes to bed?"

For answer he drew her through the door they were passing.  The hall
was dimly lighted and empty as they walked over to the fire burning in
the steel grate at the back of the hall.

"You're going to miss the rest of the party," he said kindly.

"Come down again even if everyone has gone.  I want to wish you a Happy
Christmas before we go to bed."

They went back together through the babel of laughter and talk and when
they reached Marcia, Ivo helped her to her feet and in the little
silence which had fallen, said pleasantly, "I'm sure you're all glad to
see what a marvelous recovery Marcia has made.  She's going to her room
now, but don't think that that signals the end of the evening."

He smiled, his face calm, but when he would have gone to the door with
her, Marcia held back, shaking her head playfully at him in a manner
which Julia found quite nauseating.

"You're all so kind," she said,

'and I am so happy.  I should say-we are so happy.  " She looked up at
Ivo who, Julia was relieved to see, wore a polite, impersonal air of
friendliness; if he loved Marcia, then he was hiding it most
successfully, and now would have been a wonderful time to have
announced his intention to marry--if he was going to marry.  With a
sudden uplift of spirits she realised that he wasn't going to do
anything of the sort, but equally, he wasn't going to humiliate Marcia
either.  It was the cousin from Utrecht who said exactly the right
thing.

"Well, of course we're all happy," he remarked loudly.

"You're cured, Marcia, which means you're happy because you're the
patient, and Ivo's happy because he's the doctor, and we're all happy
because you have been able to enjoy the party.  Let's drink a toast to
that."

The toast was drunk and Julia, watching Marcia, could see that she was
furiously angry.

As she had expected, her patient took a long time to undress, she
complained in a low, pained voice as each garment was removed and
avowed that permanent damage had been done by reason of the exercise
she had been persuaded, against her will, to take.

"I should never have danced," she stated in the brave, resigned voice
she affected when she wished to draw attention to herself.

"But of course, Ivo insisted."

"There was no reason why you shouldn't," observed Julia cheerfully,
determined to be nice despite her opinion of Marcia's behaviour at the
party.

"I know you've been ill a long time, but you're as good as new again,
you know.  You can't stay an invalid all your life."

Miss Jason had nothing to say to this, instead she complained once
again, this time about the ache in her legs.

"Only your muscles--time they were used a little more," said Julia
reassuringly, but despite her strong feelings, her hands were gentle
as, without any show of impatience, she began to massage her patient's
legs.  By the time she had finished and Marcia had declared herself
ready to sleep, they could hear the last of the cars driving away; the
guests had gone, the party was over.  All the same, Julia, when she
found herself free, did as she had promised and went downstairs to a
house strangely quiet after the cheerful hubbub of the evening.  The
fire in the hall was dying down; its heat had brought out the scent of
the flowers in a great bowl on one of the console tables and she
sniffed appreciatively as she passed it on the way to the drawing room.
The drawing room was empty, but when she went into the sitting room it
was to find Doctor van den Werff, his three sons, his daughter-in-law
and Jorina and Klaas clustered round the fire, a tray of coffee in the
middle and the whisky decanter to hand.

Jorina said comfortably, "We've been talking about the party.  Did you
enjoy it too?"  and when Julia said that she had, very much, they all
started talking about it once more, and continued to do so until Doctor
van den Werff got up to go to bed, followed, in ones and twos by
everyone else, but when Julia went to follow them, Ivo said softly,
"Not you, Julia--stay a few minutes longer."  So she stayed, sitting
back comfortably in the deep chair, watching the flickering fire and
not talking at all.  Ivo had nothing to say either, but it was peaceful
there together; somehow there seemed no need for words.  But when the
clock struck a silvery half hour she roused herself, exclaiming, "The
time!  I simply must go to bed," and was taken aback when Ivo said
quietly, "There is really no need to talk, is there?"  and smiled in
such a way that she got to her feet rather more hastily than she had
intended.

"It was a lovely party," she gabbled.

"I'll say goodnight," but Ivo had stood up with her and before she
could move away had caught her hands in his.

"It's Christmas Day, Julia--the first day of Christmas."  He let her
hands go and fished around in his pocket, to produce a small jeweller's
box of red leather and then lift her hand to curl the fingers round
it.

"I hope you'll like it, dear Miss Pennyfeather."

She opened her hand and looked at the box.

"May I open it now?"  she asked in a small voice, and taking his
silence for consent, lifted the lid.  There were earrings inside,
resting on white velvet.  They were early Victorian, she guessed, small
golden crescents ornamented with filigree work in the centre of which
was suspended a red stone, set in gold--they looked like rubies, but as
it wasn't very likely that Ivo would buy her rubies, she supposed them
to be paste, but paste or not, the earrings were very beautiful.  She
said so in a warm voice and asked if they were Dutch, and when he said
briefly, "Yes," she went on, "Thank you, Ivo, what a lovely present.  I
want to try them on."

She smiled at him and went across to the baroque mirror on the wall and
slipped the delicate little hooks in, swinging her pretty head from
side to side to see the effect.  She began.

"They're much too..."

but was interrupted by his, "No, they are not, Julia," and something in
his voice prevented her from going on, so she said instead, "Thank you.
Ivo --what a lovely way to start the first day of Christmas."  She
smiled at him in the mirror and he said lightly, "Wear them tomorrow,
Julia--think of them as a small return for what you have done for
Marcia, if you will."

"Very well, Ivo.  And now I think I'll go to bed.  Good night."

In her room, she took the earrings out of her ears and laid them back
in their little box; they had done nothing to discourage her impossible
daydreams; it was time she used a little common sense.  She got into
bed and late though it was, spent some considerable time poring over
the time-tables she had purchased in Oisterwijk, so that she could
return to England with the least possible fuss, just as soon as Doctor
van den Werff suggested she should do so.

She was early for breakfast next morning, but Jor- ina was already at
breakfast with Ivo and her father, although no one else had come
down.

They greeted her with a cheerful chorus of Merry Christmases and she
sat down, to find a small pile of gaily wrapped packages by her
plate.

She jumped up again at once and said, a little confused, "Oh, I left
mine upstairs- I wasn't quite sure--I'll get them."

She was back in a minute to give her own small presents before opening
her own.  Bep's was first-- a small Delft blue candlestick, complete
with its blue candle.  The second was a French silk scarf in coffee
patterned with greens and blues, from Jorina, and lastly there was a
large square box, which turned out to be marrons glaces, most
extravagantly packed and beribboned, from the doctor.  She had scarcely
finished thanking them when Jorina asked, "What did Ivo give you?"

Julia glanced at him across the table.  He had finished his breakfast
and was sitting back in his chair, very relaxed, smiling a little.

"Earrings," she said simply, 'quite beautiful.  Gold crescents with red
stones.  " She smiled widely, remembering them.

"I shall wear them when I change."

By the time she was free from her duties, everyone had gone to
church.

It would have been nice to have gone too, even in a foreign language
church would have made the day more Christmassy.  She had hoped that
Marcia might have expressed a wish to go with the family, but she had
protested gently when she had been invited to join them, and Julia had
spent the greater part of the morning encouraging her to exercise
herself, something she was loath to do.

They all met again at lunchtime, for although Jorina had come upstairs
with a request that Marcia and Julia should go down for drinks, Marcia
had refused on the grounds that her legs ached.  Julia spent half an
hour massaging them once more before her patient felt fit for the
journey downstairs, and when they eventually reached the sitting room
it was to find the men closeted in Ivo's study, enjoying themselves
from the sound of things, and Jorina and her sister-in-law sitting
together, drinking sherry.  They greeted Marcia kindly enough, but
their kindliness didn't quite make up for the reception she had
expected, for she said in some surprise, "I had expected everyone to be
here..."

Jorina offered her a drink, was refused and said, "Well, you know what
men are--they're in Ivo's study, drinking whisky--they'll be out
presently."

Marcia sat down, took the various packages from Julia which she had
been bidden to carry downstairs, and said, "Well, in that case..."

and handed Jorina her gift with a flowery speech which its contents
hardly merited.  Julia, eyeing it, decided she could have well done
without it, had it been offered to her;

perhaps she had been lucky in the bookmark after all, for Jorina was
staring nonplussed as The Seven Types of Ambiguity and quite obviously
searching for the right words with which to express her thanks.

