Part 36 (1/2)

In the Middle Ages it was very select; all the rich merchants lived here, and their daughters took their daily walks by the lake.

It was so select that no one was allowed to carry a basket or have a dog with them.

It's still considered select.

There's a very good hotel here, but an even better one much quieter and

smaller on the sh.o.r.es of the Aussenalster.

' He turned into a busy city street and Alethea caught a glimpse of shops before seeing the lake again, this time stretching out of sight, its banks lined with trees and gra.s.s, its smooth water ruffled by small ferry boats going from side to side, and any number of sailing boats.

”Now we're in the Alsterufer,” Sarre told her.

”It leads to the Harvestehuder Weg--the hotel's just along here, in front of the park alongside the lake.

' It looked delightful, white-painted, its windowsills ablaze with red

geraniums, set amidst a formal garden.

Sarre turned the car off the road into the short drive and stopped

before the entrance and while a porter saw to the luggage, ushered her inside. They had rooms overlooking the lake, and in the gathering twilight, it looked quite beautiful.

Alethea, hanging over her balcony in order to watch the swans and ducks on the water, turned when Sarre spoke to her from the door. ”I'm operating in the morning,” he observed, 'and I'm afraid I shall have to go back after dinner for a consultation.

Will you be all right here on your own?

If you like you could go shopping in the morning--I can drop you off as

I go.

You'll find the shops very good, only please take a taxi back here.

I hope to get away in the afternoon, but it's possible that I shan't be

free until seven o'clock or (hereabouts.

' She wasn't going to let him see how disappointed she was at the prospect of a whole day without him.

”T'd love to poke around,” she a.s.sured him cheerfully.

”I've been reading up a lot about Hamburg, and there's a street of

little frame houses I want to go and look at.

' ”The Kramer Amtsstuben,” he replied.

”T know where they are.

I don't have to be at the hospital until nine o'clock.

If you don't mind getting up early I'll take you there and then drop you off in the Monckeberg Stra.s.se--that's where the shops are.

' She would at least see him for a short time; she agreed readily and,

she hoped, not too eagerly, and agreed again when he suggested a stroll

by the lake before they changed for the evening.

It was incredibly peaceful, right in the heart of the city and yet surrounded by trees and shrubs, the gra.s.s under their feet going to the water's edge.

The sailing boats and dinghies had finished for the day, and there, by the quiet lake, they might have been miles from anywhere, only as they retraced their steps Alethea could see the lights of the city s.h.i.+ning over the far end of the water.

They stopped for a minute and she pointed across to the opposite sh.o.r.e.

”That looks delightful over there.

' And indeed it did, the gra.s.s and the trees and beyond them the dim outlines of large villas against the sky.

”Bellevue,” Sarre told her.