as this,’ she exclaimed, aware of regret as she jumped to her feet and made for the door. The professor had got to his feet too and with his hand on the door she stopped short.
‘The messages,’ she exclaimed again, ‘you had some messages for me.’
He opened the door. ‘I am ashamed to say that I have forgotten every one of them—they couldn’t have been of much importance, could they? Your room is comfortable? You have everything you want?’
She told him yes, feeling a little uneasy about the messages, but there seemed nothing she could do about them now, so she wished him a good night and went to her room, where later, and still very wide awake, she thought about the evening, telling herself at the same time that it was only because she had been feeling lonely that she had found his company so very pleasant.
CHAPTER THREE
BETH took the children to Hyde Park in the morning and now that they had got used to her, a little of their natural high spirits were apparent; they screamed and laughed and ran races and fell over like any other child, and Beth, with no one much around to see, ran races too, her hair tumbling loose from her topknot and her cheeks flushed a healthy pink. And because it was such a lovely day, they walked home instead of taking the bus, with a good deal of stopping on the way to look at anything interesting which caught the eye of anyone in the party. They arrived on the doorstep in a happy chattering bunch and Beth rang the bell. It was the professor who opened the door to them and was instantly assailed by all four children, each telling their own version of the morning’s amusements, interlarded with loud declarations of hunger. He suffered them with good-natured patience, giving his opinion on anything he was asked, and behaving, Beth was glad to see, just as an uncle should, and when he looked over their heads to ask her if she had enjoyed herself too, she answered happily enough. ‘Oh, rather—it was super.’
‘Beth’s hair fell down,’ piped Alberdina. ‘She ran races, too, but she never won.’
‘She’s a girl,’ said Dirk kindly, and the professor smiled faintly.
‘I daresay that after a morning with this lot, Miss Partridge, you feel worn out. A glass of sherry before lunch, perhaps.’
She accepted, adding the proviso that it would have to be in a few minutes’ time. ‘I’ll just get them upstairs and tidied—and me too,’ she told him. ‘Would five minutes do?’
‘Admirably—I shall be in the sitting room.’
The children, she was quick to see, as once more neat as a new pin she sat sipping her sherry, were as good as gold; not only did they like their uncle very much, they had a healthy respect for him too. They sat quietly, Alberdina on her uncle’s knee, the others in a row on one of the sofas, and although they took part in the conversation, they didn’t make nuisances of themselves. Nanny must have been a paragon; Beth wondered uneasily if she had ever run races with the children in Hyde Park.
They were half-way through lunch when the professor mentioned in his placid way that he had wondered, as it was such a pleasant afternoon, if the children would like to go for a drive in the car. ‘With tea, of course,’ he finished amidst an excited outcry from his small relations.
‘And Miss Partridge?’ he wanted to know. ‘Do you care to come with us? Saturday afternoon, you know.’
Beth hesitated; it would be delightful to accept, on the other hand was he just being polite? She glanced quickly at the faces round her; the children at least looked pleased with the idea, and when she peeped at the professor, there was nothing in his face to suggest that he minded one way or the other. ‘Well—’ she said slowly, and was drowned by the children’s demands that she should go with them. ‘If you want to,’ she said a little shyly.
‘We shall be delighted to have your company, Miss Partridge. Shall we say half past two, then?’
The children were brushed and combed and buttoned into their coats much too soon, which gave her a little time to attend to her own person. She would have to wear the suit, for she had nothing else which would do, but at least she could do her hair again and do the best she could with her face. Wholly dissatisfied with the result, she went downstairs, the children strung out behind her, and found the professor sitting on the wall table in the hall, smoking his pipe. When he saw them he got up and went to the kitchen door and sent a subdued shout to Mrs Silver that they would be out for tea and he would be out for dinner as well, before marshalling his party out of the front door and into the car.
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