The other men came in then and Marcia gave first doctor and then Ivo
their gifts and then accepted theirs with a girlish flutter which
caused Julia to get up and walk over to the window, from where she
watched the doctor unwrap a diary which he exclaimed over politely,
tactfully omitting to mention that he received several of exactly the
same pattern, free each Christmas, from the various pharmaceutical
firms enjoying his patronage.  Ivo thanked her gravely too his face
blandly polite as he exhibited a tie, a floral one very gay and
aggressively nylon--and he, Julia was certain, wore nothing but pure
silk, handmade, and those in dark rich colours.  And for Bep, Marcia
had nothing at all, which didn't worry her in the least, for after her
own careless, "Oh, her--I'd forgotten," she undid her own presents. 
And very dull too, thought Julia while her patient exclaimed
rapturously over a Greek-English dictionary which the doctor had
thoughtfully given her and a beautifully bound volume of Montaigne's
Essays from Ivo--not a very loving gift, thought Julia, and felt a
guilty delight in her earrings.

Lunch, a light meal, because they were going to dine traditionally that
evening, passed off smoothly enough, and Julia, watching Ivo discreetly
through her long lashes, could see nothing in his pleasant friendly
manner towards Marcia to suggest that he was in love with her, although
she was shrewd enough to realise that he wasn't a man to show his
feelings in public--at least, she amended, only if his feelings got the
better of him, and those, she considered, he had nicely under control.
It was a pity she could tell nothing from his face.  He was looking at
her now and she hadn't heard a word he said.

"Daydreaming," he remarked.

"I'll have to say it all again.  What are you going to do this
afternoon?"

Go for a walk," she replied promptly, because it was the first thing to
enter her head.

"I'll come with you if I may," he said easily.

"I could do with some exercise."

Without looking at her Julia knew that Marcia was annoyed, although
when she spoke, that young woman's voice was as well modulated as
always, although faintly long-suffering.

"Ivo," she said, "I had hoped that we might have had a pleasant
afternoon--do you know, we've hardly talked since you have been
back?"

"Indeed?"  Ivo was at his silkiest, but perhaps it was because he was
still annoyed about August de Winter and wanted to teach her a
lesson.

Julia frowned; she didn't care be used for his convenience--she
wouldn't go for a walk.  "This evening, perhaps," Ivo went on vaguely
with a pleasant smile.

"Shouldn't you rest now?"  He glanced across at Jorina.

"We're dining early, aren't we, Jorina?"  -and when she nodded
continued to Marcia, "There are a few friends coming in this evening,
you don't want to be too tired."

They got up from the table and as they did so he said to Julia, "Hadn't
you better hurry up and change, or we shall have no time for our walk,"
and because there seemed to be a little pause in the talk as he spoke,
Julia said meekly that yes, she would go right away.

It was barely a quarter of an hour later when she came flying down the
stairs again, warmly wrapped against the cold, the fur bonnet tied
securely under her chin, her feet snug in high leather boots.  She
pulled on her gloves as she reached the last stair and looked around
for Ivo.  He was lounging in his study doorway, watching her, and as
she exclaimed, "Oh, there you are," crossed the hall to meet her,
exclaiming, "You look so happy, dear girl.  Why is that?"

She was happy, but it was impossible to tell him that it was because
she was going to spend the afternoon with him.

"It's Christmas," she stated, as though that explained everything.

They started off briskly, for although, for once, the sun was shining
and the sky was almost clear of clouds, there had been a heavy frost
during the night and it was cold.

They walked in silence, and Julia, trying to think of something
ambiguous that would hold no pitfalls conversation wise asked, "Was the
church full?"

He tucked a hand beneath her elbow.

"Yes, very.  I wish you could have been there.  I had hoped that you
might be."

"So did I, but I couldn't have left Marcia.  She was tired after the
party--it was wonderful to see her dancing."

His hand tightened and she winced from the pain.

"Don't let's talk about her, not now, Julia.  Let's pretend we're back
at Drumlochie House."

On the way back Julia asked, "How many people are coming tonight,
Ivo?"

"Oh, a dozen or so--mostly neighbouring doctors and friends from the
hospitals--they don't stay late.  I'm afraid it's a splendid chance for
us to talk shop.  Jorina will be glad to have you there to break us up
when we get too engrossed."

"Jorina's a dear," said Julia with conviction.

"She'll be a wonderful wife.  Klaas is a lucky man."

Ivo stopped to stare down at her.

"And whoever gets you for a wife will be a lucky man too, Julia."

Her heart sank a little; it seemed as though he took it for granted
that she would marry; someone in England, in the future neither of them
knew anything about.  She told herself she was being foolish and said
too brightly, "Oh, no, he won't.  I don't think I'm very' good with
money and I love pretty clothes and I'm not in the least clever."

"You sound ideal," said Ivo, and put up a hand and pushed her bonnet to
the back of her head so that her black hair spilled out.  He pushed
that aside too, gently.

"You're wearing the earrings," he said, and smiled a little.

"Of course.  Aren't they lovely?"  she wanted to know, and went pink
when he said, "Almost as lovely as you, Julia."

He bent and kissed her gently and said, as he had said before, "Only a
seasonal greeting," and then tucked her hair back inside the bonnet and
pulled it forward.  And Julia, shaken by his quiet, serious face, said,
as she too had said, "Yes--well, shouldn't we be going back?"

That night, lying in bed with the house quiet around her and only the
wind in the trees outside to disturb her thoughts, Julia tried to make
plans again, but it was of no use and she allowed her thoughts to drift
instead to the pleasant evening they had all enjoyed.  For it had been
that; they had dined off roast turkey with its attendant chestnut
stuffing and cranberry sauce and what Jorina described as English
vegetables culled from an old copy of Mrs.  Beeton's cookery book. 
There was even a Christmas pudding, and Julia had found it rather
touching that Jorina had gone to such pains to have everything just
right.  They had finished with crackers to pull and the champagne which
Ivo had produced had loosened their tongues to a gaiety which even
Marcia joined in.

Later, when the guests had arrived, it had been fun too; they had
teased her in their beautiful English about the few words of Dutch she
managed to say and she had laughed with them, not in the least put out,
and even contrived to add to her vocabulary.

Somehow Ivo had been beside her for the greater part of the evening,
and when everyone had gone and she was waiting at the foot of the
stairs while Marcia said her good nights he had come to her and asked
her if she had had a happy day.  She had nodded, her eyes alight with
happiness, the earrings dancing, and had longed to ask him if he had
been happy too--and didn't dare for fear of the answer.  So she had
smiled at him, saying nothing, her vivid face aglow, forgetful of her
feelings, and then turned to see Marcia watching them from the drawing
room door.

She hadn't been surprised when Marcia, as she was getting ready for
bed, asked her who had given her the earrings; she had been able to
answer naturally enough that it was Ivo.

"Something to remind me of Holland when I go back," she said lightly,
and Marcia had said nothing to that, nor had she made answer when
presently Julia wished her goodnight.

In her own room she had taken the earrings off and laid them carefully
away in their little box.  She didn't think she would wear them for a
long time, not until she could bear to think of Ivo without wanting to
burst into tears--something which she immediately did.

CHAPTER EIGHT

julia, sleeping heavily after a wakeful night, was roused by Jorina's
knock early the next morning.  She was already dressed in her outdoor
things and said happily, "Klaas and I are just off.  The others have
just gone--I know it's early, but I wanted to say goodbye, as I shan't
be back for a day or two.  There's the date to fix for the wedding and
several things to decide about the flat, and Klaas is free until the
twenty-eighth."

She sat down on the end of the bed and looked closely at Julia.

"You look--have you been crying?  I do believe you have.  Has Ivo been
beastly to you?  He can be a perfect fiend if he loses his temper.  The
trouble is, it's hard to tell when he does, because he goes all
remote."

Julia shook her head.

"No, it's not Ivo."  Perhaps it would have been better if he had been
remote and stayed that way, then she could have nurtured a dislike of
him.

