Part 28 (2/2)

' It was so cosily safe she could have gone to sleep there and then, but first the children had to be dried and warmed and cuddled a little.

She turned from rubbing Alberdina's small icy feet to find the policeman back again.

”There was a Profess or van Zeust on the telephone,” he told her, 'these children's uncle, is it not?

I have told him all, and he comes to fetch you back to Willemstad.

' He paused, looking at her.

”I warn you that he is exceedA STAR LOOKS DOWN 205 ingly angry, miss.

He said his words ”the stupid, idiotic little fool, I could kill her!”

' He shrugged enormous shoulders.

”He does not mean that, of course naturally, he was worried, and when a man is worried he says such things.

Now you will all have more coffee, for you, miss, do not look well.

It is perhaps the shock of sailing the boeier through such a bad storm.

' Beth wanted to tell him that she hadn't sailed it; she hadn't known how, but it would be a waste of time and only lead to a lot more questions time enough to explain when Alexander arrived.

Perhaps by the time he did, he would have got over his anger.

She saw the Citroen tearing along the road on the other side of the harbour long before the others did.

It disappeared from sight for a few moments and then snapped into view, to stop dead in front of the police station, and all her worst fears were realized.

The profess or wasn't just angry, he was in a white hot rage, all the more frightening because of the calm of his face.

He strode in, made himself known to the Commandant, answered the children's cries of delight in a warm, perfectly normal voice, and gave her a look of such bottled-up fury that she quailed.

It was only after a short conversation with the two policemen, and the briefest of colloquies with Dirk, that he spoke to her.

They were leaving the building, the three elder children in front, Alberdina between them, when he said in a low, furious voice: ”You little idiot, Elizabeth, endangering all your lives in such a foolhardy fas.h.i.+on!

What was your purpose--what did you hope to gain from such a hair-brained scheme?

And why tell Dirk that you could handle a boat and persuade him.

' She could think of nothing to say and she couldn't take refuge behind a ten-year-old boy, even though he was wholly to blame.

She looked stonily ahead of her and didn't say a word, and neither, after his outburst, did the profess or.

She sat in the back of the car, with Alberdina on her lap and the other two beside her, half asleep now, and Dirk sat with his uncle, talking earnestly.

The profess or drove very fast, his temper once more under control, talking very little; mostly questions to Dirk.

Only as they reached Willemstad did he say to them all: ”Your mother has been very frightened.

You are to be good and quiet, all of you, and do exactly as you are told, and you must all be very tired and hungry.

Supper and bed, I think, and you can tell her all about it in the morning.

' He led the way into the old house, calling out something Beth couldn't understand in a cheerful voice, and Mar tina Thor becke came running down the stairs, laughing and crying and trying to embrace all four of her children at once.

But presently she asked questions, answered briefly by her brother, and then, at great length, by Dirk, and when the profess or would have hushed the boy, his mother shook her head and bade him go on, and Beth, standing quietly behind the others, saw the look Mevrouw Thor becke shot at her and wondered what Dirk was saying.

Only when Maartje appeared and took the children away with her did Mevrouw Thor becke speak to Beth.

”What is this that Dirk tells me, Elizabeth--he told the same story to his uncle.

Why would you do such a dreadful thing--to risk their lives.

' She choked back a sob.

”Thank heaven Alexander was here, on the point of leaving for Utrecht hospital to perform an urgent operation, and now thanks to you, the patient may be dead.

' The profess or had crossed to where Beth was standing.

He took her cold hands in his and said gently: ”Beth, will you not tell us what happened?

You had some reason.

' Why, she wondered wearily, were they so sure that it was her fault, and why had Alexander been so cruelly angry with her?

She pulled her hands away and said in a wooden little voice: ”Dirk told you--I've nothing to add to that.

I'm very sorry about your patient.

I hope you'll still be in time.

' She didn't look at either of them but went upstairs to her room, feeling suddenly exhausted.

It seemed hours later when Mevrouw Thor becke knocked and came in.

She said at once: ”Alexander left at once to go to Utrecht, but he wants to talk to you.

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