Ring in a Teacup. Бетти Нилс
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was still getting her breath back.
Mies took her arm and led her back to the room they had been in. ‘Now that is splendid, that you know Fraam. Is he not handsome? And he is also rich and not yet married, even though he has all the girls to choose from.’ She giggled. ‘I think that I shall marry him; I am a little in love with him, you know, although he is old, and he is devoted to me. Would we not make a nice pair?’
Lucy eyed her friend. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact, you would, and you’re a doctor’s daughter, too, you know what to expect if you marry him.’
‘That is true, but you must understand that he is not a house doctor, he is consultant surgeon with many hospitals and travels to other countries. He has a practice of course in the best part of Amsterdam, but he works in many of the clinics also. He has a large house, too.’
‘It sounds just right,’ observed Lucy. ‘You wouldn’t want to marry a poor man, would you?’
Mies looked horrified. ‘Oh, no, I could not. And you, Lucy? You would also wish to marry a man with money?’
She was saved from answering by the entrance of a young man. He was tall and thin and studious-looking, with fair hair, steady blue eyes and a ready smile. He spoke to Mies in Dutch and she answered him in what Lucy considered to be a very off-hand way before switching to English.
‘This is Willem de Vries, Lucy—he is a doctor also and works at the Grotehof Ziekenhuis. He comes here to work with Papa.’ She added carelessly: ‘I have known him for ever.’
Willem looked shy and Lucy made haste to say how glad she was to meet him and added a few rather inane remarks because the atmosphere seemed a little strained. ‘Did you go to school together?’ she asked chattily, and just as he was on the point of replying, Mies said quickly: ‘Yes, we did. Willem, should you not be working?’
He nodded and then asked hesitantly: ‘We’ll see each other soon?’ and had to be content with her brief, ‘I expect so. You can take us to a bioscoop one evening if you want to.’
After he had gone there was a short silence while Lucy tried to think of something casual to say, but it was Mies who spoke first. ‘Willem is a dull person. I have known him all my life, and besides, he does not kiss and laugh like Fraam.’
‘I thought he looked rather a dear. How old is he?’
‘Twenty-six. Fraam is going to be forty soon.’
‘Poor old Fraam,’ said Lucy naughtily, and then caught her breath when he said from the door behind her:
‘Your concern for my advanced age does you credit, Miss Prendergast.’
She turned round and looked at him; of course she would be Miss Prendergast from now on because she had had the nerve to call him Fraam, a liberty he would repay four-fold, she had no doubt. She said with an airiness she didn’t quite feel: ‘Hullo. Listeners never hear any good of themselves,’ and added: ‘Mr der Linssen.’
His smile was frosty. ‘But you are quite right, Miss Prendergast. It is a pity that we do not all have the gift of dropping off when we do not wish to listen, though.’
Her green eyes sparked temper. ‘What a very unfair thing to say—you know quite well that I’d been up all night!’
Mies was staring at them both in turn. ‘Don’t you like each other?’ she asked in an interested way.
‘That remains to be seen,’ observed Mr der Linssen, and he smiled in what Lucy considered to be a nasty fashion. ‘Our acquaintance is so far of the very slightest.’
‘Oh, well,’ declared Mies a little pettishly, ‘you will have to become friends, for it is most disagreeable when two people meet and do not speak.’ Her tone changed to charming beguilement. ‘Fraam, do you go to the hospital dance next Saturday? Would you not like to take me?’ She added quickly: ‘Willem can take Lucy.’
Lucy, watching his handsome, bland features, waited for him to say ‘Poor Willem,’ but he didn’t, only laughed and said: ‘Of course I would like to take you, schat, but I have already promised to take Eloise. Besides, surely Willem had already asked you?’
Mies hunched a shoulder. ‘Oh, him. Of course he has asked me, but he cannot always have what he wants. And now I must find someone for Lucy.’
They both looked at her thoughtfully, just as though, she fumed silently, I had a wart on my nose or cross-eyes. Out loud she said in a cool voice: ‘Oh, is there to be a dance? Well, don’t bother about me, Mies, I don’t particularly want to go—I’m not all that keen on dancing.’
And that was a wicked lie, if ever there was one; she loved it, what was more, she was very good at it too; once on the dance floor she became a graceful creature, never putting a foot wrong, her almost plain face pink and animated, her green eyes flashing with pleasure. She need not have spoken. Mies said firmly: ‘But of course you will come, it is the greatest pleasure, and if you cannot dance then there are always people who do not wish to do so. Professors…’
Mr der Linssen allowed a small sound to escape his lips. ‘There are some most interesting professors,’ he agreed gravely, ‘and now if you two are ready, shall I drive you back?’
‘Which car have you?’ demanded Mies.
‘The Panther.’
She nodded in a satisfied manner. ‘Fraam has three cars,’ she explained to Lucy, ‘the Panther, and a Rolls-Royce Camargue, which I prefer, and also a silly little car, a Mini, handy for town but not very comfortable. Oh, and I forget that he has a Range Rover somewhere in England.’
‘I have a bicycle too,’ supplied Mr der Linssen, ‘and I use it sometimes.’ He glanced at Lucy, goggling at such a superfluity of cars. ‘It helps to keep old age at bay,’ he told her as he opened the door.
Lucy sat in the back as he drove them home, listening to Mies chattering away, no longer needing to speak English, and from the amused chuckles uttered by her companion, they were enjoying themselves. Let them, brooded Lucy, and when they reached the flat, she thanked him in a severe voice for the lift and stood silently while Mies giggled and chattered for another five minutes. Presently, though, he said in English: ‘I must go—I have work to do. No, I will not come in for a drink. What would Eloise say if she knew that I was spending so much time with you?’ He kissed her on her cheek and looked across at Lucy who had taken a step backwards. She wished she hadn’t when she saw the mocking amusement on his face. ‘Good night, Miss Prendergast.’
She mumbled in reply and then had to explain to Mies why he kept calling her Miss Prendergast. ‘You see, I’m only a student nurse and he’s a consultant and so it’s not quite the thing to call him Fraam, and now he’s put out because I did and that’s his way of letting me know that I’ve been too—too familiar.’
Mies shrieked with laughter. ‘Lucy, you are so sweet and so oudewetse—old-fashioned, you say?’ She tucked an arm under Lucy’s. ‘Let us have coffee and discuss the dance.’
‘I really meant it—that I’d rather not go. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve anything to wear.’
Mies didn’t believe her and together they inspected the two dresses Lucy had brought with her. ‘They are most deftig,’ said Mies politely. ‘You shall wear this one.’ She spread out the green jersey dress Lucy had held up for her inspection. It was very plain, but the colour went well with her eyes and its cut was so simple that it hardly mattered that it was two years old. ‘And if you do not dance,’ went on Mies, unconsciously cruel, ‘no one will notice what you’re wearing. I will be sure and introduce you to a great many people who will like to talk to you.’
It sounded as though it was going to be an awful evening, but there would be no difficulty in avoiding Mr der Linssen; there would be a great crush of people, and besides, he would be wholly taken up with his Eloise.
Lucy, in bed, allowed her thoughts to dwell on the enchanting prospect of turning