"Oh--it's Marcia, is it?  I expect she took exception to the
earrings--they're rather nice, aren't they?  I like rubies."  Jorina
ignored Julia's open mouth and went on smoothly, "It's her own fault.

I mean, if you're fool enough to despise such things, you deserve to
get dry-as-dust books, don't you?  You know, Julia, I'm beginning to
wonder if she will ever go back to England.  I asked Ivo and he looked
like a thundercloud and told me to keep my nose out of his
business--there's a brother for you!  But all that awful coyness at the
party-I mean, anyone listening to her might have thought .  it's going
to make it much harder for him.  "

"Why?"  asked Julia, trying to look disinterested.

"Well, as long as he thought Marcia was really in love with him I
believe he would have gone to any length not to hurt her, but now he
knows about August de Winter, he'll wait his chance to-to disengage
himself without making her look a fool-though I wouldn't be so nice
about it, I can tell you.  Only I hope she'll give him the chance."

She jumped up, exclaiming, "Well, have a pleasant time.  It's the
second day of Christmas, after all, though I don't think we're quite as
merry about it as you are in England with your Boxing Day."

She smiled and nodded and was gone, and a minute or two later Julia
heard the car leaving the house.  She got up then, for Christmas or no
Christmas, Marcia needed to be coaxed through her exercises and helped
in a dozen small ways.

She was a little late for breakfast because Marcia had awakened a
little grumpy and was ready to find fault with everything, and Julia,
reminding herself that perhaps her patient didn't feel as well as
usual, was patient and calm and good-natured with her until at length
Marcia pronounced herself satisfied.

Father and son were already at table as she entered the dining room,
between them they sat her down, rang for fresh coffee and offered her
the bread basket,

and although they both gave her similar searching glances neither of
them commented upon her pale cheeks, but wished her a good morning and
reminded her they they would be going to Utrecht in the afternoon.

The morning passed slowly, the more so because there was no sign of Ivo
when they went downstairs, only his father and a handful of friends who
had called in to wish them the compliments of the season, and drink
their health in the doctor's excellent sherry.  They chatted politely
to the two girls, their nice manners standing them in good stead when
Marcia rather patronisingly complimented them on their English.  One of
them, who Julia knew was a professor of surgery at Breda hospital with
an English degree as well as several Dutch ones, wanted to know what
Marcia thought of his own language, "For," said he, 'of course you will
have learned to speak it while you have been with us all these months,
Miss Jason.  " He had smiled blandly at her and when she had confessed
that she knew no Dutch at all he turned to Julia and asked, " And you,
young lady--you have been with us long enough to be able to say ja or
neen, have you not?  "

Julia gave him the benefit of her nicest smile and said, "Ja,
Professor," and went on to recite her meagre, badly pronounced
vocabulary, and when she had finished everyone cried "Bravo!"  and
raised their glasses, declaring that she had made a very good start, to
which she cheerfully agreed, joining in their laughter, and while she
laughed suddenly wondered where Ivo was, for he should most certainly
have been there.  She looked round carefully to make sure she hadn't
missed him and caught the doctor's eye;

she blushed when he walked across the room to her and asked quietly,
"Looking for Ivo, are you not?  He went out to see a child--he
shouldn't be long."

But he was; they waited lunch for half an hour, and when he still
hadn't come home, the three of them sat down to cold turkey and salad
and a rich pudding of Bep's own make.  They had almost finished when he
joined them with a murmured word of apology and started his own lunch
while they stayed at the table, drinking their coffee and keeping him
company, entertaining him with an account of their visitors that
morning.

Ivo obviously had something on his mind; he would tell his father after
lunch, but in the meantime there seemed no reason for them all to sit
in gloom.  The conversation, such as it was, was sustained until Ivo
began on his coffee, when Julia said, "Miss Jason, shall we go to the
sitting room?  I'm sure the doctors want to talk shop, and they
wouldn't want to bore us."  Which wasn't quite true.  Julia for one was
dying to know what could have happened to make Ivo look so serious. 
She pushed back her chair and hoped Marcia would do the same, but even
as she did so, Ivo said, "No, Julia, don't go," and turned to Marcia.

"I must ask you to do without Julia for a day or two, Marcia--I need
her help for an emergency in Oisterwijk."

Julia sat very still, watching him; he hadn't bothered to ask her if
she wanted or was willing to help.  She reflected that sometimes it was
nice to be taken for granted in such matters and wondered what the
emergency might be.  As did Marcia.

"Unless it's very urgent, I don't see how you can ask that of me," she
said.  She gave him a melting look and pouted, "I need such a lot of
care, Ivo."

Julia bit back her explosive opinion of this remark and waited to hear
what Ivo would say.

"It is urgent--there's a case of polio in Biezel.  It's only a small
village, but a lot of the children who live there come into Oisterwijk
to school.  There are two other cases I'm not quite certain about. I've
done lumbar punctures and sent them in to the path lab in Tilburg, but
we can't get a result in under two days.  I think we should do a mass
inoculation-that's why I want Julia."

Julia took this piece of news calmly; emergencies cropped up frequently
in her working life and she had learnt not to get flustered.  But
Marcia was more than flustered.  She exclaimed in a voice shrill with
feeling, "Polio--and you dare to sit down to table with us, Ivo!  It's
criminal, we may all become infected!"

He gave her a slow thoughtful look and said with patient courtesy, "I'm
neither criminal nor negligent, Marcia.  You yourself are quite immune,
and we three have at some time or other in our lives been immunized."

"I still think it's running unnecessary risks to my health.  You can't
take Nurse Pennyfeather from me.  I'm quite unable to look after
myself, and I refuse to be looked after by someone who has become open
to infection."

Julia, watching Ivo, knew now what Jorina had meant when she had told
her that Ivo became remote when he was angry.  He seemed a different
man, although his expression was still pleasant enough as he said
patiently, "You are perfectly able to look after yourself now, Marcia.
From your letters, you know, I had the impression that you had made
little or no progress, but that is not so, is it?  You are well, or
almost so.  A day or so without Julia to fetch and carry for you will
give you all the stimulus you need."

Julia inquired, "The child--how old is he?"

Ivo smiled at her and passed his cup for more coffee.

"It's a she--twelve years old and unfortunately goes to school in
Oisterwijk.

She went to a children's party there on Christmas Eve, too.  Her mother
told me that she didn't feel well when she went but insisted on going.
"

"She's very ill?"

He nodded.

"Yes--all the classic symptoms, and paralysis has set in.  I got her
into hospital.  I must go back and have a look at the other two."

Marcia spoke and they both turned to look at her, a little guilty
because they had quite forgotten she was there.

"What about me?"  she wanted to know.

"What am I supposed to do all alone here-what about the dinner party
this evening?"

"No dinner party, I'm afraid," said Ivo in what Julia considered to be
far too careless a tone.

"If we mean to do a mass immunisation, we shall need to get organised,
and that will take the rest of the day.

We'll have to get hold of the school health authorities and find out
which children have been immunised, for a start.  They'll come first,
then the contacts-everyone, in fact.  "

"Oisterwijk too?"  asked Julia.  Her mind boggled at the thought of all
the odd Dutch names to be written on to the official forms someone was
bound to produce.

Ivo nodded; as though he had read her thoughts he said, "It won't be
too bad.  We've our own medical records and almost everyone in the area
is a patient of one or other of us.  If we have to do the lot I'll find
someone to do the writing.  You'll be of more use to us with a swab and
a syringe in your hand."

Julia looked relieved.

"What's to be done first?"

"The practical Nurse Pennyfeather!"  He looked, just for a moment,
almost gay.

"If, when you've made sure Marcia has all she wants in the sitting
room, you would come to my study-we'll check through the cards of the
children who were at the party and make sure they have all been
immunized.  That at least we can do."  And in answer to her look of
inquiry, "Yes, I remembered to get a list of the children who were
there--that's what you wanted to know, wasn't it?"

Long before they were finished there were two more calls to children
who had been taken ill.  Julia went with Ivo and laid out the lumbar
puncture set while he examined them, and then, masked and gowned, held
them in a neat curve while he did it.  He worked quickly and accurately
and with complete relaxation, and he was kind to the parents as well as
his little patients, who, sadly enough, were very ill.  Ivo arranged
for them to go to hospital, then set about inoculating everyone who had
been in contact with the children during the last few days.

