‘Yes—well I didn’t expect you to be here.’ She was a little indignant.
‘I didn’t expect to be here either, but the last case fell through and it occurred to me that it might be easier for you if I were here to introduce you and the children.’ His kind smile came and went. ‘Do sit down, Miss Partridge. Mrs Silver will be here at any moment with tea—I seldom have the chance to have it at home, and still less to share it with a such a delightful companion.’
Beth frowned horribly, aware that she had gone a bright pink, and he asked in a matter-of-fact way: ‘You do not care for compliments? I assure you that I meant what I said.’
‘Of course I like compliments,’ she spoke a trifle crossly, ‘all girls do, only I never quite believe them. You see, my face…you must have noticed I’m rather plain…’
His heavy lids drooped still further over his eyes and if she had hoped, deep down, that he would disclaim this bald statement, she was to be disappointed, for all he said was: ‘I would have thought that it could be quite an asset in these days, when girls wear their prettiness like a uniform.’
She shook her head. ‘Not for me, though I know what you mean, but there are some quite beautiful girls around.’
‘Ah, beauty is quite a different matter and there aren’t all that number, you know.’
‘There’s a very beautiful girl on the Surgical Block,’ Beth told him. ‘Maureen Brooks, you’re bound to see her while you’re at St Elmer’s—she’s super; black hair and…’
‘She lisps.’
‘Oh, you’ve met her already. Most people think a lisp’s rather nice.’
He looked amused. ‘My dear Miss Partridge, has somebody told you that I am still a bachelor? I assure you that I am very content to be so, and although I am sure that you mean to be helpful, I’m quite able to find myself a wife should I wish for one.’
She went scarlet and jumped out of the chair where she had perched herself. ‘You know very well that I didn’t mean anything of the sort,’ she declared indignantly. ‘As a matter of fact, I didn’t know you weren’t married, although,’ she added honestly, ‘I thought perhaps you weren’t.’
The professor had got to his feet too, standing so close to her that she was forced to put her head back to see his face. ‘Perhaps I won’t do,’ she stated flatly.
He gave a crack of laughter. ‘Of course you’re going to do—the children will like you, I’m sure of it, and I could think of no one I would rather have to look after them. You’re a nice change from the usual girl, Miss Partridge; it’s pleasant to meet a girl who is different.’
He went back to his chair. ‘And now sit down again, dear girl, here is tea at last, and if it makes you happier we will discuss the weather or some such topic, which will be very dull but should guarantee us not arguing.’
But there was no need for them to talk about anything as mundane; they fell to discussing books and music and a surprisingly large number of other subjects which they found they had in common, although Beth, munching her way daintily through anchovy toast, sandwiches and a rich chocolate cake, noticed that he kept the conversation impersonal; at the end of it she was just as ignorant as to where he lived in Holland and where he worked as she had ever been. Not, she thought vaguely, that that mattered in the slightest, for he would be going back to his own country very shortly, no doubt, and it could be of no consequence to her where he went or what he did.
Tea had been eaten and cleared away before the children arrived back. They came rushing in, all talking at once and in Dutch, making a beeline for their uncle, who sat back in his chair, apparently unworried by their delighted onslaught upon his vast person. It was only after they had talked themselves to a standstill that he said in English: ‘I told you that while your mama was in hospital I would find someone to look after you all. This is Miss Elizabeth Partridge, who will do just that. Say how do you do and shake hands with her, if you please.’
He had told Beth that they were as disobedient as most children, but not at that particular moment they weren’t. They came forward in turn to do as their uncle had bidden them, saying, ‘How do you do?’ and giving their names with almost old-fashioned good manners.
‘How nice to meet you all,’ declared Beth, beaming down at them all, ‘and do you suppose that you might call me Beth? I should much prefer it.’
The professor had got to his feet; now he had done his duty in introducing the children to her, it seemed that he now felt free to go. ‘Why not?’ he agreed placidly. ‘Do whatever Miss Partridge asks of you, my dears. Now I have an evening engagement and will bid you all good night, for you will be asleep by the time I get home. I shall see you tomorrow, no doubt.’
Left alone with the children, Beth sat down again and invited them to tell her about themselves, something they were ready enough to do and which gave her the opportunity to observe them rather more closely. Dirk, the obvious leader of the quartet, was tall for his age, fair-haired and blue-eyed and thin as only boys of ten can be. Marineka, who came next, was blue-eyed and fair-haired too and almost as tall as Dirk, although a good deal plumper, and Hubert was nicely chubby too, with the same ash-blond hair. It was the littlest one, Alberdina, who wasn’t like any of them; she was short and decidedly plump, with large dark eyes and long brown hair. She could be only just five, Beth decided, for she still had a babyish way of sidling close and holding any hand which happened to present itself.
She was holding Beth’s hand now, smiling up at her and saying something in Dutch.
‘You have to speak English, Alberdina,’ Dirk told her, and then explained: ‘We all know how, because we had a nanny, but she’s married now, and Alberdina hasn’t had as much time to learn it as we have.’
‘You all speak English beautifully,’ Beth hastened to assure him. ‘I only wish I could speak Dutch. And now will you tell me what you do now? Have you had your tea? And what do you do before bedtime?’
They all told her, so that it took her a little while to discover that they had their supper at six o’clock and then, starting with Alberdina, they went to bed—Dirk last of all at eight o’clock. ‘Although sometimes I go to bed earlier than that,’ he took pains to tell her, ‘so that I can read, and of course on Saturdays, while we are here with Uncle Alexander, we stay up later.’
‘What fun—why?’
‘We go out with him in the afternoon, to the Zoo or for a ride in his car, and then we have tea somewhere special, and when we come home we play cards. We’re good at cards. You play also?’
‘Well, yes, though I’m not very good, I’m afraid, but I don’t expect…that is, I daresay your uncle would like to have you to himself.’
They all nodded agreement so cheerfully that she felt quite disappointed.
It was evident that they were on their best behaviour; they took Beth over the house, much larger than it looked from the outside, showing her everything, even the cupboards and attics. They would have shown her their mother’s room as well as their uncle’s if she had given them the smallest encouragement. She declined a conducted tour of the kitchen too, merely asking where it was, just in case she should need to go there, though that seemed unlikely because Mrs Silver, stopping for a chat when she came to call the children to their supper, informed her in a kindly way that
