Part 9 (1/2)
”Out of the frying-pan, into the fire,” she observed, and had the satisfaction of seeing the puzzlement on her companions' faces.
”I.
don't think there is anything we can say to each other, Juffrouw van Germert. You may have come with the best intentions, but I doubt it. ” She put the knitting down, and set her cup and saucer on the tray.
”I'll leave you, if I may?” She looked at Jonkvrouw van Germert, whose formidable bosom was heaving quite alarmingly.
”I expect you would like to discuss me together.”
She went straight upstairs to her room, took her two cases from under the bed and packed her things, doing it neatly and unhurriedly, then changed into her warmest clothes, checked her handbag for money and pa.s.sport, and, carrying her luggage, went downstairs. The drawing-room door was shut and she made no attempt to go there but went through the hall to the kitchen where she bade an astonished Come and Cook goodbye and then, via the back door, left the house.
It was bitterly cold and the cases were awkward, but, carried along on a right royal rage, she hardly noticed this. At the bus station she was lucky, for a bus was due to leave within a few minutes, and she got herself on board and sat, her head empty of thought, until it finally reached Leiden. It was no distance to the station, she bought a ticket to the Hock and sat down on the platform to wait for the train. The enormity of what she had done was just beginning to penetrate her rage. There was no going back; indeed, wild horses wouldn't have persuaded her to do that. To go back to England was the obvious thing to do; luckily she had the best part of the hundred pounds in her purse and she knew that a ferry sailed from the Hock at around midnight. It was a little after five o'clock, she had ample time to get there and at this time of year there should be no trouble getting a ticket. Beyond that she wasn't going to think.
She couldn't go back to her home but surely she would find work of some kind in London; anything would do until she found her feet. She sat there, getting colder and colder, not allowing herself to think of Dr. van der Linus, but, try as she might, her thoughts returned to him time and again. She hadn't expected to meet him again but she never would have forgotten him, she had thought of him as a friend and she had confided in him. She could, at a pinch, forgive him for deceiving her about his grandmother, but to arrange for her to go to Holland and to someone who disliked her and didn't want her anyway was some 9 thing she was unable to condone, and to crown the whole unhappy business he had allowed Nicola to take her to task for not being grateful. Worst of all, though, he pitied her, in much the same way as he had pitied the dog she had found. She would have liked to have a good cry but it was far too cold.
The train came presently and she found a seat, had a cup of the excellent coffee brought round, and, once they got to Rotterdam, found the train for the Hock and got on board. She would have hours to wait there before she could go on board the ferry but she could sit in the cafe and have a bowl of soup in its noisy warmth.
The station at the Hock was almost deserted; it was too early for the boat train and the local trains taking the workers home had dwindled to infrequency. The cafe was half full and she found a seat at a table by one of its windows and dawdled over a bowl of Er- wetensoep, steaming hot pea soup, as thick as porridge and spiced with pork and sausage, and a roll, and then, leaving her cases in the care of the elderly couple who were sharing her table, she went to ask about a ticket. Its price made a serious hole in her money and a berth was out of the question, but she would be able to curl up on a bench somewhere, for the s.h.i.+p was half empty, she was told. She went back to the cafe and ordered a cup of coffee. The place was filling up now and in another half-hour or so the boat train would arrive and all the seats would be taken. The elderly couple were going on the ferry too, that much she had understood, but conversation was difficult, so they lapsed into a friendly silence and she was left to her thoughts.
She would have been missed by now, of course, and if Jonkvrouw van Germert had enquired. Come would have told her that Cressida had left with her luggage, but she didn't think anyone would try to fetch her back. Nicola would doubtless make up some story for the doctor's benefit and that would be the end of it. She fell to making plans--she would be in London early on the following morning, she could leave her luggage at the station, look up the nearest job centre in the phone book and get a job--any job--and then find a room, and if all else failed she would go to Castle Cary to Moggy. She was being optimistic, she knew, but domestic workers were in short supply and she would do anything while she looked around for the kind of work which she could do. The Lady magazine, she remembered, had been full of advertis.e.m.e.nts for help in the house and child minders she had only to buy a copy and find the nearest phone box. Carried away on a cloud of optimism, she ordered another cup of coffee.