When they returned from the second case it was to find that Doctor van
den Werff had contacted the health authorities and arranged for
supplies of vaccine as well as syringes and needles to be delivered -he
had notified the police too and arranged to take over the school houses
in Beizel and Oisterwijk.

"I said we'd start at seven tomorrow morning," he explained calmly.

Julia felt a little guilty about Marcia, left alone all the afternoon,
and expected her to be sulky and difficult, so she was completely
knocked off balance by that young lady's manner.  It was a mixture of
sweet sympathy and eagerness to hear about their activities, allied
with subtle turning of the tables against Julia, which happily the men
didn't seem to notice.

Julia stole a look at Ivo and saw the little furrow between his brows
again, and when she got up to go on some errand for the doctor, he gave
her a look which chilled her with its bleakness.  Presently he followed
her to make sure that she had packed everything they would need for the
morning and his manner, although friendly, was remote, as though he
were deep in thought and had no time for her.  Jorina had said that he
would never hurt Marcia, and Julia was beginning to think that she was
right, especially as he felt responsible for her illness.  They
finished at length, and only as she was leaving the surgery did he look
directly at her and say quietly.

"Thanks, Julia," and then, "You don't understand, do you?"

And she, knowing perfectly well what he meant, paused at the door to
reply, "Yes, I do, Ivo.  I expect if I were you I should do the same as
you intend to do," and was surprised to see his face suddenly crease
into a smile.

"No, you wouldn't.  Miss Pennyfeather, you're much too nice, but thank
you for your good opinion even though it's sadly inaccurate."

It was still very dark when she got up the next morning; she had seen
Bep the night before about Marcia's breakfast and any help she might
need during the day, so all she had to do was to drink her coffee and
eat the toast provided for her.  Both men had already breakfasted, they
informed her as they left her at table, with the warning that they
would be at the front door in ten minutes.

It had been arranged that Ivo, with Julia to help him, should hold the
clinic in the schoolhouse in Oisterwijk and that his father, with the
help of a borrowed nurse from Tilburg, should take the smaller one in
Beizel which, they hoped, would be finished in a day, leaving them free
to join Ivo, together with a team of doctors and nurses from the
hospital.  The whole operation, allowing for setbacks and the absence
of the doctors from time to time, should be completed in three days.

They had been assured of the fullest co-operation from the Health
Department and if they found themselves snowed under they could always
ask for help, although, over the holidays, the staff problem was
difficult.

They left the house together, Doctor van den Werff driving himself in
the Mercedes, and Julia sitting beside Ivo in the Jensen.

There was already a group of people outside the school when they
arrived.  From somewhere or other Ivo had conjured up two clerical
helpers who proceeded to sit themselves at two desks, the cards piled
before them.  They looked like housewives, not very young but pleasant
and calm.  Ivo, taking off his coat and hanging it with Julia's on a
peg behind the door of the classroom they were using, introduced them
as Mevrouw Cats and Mevrouw van Bek, and hardly giving the ladies time
to do more than smile at each other, said, "Julia, I shall want you to
draw up the injections and swab the arms, right?"  He glanced at her.

"If I have to go away, you must carry on.  Don't bother about anything
else, just keep on with the jabs."  He smiled at her briefly and said,
"Right-let's get started."

It seemed to Julia that the queue snaking slowly past Mevrouw Cats and
Mevrouw van Bek never diminished.  Even working fast--and Ivo, she
discovered, worked very fast--they seemed to make no impression upon it
whatsoever.  At first it was the young mothers with babies--the babies,
unaware of what was happening, remained happy enough, sucking down the
three drops of vaccine, nicely flavoured, before their mothers rolled
up their sleeves ready for Ivo's needle.  But presently the babies
petered out a little and the toddlers--those who, for some reason or
other, had never been immunised--arrived.  Not liking the idea at all,
they fought, screaming at the tops of their powerful little lungs while
they were divested of their outer garments, resisting at every button
and every zip and sliding with the smooth slipperiness of cooked
macaroni in and out of their mothers' grasps until caught and held
firmly in Julia's lap as Ivo slid the needle in.

The older children were a little easier, although there seemed a great
many of them; but they were beginning to make an impression on the
piles of cards at last, or so it seemed until Ivo went away.  A young
woman had come running in as he was about to inoculate a small girl's
arm and disregarding everyone around her, had burst into speech.  Ivo
finished with the little girl, pulled her blonde pigtail gently and got
up.

"There's another child," he said.

"Just keep things going until I get back, will you, dear girl?"

Julia, already piling syringes, needles, swabs and spirit bottle
handily, nodded.

"I hope it's not bad," she said briefly, and gave him a little smile as
she turned to the next patient, then remembered to say over her
shoulder, "Leave the address--just in case."

She was glad of that half an hour later when a man came pushing through
the waiting queue and addressed her urgently.  She waited until he had
finished and then asked "Doctor?"  and when he nodded, copied the
address Ivo had left and gave it to the man, glancing at the clock as
she did so.  It was already gone eleven o'clock and the queue had
doubled in size.

It was almost half past one when Ivo finally appeared, to take off his
overcoat, put on his white coat and mask again and pick up the syringe
Julia was holding ready.  He plunged the needle in, grinned at the
small boy who was getting it and said, "Nice work, Julia--sorry you've
been on your own."  He looked round the room, his quiet eyes missing
nothing.

"A good crowd still--the more the better."

Julia swabbed the arm before her.

"You got the second message?"

"Yes--I sent the first child to hospital.  This one isn't too bad, but
he's gone too, of course.  Now get that gown off and go across the road
to the hotel.  Ask for coffee and sandwiches and sit down and eat
them--I'll pay later on.  You can have fifteen minutes.  When you come
back I'll go."

They hardly spoke again, only when it had something to do with their
work, and although she was beginning to get tired, Julia would have
liked the afternoon to last for ever because Ivo was there with her,
but four o'clock came and a relief medical team with it, and with
barely a pause in the work, they took over, and Julia found herself
outside in the tree- lined main street of the little town, being urged
towards the Jensen.

"I'll run you home first," said Ivo, 'before I start my visits.  "

She got in beside him.

"No-there's no need, and it would be a dreadful waste of time--I'm
quite happy sitting in the car."

He gave her a grateful look.

"Accommodating girl," he said lightly, 'there aren't very many.  You
can go to sleep if you like.  "

But she didn't go to sleep, she thought, and as he was speeding home
after his final visit she asked tentatively, "Doesn't Jorina usually
help you with the surgery when it's a big one?"

"Yes--why?"

"Well, wouldn't I do instead?  I believe I could manage.  I've been
thinking about it--and it would save you and your father some time if I
sent the people in when you ring..."

He swung the car into the little lane and stopped un fussily exactly in
front of the door.

"Clever Julia," he said with kindly mockery.

"Why not?  It'll certainly help, but what about language?"

"Well, I shan't need to say much, shall I?  I'll manage, and if I get
stuck I'll come to you for help."

They got out of the car.

"You're not too tired?"  he asked, and she said at once, "No more than
you or Doctor van den Werff are."  They went into the house then, to be
met by Bep with the welcome news that she had tea waiting for them.

"I'll put on another uniform first," said Julia, and disappeared to her
room.  When she came down ten minutes later, Ivo was in the sitting
room with Marcia, who, Julia immediately observed, was being gentle and
understanding and very much the brave little woman again.  She paused
in her talk with Ivo just long enough to give Julia a brief smile which
held triumph and complacency, letting her see how easy it was to get a
man's attention, even if she weren't a black-haired beauty who knew all
about germs and cultures and how to bake bread.

And Julia, always a girl to accept a challenge, smiled back, ignoring
Ivo and applying herself to her tea, while she listened to the
intelligent questions Marcia was putting to Ivo.  The girl was really
very clever, but she wasn't, it seemed, to have it all her own way, for
when Doctor van den Werff came in a few minutes later, he took the
conversation in the politest way imaginable into his own hands, and,
almost as though he had been listening at the door, proceeded to praise
Julia in glowing terms for her part in the day's work;

something which she found embarrassing, for she had, before this,
worked far harder on a hospital ward, where it had been taken for
granted and gone unthanked.

She was about to remark on this when she caught the doctor's eye upon
her; he was smiling and looked so very like Ivo that she smiled back
with a warmth of which she was quite unaware.  A moment later he had
half-closed his eyes, leaving her to wonder what he had been
thinking.

But he had most effectively broken up the conversation Marcia had
started with Ivo, and it cheered Julia a little to see how quickly Ivo
left her side with some light excuse and went to sit by his father,
discussing their plans for the next day.

Presently they got up and went away to Ivo's study, and presently, too,
it was six o'clock, and to her relief she went to usher the first of
the patients into the waiting room at the side of the house.

They finished just before eight o'clock and went in to a late dinnera
meal at which Marcia shone both in appearance and conversation, for
Julia was by now too tired to do more than push her cap straight on her
rather untidy hair and scrub her capable little hands for the hundredth
time that day.  Nor did she contribute much to the talk, leaving it to
Marcia to continue in her role of sympathetic listener and interested
questioner.  She had looked up once or twice during the meal to find
Ivo's eyes upon her, but beyond a half smile and an odd word, he hadn't
addressed her directly except to invite her agreement or opinion upon
some point touching their work.

They hadn't been in the sitting room for more than half an hour before
Ivo suggested that as they would be starting at seven the next morning,
she might like to go to bed, and when she had hesitated he said easily,
"Bep can take Marcia upstairs if she needs help, but I don't imagine
she does.  In any case, did you not say that you didn't require Julia's
services any more, Marcia?"  His voice was smooth, though he was
smiling, and Marcia's long face became wary.

"I'm sure Nurse is anxious to get back to England," she said in the
gentle voice Julia so disliked, 'but I suppose she will stay until your
little crisis is over.  "

Ivo answered her a little coldly, "If you mean by " little crisis" the
risk of a great number of people- mostly young--suffering from the same
illness which you have yourself had and from which you have so
successfully recovered--yes."

Which remark, uttered in a silky voice, got Julia to her feet, because
probably they intended to discuss her departure and she had very little
energy to contribute to the discussion, even if they invited her to do
so.  She said goodnight rather abruptly and went up to bed, and lay
awake until two o'clock in the morning, telling herself, each time she
turned over her pillow and rearranged the bedclothes, that as far as
she was concerned, the sooner she went home the better.

In consequence the next morning she presented a pale face at breakfast,
and when Ivo asked her kindly if she would rather not go with him to
Oisterwijk, she snapped, "Of course I shall come--why do you ask?"  and
frowned so forbiddingly that he said mildly, 'well, don't slay me,
Julia.  I only wondered if you felt too tired.  "

She poured a second cup of coffee.

"I'm not in the least tired," she informed him haughtily, and was even
Grosser when he said carelessly,

"Oh, good, just bad-tempered."

The desire to say something telling concerning those who worked and
those who sat at home doing nothing, while quite unfair, was
nevertheless very great.  Against her better judgment she had her mouth
open to utter something along these lines when Doctor van den Werff
forestalled her by remarking smoothly that as she had been such a great
help on the previous evening he hoped that she would be prepared to
lend a hand that evening as well.

"I shall be finished at Beizel by midday," he went on, 'so Nurse and I
will join you two and the team coming out from Tillburg.  We should
finish some time tomorrow.  "

He gave her a smile of great charm and turned to Ivo.

"We should get the results of the culture by midday," he observed.

"I hope we caught it in time..  thank God most of the babies had been
at least partly immunised."

The conversation was on safe ground once more and stayed so for the
remainder of the meal and during the short drive to the schoolhouse,
although Julia, for her part, remained a little cold.  He had, after
all, accused her of being bad-tempered.

The day went much the same as the previous one had, although now that
there were more doctors and nurses they got through many more patients.
But they still kept on coming; not only from Oisterwijk itself but from
the outlying farms and small holdings and hamlets tucked away in the
heath surrounding the little town.

Between twelve and two o'clock they went, team by team, to eat a quick
lunch, and Julia, whose temper was quite restored, found herself
looking forward to half an hour in Ivo's company; she was of course in
his company now, and had been all the morning, but working together was
not the same as just being together; they had exchanged barely half a
dozen words and those concerned their work.  It was a pity that just as
they were leaving the schoolhouse, someone should come after them with
a message that Ivo was wanted on the telephone.  She crossed the street
alone and went into the coffee room, where she ordered their coffee and
ham rolls and sat down to wait--half an hour wasn't long and five
minutes of it had gone already.  Ivo came shortly after, though;

there was still twenty minutes of time--away from work perhaps she
could steer the conversation round to the vexed question of when she
was to leave.  It was like turning the knife in a wound to bring it up,
but Marcia had mentioned it twice already; had in fact disclaimed her
need for a nurse any longer.  She was only still with them because they
needed another pair of hands.

Her carefully laid plans were wasted; all Ivo talked about were the
results of the CSF cultures--the first one was through and it was
positive, as everyone had expected it would be.  She listened to him
speculating as to how many more cases they might expect, nodding
agreement to his quick-thinking statistics as though she had worked
them out for herself, whereas she wasn't actually listening at all.

"Wasted breath," said Ivo suddenly, and she pinkened under his
quizzical look.  She said, "Yes--no, that is, it's very interesting.

Ivo, I want to ask you,

when am I. " to be interrupted by his brisk, " Time we went back, come
along.  "

He got to his feet and paid the bill, then accompanied her back to the
schoolhouse, where they were once more plunged in work and spoke hardly
a word to each other until four o'clock when their relief arrived.

Julia had hoped to talk to him again on the way home; there would be
time between his visits, but today he didn't give her the opportunity
to go with him but drove her straight back to the house, set her down
at the door, said that he would be back in an hour or so and tore off
down the lane again.

She felt better when she had bathed and put on another uniform.  She
did her face and hair carefully and dabbed a little Chanel Number Five
here and there; it might not be quite the thing for a girl in uniform,
but it gave her a badly needed uplift, and she might need that because
Marcia would be the only one in the sitting room and Marcia wanted her
out of the way.  She went slowly downstairs and slowed to a halt
half-way down, because the sitting room door had opened and Marcia and
August de Winter were standing together silhouetted against the soft
glow of the room's lamps.  Julia watched them as they kissed, too
surprised to move, and went on watching as Mijnheer de Winter crossed
the hall and let himself out into the evening, while Marcia went back
into the sitting room and shut the door gently.  Only then did Julia
continue on her way, wondering if what she had just seen had been
actual fact or just her tired imagination.  She stood for a few moments
in the hall, listening for a car, but there was no sound;

Mijnheer de Winter had either walked or parked his car somewhere along
the road.  She opened the sitting room door and went in.  Marcia was
draped on one of the sofas, languidly turning the pages of some tome or
other, but she looked up as Julia went in and said, "Oh, there you are.
Well, at least you're someone--I have been lonely all day by myself."

"And that," said Julia vulgarly and in a towering rage, 'is a load of
old trot!  I've just this minute seen you and Mijnheer de Winter
kissing each other goodbye.  Has he been here all day?  I suppose that
just because Ivo said he would do his visits after the clinic, you
banked on me being with him and not coming home until five or
thereabouts.  Well, I came home at four!  " She crossed the room and
stood in front of Marcia, glowing with indignation.

"You seem to think that the whole lot of us are blind and deaf to your
goings-on.  Well, I for one am not!  It's sickening the way you bleat
to Ivo about your loneliness and self-sacrifice and bravery each time
you see him, while all the time you're none of these things."

Julia drew a deep breath, looking quite magnificent.

"You are," she said clearly and unhurriedly, 'a complete fraud.  I knew
it the moment I set eyes on you--Oh, you had polio, but not as badly as
you would have everyone believe, and you've recovered from it weeks
ago.  I suppose when you came here to stay you had made up your mind to
marry Ivo -you bamboozled him into feeling responsible for you getting
polio in the first place, didn't you, because he persuaded you to go to
a party where there was someone already infected--but I doubt if that
was ever proved.  I expect you put the idea into everyone's head and no
one thought to disbelieve you.  Well, I disbelieve you, Marcia.  And
then you met August de Winter, but you had to go on pretending you
loved Ivo, didn't you, so that you could stay here and you could see
your August as often as possible while he made up his mind.  " She
stared down at Marcia, her dark eyes flashing with her wrath.