A train came in, not the boat train, although quite a few pa.s.sengers got out and made for the exit to the ferry, and she wondered if it might be a good idea to go on board. It was warm in the cafe and she felt a certain comfort from the company of the nice elderly couple still sitting opposite her. She stared out of the wide window and gazed at the people hurrying to and fro and then glanced round the cafe. It had filled up, customers coming in as fast as those leaving; perhaps it would be a good idea to get on board before the boat train got in. Too late it slid into the station silently and the platform was alive with pa.s.sengers. There was still plenty of time before the ferry sailed and a good many of them crowded into the cafe, looking for seats and calling the waiters.
Someone sat down in the empty seat beside her and she turned away from the window.
The doctor said quietly, ”h.e.l.lo, Cressida.”
She was aware of the most intense delight at seeing him; she suppressed it at once and asked coldly, ”Why are you here? How did you know?”
”Corrie told me.” He was sitting very much at his ease and the elderly couple, gathering together their bags and parcels, gave him an enquiring look and then smiled when he spoke to them, nodding in a satisfied way before bidding him and Cressida goodbye.
”How kind of Corrie,” said Cressida, 'and now if you will be good enough to move I'll go on board the ferry. ”
”Well, no, I think not. We might have a little talk. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
”I don't want to talk,” said Cressida bitterly, 'and I've had three cups of coffee. Oh, go away, do. ”
She might just as well have asked an oak tree to uproot itself; the doctor's ma.s.sive person remained sitting comfortably in his chair, and he had every appearance of a man who intended to stay where he was until he saw fit to move. She said in a despairing voice, ”Oh, please let me go I've got my ticket...”
”Have you any money?” he asked so casually that she answered him at once.
”Oh, yes, the rest of the hundred pounds...” She stopped and turned to look at him.
”Mr. Tims said but it was you, wasn't it? You arranged it too, didn't you? Not content with pitying me, you had to ... to...”
The doctor realised that this was the crux of the matter.
”What is all this nonsense about pitying you? Why should I? A great girl like you, quite able to earn your living once you had a leg up. Pity is the last thing I feel for you, my girl, and the quicker you disabuse yourself of that silly idea the better.”
He lifted a finger to a pa.s.sing waiter, ordered a pot of tea and sat back, saying nothing until after the tea had been brought.
”Pour the tea, dear girl,” he suggested.
”It will improve your temper and then you can tell me exactly what has happened.”
”I don't want began Cressida crossly.
”Tut-tut, you have no reason to be peevish; a cup of tea can solve almost any problem for the British.”
So she poured the tea and drank most of hers until she put down the cup because the tears were running down her cheeks. She turned her head away, sniffed and put up a hand to wipe them away and had a large, very white handkerchief put into it.
”Wipe your face and have a good blow,” advised the doctor and when she had done so.
”Now start to talk, Cressida, and began at the beginning when you first arrived at Jonkvrouw van Germert's house.”
”Yes, all right, but first why did you send me there?”
”It hadn't been my intention, I had planned to send you to friends of mine in Friesland, but when Nicola suggested that her aunt would be glad to have you as a companion it seemed a better idea. I am a good deal in Leiden and I could have kept an eye on you.”
”Yes, well, I'm sure that Jonkvrouw van Germert was being kind.”
”Possibly.” The doctor's voice was dry.
”Why didn't you tell me you weren't happy when I saw you in Leiden?”
”I didn't know that you already knew that I was there, did I? I'd only been there a week and I thought I thought I'd been rather clever to get a job so quickly after leaving Lady Merrill. You didn't tell me about her, either.” She gave a gulping breath and so he said carelessly, ”Why should I have done? Go on.”
There wasn't more much to tell and beyond telling him that Nicola had talked to her that afternoon she said nothing.
The doctor asked casually, ”So it was Nicola who told you that I found you work out of pity? I dare say that she pointed out your ingrat.i.tude, and told you that Lady Merrill was my grandmother and hinted that I had discussed the whole matter with her, even suggested that I had sent her?”
”How did you know?”
”I didn't, but I know Nicola.” He added briskly, ”And now, having cleared up the matter, let us leave this place; the smell of food is horrendous and there are far too many people here.”
Cressida looked at the clock on the far wall.
”The ferry hasn't gone--they'll let me on if I hurry.”
”No, they won't, and don't think that they will let down the gangplank for a chit of a girl. You're coming back with me.”
”I'm not. I refuse. I'd rather die.”
”Don't be dramatic. You're coming back with me and my housekeeper will put you to bed and fuss over you and in the morning I shall drive you up to Friesland to some friends of mine and you'll stay with them until we find you the perfect job.”
”I bought my ticket.”
”We can get a refund. Come along now, I've had a long day.”