"You're a harpy," she said deliberately, 'and a complete fraud!  " Then
she sat down and waited to hear what Marcia would say.

For once Marcia found words difficult to come by and when she did speak
her low measured voice had become almost strident.

"How dare you--' she began, and then with a vicious little smile, "
You're in love with Ivo, aren't you?  I know that--that's why I said I
didn't want you any more.  I don't want him, not now, but I'll take
good care that you don't get him.  Don't think you'll get away with
anything, dear, dear Julia, for you won't.  What I intend to do is my
own business, but you'll know soon enough.  " She broke off as Bep came
in with the tea tray, murmuring,"

"N beetje laat," as she set it down by Julia, and Julia wondered if she
and Marcia would have stayed silent for ever and ever if Bep hadn't
been late.

They drank their tea in silence and when they had finished Marcia went
back to her book, just as though Julia wasn't there, while Julia picked
up Elsevier's Weekblad and turned to the small ads page, because by
reading the columns of bed sitters to let and help in the house wanted,
she had picked up several useful words.  They were still sitting, the
picture of silent companionship, when Doctor van den Werff came in an
hour later.  He left again after a few pleasantries, pleading work in
his surgery, and was followed shortly after by Ivo, who came in, sat
down and drank the cup of coffee Bep insisted that he should have,
talking idly as he did so, before getting up in his turn.  He was
halfway to the door when Marcia said with gentle firmness, "Ivo, I want
to talk to you--could you manage a few minutes some time this
evening?"

He stood with his hand on the door and said with his usual courtesy,
"Why, of course, Marcia.  After surgery, I should think--no, we had
better say after dinner.  We can be comfortable in my study."  He
glanced at the great Zaandse clock on the wall.

"I must go now, though--surgery starts in ten minutes and I've some
telephone calls to make first."

He left the room and a few minutes later Julia got up and went out of
the room too to admit the first patient.  Neither Marcia nor Julia
looked at each other as she went, nor did they speak.

The surgery went well, although it was packed out.  Halfway through it
Julia slipped into Doctor van den Werff's surgery and asked, "Shall I
ask Bep to delay supper?--the waiting room's still full."

He looked up from the notes he was reading.

"Do that, Julia.  How many patients are there still to see?"

"Four for Ivo, six for you."

"I wonder if they're quick ones?"  He started to shuffle through the
patients' cards before him in a rather untidy fashion.  Julia took them
away from him, restored them to order and said, "An old man with ear
muffs and a Vandyck beard is the next--he's deaf, then a mother with a
baby who's got the earache; a girl who looks as though she's going to
have twins within the hour, a woman with a black eye, and a fierce old
lady with a very small boy who's got a nasty cold."

Dr.  van den Werff sat back in his chair and laughed.

"My dear Julia, how very observant you are--shall we tell Bep forty
minutes or so?"

She nodded and went to the door and his voice, so very like his son's
followed, "Am I right in thinking that you and Marcia have--er--fallen
out?"

Julia turned to face him.

"Yes, we've quarrelled.  How did you know?"

"You must give Ivo the credit for that.  He's perceptive.  He's also
very deep; perhaps you didn't know that?"

Julia said carefully, "It doesn't really matter if I know or not, does
it?"  and went out, shutting the door carefully behind her.

They sat down to a late dinner presently, and to a conversation which,
while easy enough on the part of the two men, sound decidedly false
when the ladies took part, for they were careful not to address each
other directly unless it was unavoidable and then with a politeness
which was quite awe-inspiring.  But neither gentleman gave any hint of
unease; they talked at random about the contents of the newspapers, the
forthcoming marriage of Jorina and the possibility of skating if the
frost held for a few days more.  This remark prompted Julia to ask if
everyone skated as a matter of course.

"Certainly we do," said Ivo.

"We learn as soon as we can toddle and we skate every winter until our
legs grow too stiff to support us.  Do you skate, Julia?"

"A little--not very well.  I fall down a lot."

"How fortunate," said Marcia sweetly, 'that there's plenty of you to
take the shock.  " She laughed as she said it so that everyone should
know that it was a joke, and Julia, not to be outdone, laughed too.

"Falling down doesn't matter in the least," said Ivo, just as though
Marcia hadn't spoken.

"We all do it at first.  A little practice and you'll be as good as
everyone else."

The conversation took on a new lease of life; they talked about sport
in its various forms for the rest of the meal.  But the meal couldn't
last for ever; presently Julia found herself in the sitting room with
Doctor van den Werff, listening to the receding footsteps of Marcia and
Ivo crossing the hall to his study.

They came back almost an hour later, Marcia looking very pleased with
herself and Ivo looking bland.  Only when Julia looked at him closely
she saw that his eyes weren't bland at all.  She sat stubbornly in her
chair, looking serenely unaware of anything untoward.  If she was to be
hauled over the coals then and now, he could get on with it.  She told
herself she hadn't any intention of running away, nor was she afraid of
him.  All the same, when after half an hour of desultory talk, first
Marcia and then Doctor van den Werff got.  up to go to bed, she felt
decidedly nervous, but she sat on.  She had bought some wool before
Christmas to knit herself a sweater; she plied her needles now as
though her very life depended on getting it finished with the next hour
or so.

Ivo spoke and she dropped a stitch.

"You know what Marcia wanted to see me about?"

She skewered the stitch.

"Yes--at least I think I do."

"Did you call her a fraud, Julia?"

Her needles click-clacked along half a row.

"Yes."

"May I ask why?"

"No harm in asking," said Julia flippantly, and fell to counting
stitches.

"You also called her a harpy?"

"Thirty-six, thirty-seven..."  she raised her head.

"Quite right."

After a moment she asked, "Did I say thirty-seven?"

He said nastily, "Put that damn knitting down-you're only using it to
hide behind."

Julia flared up at this undoubtedly true remark.

"I am not!  I could have sneaked off to bed..."

"And I," he said silkily, 'would have come and hauled you out again.
"

He got up and walked to the window and back again.

"Why did you do it, Julia?  Why in heaven's name..."  He came to a halt
in front of her chair and stood looking down at her.  His voice was
calm now even though she was aware that he was seething with rage.

"Couldn't you have left well alone?"

She wondered what he meant by that.  She began, "Do you know--'and
stopped.  Impossible to tell him about August de Winter being there
that afternoon;

for a moment she wondered if that was what Marcia had told him too, in
which case he already knew.  But he didn't, for he said in a reasonable
voice-the kind of voice an exasperated grown-up might have used to an
annoying child"--Marcia had been alone all day; probably she had become
lonely and low-spirited, and you burst in with out any warning and call
her a--a harpy!"  A muscle at the side of his mouth twitched as he said
it.

Julia gathered up her knitting.

"Is that what she told you?"  she asked.

"Then why bother to ask me?  I'm so obviously in the wrong, aren't

I?

"

She got to her feet and swept out of the room, her lovely head high.

In her room she undressed rapidly and when she was ready for bed, sat
down and laboriously unpicked the knitting she had done, for the
pattern was sadly awry, crying silently as she did so.

She was greeted at breakfast by Doctor van den Werff's friendly good
morning and by Ivo's bland pleasantness.  Both gentlemen, after taking
a searching glance at her face, refrained from hoping that she had had
a good night, desired her to help herself to anything she required, and
went back to the discussion they had been having when she joined
them.

"I shall go to Sneek," said Doctor van den Werff.

"Your grandfather's house is there and empty most of the year.  I shall
enjoy living in it and I can indulge in a little gentle sailing when I
feel like it.  And of course you can all come for holidays whenever you
wish; think how convenient it will be to send the children up to me
later on."  He added a little wistfully, "Your mother was very happy
there."

Ivo said, "Yes," in a quiet voice and then more briskly, "A little
young to retire, isn't it, Vader?"  He smiled across the table.

"Barely sixty."

"Oh, I daresay I'll do a little part-time work of some sort, but I
shall enjoy my freedom.  You'll need a partner, Ivo.  Theo, if he'll
consider it in a year or so."

"Yes, of course, but there's time enough ... a year,

two.  You're not in too great a hurry, I hope, Vader?  "

"No, and there's a good deal to be done to the house in Sneek--' He
went on to enumerate such alterations as he had in mind and Julia
stared at her empty plate, half listening.  So Ivo had made a decision
to marry Marcia; yesterday evening probably when they had been so long
in his study and Marcia had looked so pleased with herself--as well she
might with the prospect of living in the lovely old house for the rest
of her days and with Ivo for a husband.  She finished her coffee and
when the doctor paused she said in a quiet little voice, " I should
like to return to England as soon as it can be arranged, doctor.
I--I've been offered a job in my old hospital.  They don't want to wait
and I'm not needed here any more; I'm only wasting your money.  "

If Doctor van den Werff was surprised at her request, shot at him out
of the blue in such a fashion, he said nothing about it, merely looked
at her with sharp blue eyes and said, "Ah, yes, of course, Julia.  We
shall finish at the school today, so supposing we have a little
talk--let me see--tomorrow morning.  That gives us plenty of time."

She agreed, wondering why they should need time;

he must have known that it was time for her to leave them.  She went to
get her coat and came downstairs in time to hear Ivo say, "I'll deal
with it in my own way..."  He stopped when he saw her and she was left
to speculate as to exactly what he was intending to deal with.  She sat
in the car beside him, cudgelling her brains, and came to no conclusion
at all.  They were almost in Oisterwijk when he asked, "This job--have
you been offered it, Julia?"

She was, on the whole, a truthful girl, so she said now, "Well, not
exactly-but they said when I left they would always have me back."

"So you have arranged nothing?  You have no job to go to?"

She said crossly, because he had found her out in her small
deception.

"Please don't bother about me.  I shall go to my brother's in any case
for a short time."

"Ah, yes," she heard the faint mockery in his voice, 'and from what you
have told me, you will enjoy that.  "

They had arrived at the schoolhouse.  She made a small frustrated sound
and got out of the car and went inside to where the last remnant of
their patients awaited them.

CHAPTER NINE

they were finished before midday.  The last patient went through the
door and the clearing up began at once and was quickly done now that
there was a sufficiency of nurses and helpers.  Ivo had a brief
conversation in Dutch with his father and then said to Julia, "You'll
go home with Father, please, I shan't be coming home just yet," and
then to his father, this time in English, "You'll do those visits for
me?  I'll fit in the rest when I come back."

He lifted a hand to them both and went away and a little later Julia
got into Doctor van den Werff's car and went back to the house.  But
when they arrived he made no effort to get out with her, remarking
mildly, "No, I'm not coming in--I've a couple of visits, I'll do them
now.

Don't wait lunch--I'll get some coffee and something to eat.  "

He reversed the car and shot back down the lane.  He drove with the
same speed and skill as his son, and Julia, watching him go, felt a
little pang, because she liked him very much.  It was a pity that his
wife had died ten years ago; Jorina had told her that her parents had
been devoted to each other and that they had been--still were--a
close-knit family.  Julia went into the house, thinking that at least
he would never be lonely with his grandchildren of the future visiting
him at Sneek.  He would be a delightful grandfather, just as Ivo would
be a delightful father to his children, which, thought Julia sourly,
would be a good thing if they were to have Marcia for a mother.

She found Marcia already in the dining room and with a brief hullo she
sat down opposite her and helped herself to coffee, and because she
didn't want Marcia to know how worried she was, she ate a good lunch,
choking down every mouthful with a determination which did her credit,
while Marcia, in a silence which could be felt, watched her.  They
separated after the meal, Marcia to return to the sitting room and
Julia to go to her room where she wrote a letter to her brother, a
letter which took some time and much thought before she was satisfied
with it.  It was almost four o'clock by the time she was ready and she
went downstairs again; there would be tea presently in the sitting
room.  She went in and was at once aware that a storm was about to
break over her head.

Marcia was sitting by the fire, not in her usual graceful
semi-recumbent position, but upright, ready to do battle, her fingers
beating a tattoo on the book she was holding.  Julia watched the
fingers, thankful to know that Marcia was as nervous as she was, and
decided not to sit down.  She felt, quite erroneously, that while she
was on her feet she had a slight advantage.  She wandered over to the
old gilded mirror hanging beside the fireplace and composedly
straightened her cap, waiting for her companion to speak.  She didn't
have to wait very long; Marcia flung her book from her and said in a
high voice, "I suppose you think I can't see through your little game,
Nurse Pennyfeather.  Ivo would be a fine catch for a penniless
half-educated girl such as you are, wouldn't he?  You could lead a
lady's life, no doubt.  I wonder what you did in order to persuade him
to bring you here in the first place--and ruby earrings indeed!  I
wonder what you did to get those?"

She paused, staring at Julia with spiteful eyes, and Julia, her teeth
clenched to guard a fierce impulsive tongue, carefully tucked a stray
end under her cap and miraculously said nothing.

"You've forced yourself upon him; do you think I haven't seen you
laughing at him and talking silly nonsense to make him laugh
too--getting lost in order to attract attention to yourself;

pretending that you're interested in learning Dutch?  Well, it's done
you no good, has it?  I talked to Ivo, you see--Oh, I didn't tell
tales, I'm not such a fool," she laughed, 'but I suggested this and
hinted at that and let a few things drop..  he thinks nothing of you
now; once you're back in England he'll forget you, and you can go when
you like--you're no longer my nurse."

"As to that," said Julia calmly, "I don't feel I can do that.  Doctor
van den Werff is my employer, you know.  I'll go when he tells me to.

You could of course ask him to dismiss me, but you would have to give
some reason for that.  You tried once before without much success,
didn't you?  " She took out her compact and powdered her beautiful
nose, and the action calmed her so that she was able to ask without
heat, " Why do you want Ivo to think you're in love with him?  It would
be easy enough to tell him that you wanted to marry Mijnheer de Winter,
wouldn't it?  "

Marcia smiled.

"You're a fool, aren't you?  I shall go on letting Ivo think that I'm
in love with him until you've gone back to England, then I can drop him
when I'm ready, once August..."  She paused and asked with genuine
astonishment, "You don't think I'll step down for you, do you?"

Julia turned back to the mirror and started, quite unnecessarily, on
her hair once more because it would keep her calm and she needed all
the calm she could muster.  She was about to speak when she saw that
the half-open door reflected in the mirror had been opened wider and
Ivo was standing there.  She had no idea how long he had been there or
how much he had heard.  She drew a deep breath to stop the pounding of
her heart and raised her voice, speaking in loud clear tones,
calculated to reach his ears.

"No," she said, "I didn't, but I'm not quite a fool, you know.  You
never needed a nurse; I imagine that you were walking quite well some
time before I came.  I wondered about that a lot, but it wasn't until
yesterday afternoon when I saw you and Mijnheer de Winter kissing each
other that I knew for certain.  You've been using Ivo for your own
ends, haven't you, because you don't love him, do you?  You have no
idea what loving someone is, although you and Mijnheer de Winter enjoy
a desiccated form of it, I suppose--quoting Latin tags."  She turned
away from the mirror and looked at Marcia.

"How dare you," she was speaking, if anything, louder than ever in her
anxiety that Ivo shouldn't miss a word, 'use Ivo to egg on that
miserable little man--Ivo's worth a hundred of him!  " She saw, out of
the corner of her eye, that Ivo had moved.

"I said you were a fraud and a harpy, and I'll say it again..."

She was interrupted by Ivo's voice, so cold that it sent a shiver down
her spine.

"That will do, Julia, and you had no reason to raise your voice like
that, you know, I heard you very easily.  Perhaps you would be good
enough to leave us.  I think Marcia and I have--era misunderstanding to
clear up."

He was standing in front of her now and when she looked at him and met
his eyes, it was to find them hooded like his father's and the calmness
of his face told her nothing.  She turned on her heel and left them
together.

It took her just under ten minutes to change out of her uniform and
into her outdoor clothes, and in that time, too, she packed her case.

It took her another two minutes to write a very brief note to Doctor
van der Werff and count the money in her purse.  She had ample to get
her back to England and once she was there she didn't much mind what
happened.  She closed her door soundlessly, then went quietly down the
stairs and out of the front door and down the lane to the road.  Her
case was heavy, but she didn't notice that; she was busy trying to
remember about buses and trains and boats to England; she would go to
Oisterwijk first, because she could catch a bus to Tilburg from there,
and in Tilburg she could get on a train to Rotterdam and go on to the
Hook of Holland in time to pick up the night boat.  She had plenty of
time, even allowing for the walk to Oisterwijk, and she thought it
unlikely that anyone would notice her absence for an hour or two and by
then she would be in the train, and Ivo and Marcia would have had their
talk and cleared up their mis S

understandings and either become reconciled-with a suitable Latin tag,
she thought wildly, or agreed to part, in either case they would be far
too concerned with their own affairs to worry about her.

She shivered in the cold wind and looked doubtfully at the sky, along
whose horizon great sulky clouds were piling themselves; it only needed
to snow.  She walked on steadily, her mind quite empty of thought now,
although now and again she looked behind her at the singularly empty
road, because hope dies hard and although she tried to damp down the
thought, Ivo might come after her.  She had thought once or twice hat
he might love her a little, but now she didn't know any more.  If he
did he would surely follow her; she took one final look down the empty
road. Apparently he wasn't going to; she must be out of her mind to
even entertain the idea.

She reached the bus stop at last and joined the queue, which wasn't a
queue at all but just a large group of people who, when the bus
arrived, would jostle and push their way on to it in a good-natured and
ruthless manner; she would have to be ruthless too; it would never do
to be left behind.  She put down her case and looked about her.  Her
companions were mostly women with shopping baskets and children,
although there were one or two men, standing rock firm, well to the
front.  She hoped the bus would be along soon and wouldn't be too full
as she looked nervously at the sky.  As she did so a snowflake fell
softly on to her nose.

The Jensen snarled to a halt beside her and Ivo got out, put her case
on the back seat and said in a voice which gave nothing away,

"Get in, Julia."  She didn't budge, and the women on either side of her
turned to look, arranging their baskets comfortably over their arms;

it was dull waiting for the bus and here was a small diversion-besides,
they knew Ivo by sight.  He smiled at them and raised his hat and
murmured, "Dag, Dames," and they chorused a "Dag, Doctor," back at him,
pleased to be recognised.  He said something else to them too, to make
them smile and nudge each other and stare with curious friendly eyes at
Julia.

"Don't be pig-headed, dear girl," he said in English, 'they're on my
side.  " He laughed a little and she found her voice at last,
treacherously shaky.

"I couldn't care less," she said pettishly, and then, because she
couldn't help herself, "How did you know I'd be here?"

"A process of elimination."  His voice was very decided as he went on,
"Now get in, my dear, because the car's on a bus stop and I'm in grave
danger of getting a procesverbaal."

She didn't know what that was, but it sounded official and she
concluded that it was, for as the car slid away from the pavement a
policeman on a bicycle came towards them in a purposeful way.  Ivo
waved to him and the man looked at him and smiled and cycled on.  Ivo
turned the car and sped back the way she had come, all without saying a
word. It was only when, to her bewilderment, they had passed the house
and he had turned the Jensen into a country road leading out into the
heath that he slowed his pace and asked gently, "Dear heart, why did
you go, without a word to anyone and in such a hurry?"  and when she
made a small sound of protest: "Oh, I've got your note to Father in my
pocket. Tell me."

She savoured the delight of being his dear heart and then said in a low
voice, "I couldn't have stayed.  You see, it was deliberate--all the
things I said to Marcia; I saw you in the mirror and I wanted you to
hear, and then I--I thought how awful if you loved her after all and
I'd spoilt it all for you for always, so I went away quickly because it
wouldn't have taken you long to discover--Marcia would have..."

Julia stopped speaking because she felt like crying and she would have
to conquer her desire to burst into tears before she could continue.

"I had no idea that you were such a virago," remarked Ivo on a half
laugh, 'but I did tell you to leave well alone, Julia, my darling.  Do
you think that I am blind--though I have been blind, haven't I?  But I
had to talk to de Winter and make sure that I was justified in breaking
the imaginary understanding I was supposed to have with Marcia.  "

Julia heaved a gulping sob.

"Oh, dear," she sounded forlorn, "I needn't have said any of those
awful things, but I didn't know..."

She looked out of the car window and said uncertainly, "I got lost
here..."

Ivo had halted the car.  He got out and went round the bonnet, helped
her out and took her arm and started walking over the bone-hard ground
towards the woods.

"So did I, my dear darling, at least my heart did-to you."  He stopped
and turned her round to face him, then bent his head and kissed her
mouth.

"That's not quite true," he said a long minute later, "I lost it when
you opened the door at Drumlochie House and told me in your lovely
voice to hurry up and come in out of the cold.  My Julia, I've not been
cold since because you warm me with your sweetness and gaiety and
beauty.  But it was here I found you curled up asleep and I knew when I
saw you that I couldn't go on without you.  I've brought you here to
tell you so."

They had reached the edge of the trees by now and he stopped again, but
Julia held back a little.

"Marcia," she demanded, 'did she mind?  "

Ivo shook his head.

"I don't imagine so--you see, de Winter said that he would come and
fetch her within the hour and she and I--we had known that we had no
feeling for each other, and you know why I couldn't break with her, not
until I knew for certain about de Winter.

She'll marry him and live happily ever after.  "

"Reading Greek poetry to each other," said Julia, and added in a
doubtful voice, "I'm not a clever girl," and was gathered close and
kissed by way of a very satisfactory answer.

"My darling girl, I want a wife, not a walking dictionary.  A wife who
is so beautiful that I can't stop looking at her or thinking about her
and who buys extravagant clothes and wants diamonds for her birthday
and makes bread and loves children--and loves me."

"I like the bit about the diamonds," said Julia.

"It's very tempting, but I can't say yes if you don't ask me."

She stared up at him, her face glowing and her eyes bright and Ivo
said, "I should have asked you the moment I set eyes on you.  Will you
marry me, my darling Julia?"

Julia smiled.

"Yes, thank you, Ivo, I will.  Indeed I don't know what else I would
have done if you didn't want me."

There was only one answer to a remark like that.  When at length Ivo
loosed her, he asked, "Do you know which day it is, my dearest?"

Julia, deep in her own delightful thoughts, frowned.

"December the twenty-ninth," she said at length.

"The fifth day of Christmas," said Ivo.

"You said once that five gold rings would be more than any girl could
want and I said it was a way in which her true love could prove to her
that he loved her."

He took an arm from her shoulders and plunged a hand into his pocket,
then opened his hand to show her what he held.

"You see?  I went to the Hague and got them after I had seen de
Winter.

I couldn't think of a better way of convincing you that I love you and
always shall.  "

He looked at her very tenderly as he pushed the fur bonnet back so that
he could hook the little gold rings in her ears.

"I cheated a little with this one," he said as he fastened the gold
bracelet on one wrist, 'but not with this.  " He pulled off her glove
and slipped a gold ring, set with three most beautiful diamonds, on to
her finger.

"And this one--you'll have to wait for this one, my dearest, until we
marry."

Julia watched the diamonds sparkle in the deepening dusk and then
stretched up to kiss him.

"Thank you five times, darling Ivo, and when will that be?"

His arm tightened around her so that she could scarcely breathe.

He said, "We'll wait until the polio scare is over, then we'll go to
England and I'll get a special licence.  Unless you want a grand
wedding with a cake and bridesmaids?"  He kissed her gently and then
with great fierceness.

"In which case we should have to wait.  Please don't make me wait,
Julia."

She closed her eyes with resolution upon a tantalizing vision of
herself in white satin and a tulle veil.  She said clearly, "I don't
want to wait either, Ivo."  She paused to smile at him.

"We'll find a small church in the country and just get married."

She was going to enlarge upon this idea, but was prevented from doing
so because Ivo kissed her again, a long, gentle, satisfying kiss.  When
she had her breath again she added, "I shall, of course, wear my five
gold rings!"