Magic In Vienna Part 10

"It seems a great shame," observed Dr Salfinger, 'that you will have to miss these treats. But why cannot Cordelia. .." He smiled at her, 'that is if she cares to--join me for lunch one day? You can be spared for that?"

"Uncle Charles told me that he was going to Salzburg this morning and wouldn't be back until this evening. Poor Cordelia will be all alone again."

Cordelia hardly relished the forlorn picture her charge was painting of her.

"Oh, I've heaps to do," she began.

"But you must stop for lunch? May I not call for you, Cordelia? I am free this afternoon and I would like very much to show you the silver when we have had lunch. Half-past twelve? At Dr Tres...o...b..'s apartment?"

It would have been churlish to refuse, besides, she didn't want to, it would fill an empty day with no hope of seeing Uncle Charles. She accepted nicely, mentally resolving to forget him and concentrate on Julius. She wasn't quite sure if she liked him, but it was hardly fair to form an opinion so quickly. Besides, it didn't really matter they were hardly likely to see each other again. The future suddenly loomed frighteningly close, and empty. : Julius was punctual, apparently delighted to be taking her out, but he was also, to her mind, too free with his compliments. She had no illusions about her looks and she thought he must either be blind or a terrible liar with his fulsome remarks. She did her best to ignore them, got into his Porsche and was whisked away to the side streets of Vienna where she had never quite dared to go and where, true to his word, Julius gave her lunch in a charming old-fas.h.i.+oned restaurant where he a.s.sured her the food was genuinely Viennese. He turned out to be a pleasant enough companion with a fund of light hearted stories about hospital life and a profound knowledge of the city. It was already two o'clock by the time they reached the Hofburg Palace and went to inspect the silver. This occupied them until three o'clock and since it was a splendid afternoon, Julius suggested that they might take a fiacre drive through the city.

"We can leave the car here and I'll drive you back after we've had tea somewhere."

She refused pleasantly.

"I must get back there are letters which must get the early evening post and some things I must do for Eileen. .."

She smiled at him.

"It's been a lovely afternoon and thank you very much it was kind of you, you must have so many friends and family here in Vienna and not a great deal of free time."

"Ah, but I have enjoyed it too, Cordelia. Please, we will do this again before you go back to England. Dinner one evening? Eileen will have to keep early hours for a few days and then you will be free, perhaps? I am sure that Dr Tres...o...b.. goes out a great deal in the evenings he is a much sought after man, you know." He shrugged his shoulders.

"But what would one expect? He is rich, handsome and clever at the very peak of our profession. Although it must be admitted that he cares very little for our social life; he continues to study, he is writing a book and he travels frequently for he is much in demand. He will be missed."

"He's going soon?" Cordelia was anxious to gather any crumb of information that she could.

"Within the next two or three weeks, I believe." They were driving back to the apartment.

"Now about this dinner. .."

She wished he wasn't so persistent. She had the feeling that he wasn't really keen to see her again and if that were true, why was he so anxious that she should accept his invitation. She said carefully: "I honestly can't be sure when I'm going to be free-- could we leave it for the moment?"

His heartiness was overpowering.

"Of course-- I'll see you at the hospital, but remember, I don't intend to take no for an answer--there must be one evening during the next week when you can be free. I shall 'phone you each day."He leaned across her and opened the door for her. She got out andpoked her head through the door once more to thank him once again before he drove off. When she turned round Dr Tres...o...b.. was on thepavement behind her.She was startled into saying stupidly,"Oh, I thought that you were in Salzburg.. .""When the cat's away?" He wanted to know in a silky voice she didn't care for at all. "Certainly not. I went to see Eileen this morning-- earlier than usual because she asked me to, Dr Salfinger was with her and--and he asked me to have lunch with him and go to see the imperial cutlery. I have lunched alone for days on end," her voice rose slightly, 'it waspleasant to have company.""Am I to stand corrected?" He wanted to know blandly.She flushed. /"No of course not. I'm sorry if I sounded rude, not,"she added matter-of-factly, 'that I was any ruder than you were."He laughed then."Have you had tea? No? Then let us go up to the apartment and share a soothing pot between us." As they went up to the flat, "You like young Salfinger?"

"It was very kind of him to ask me out to lunch," she replied.

"I'm not surprised you aren't too keen," said the doctor surprisingly.

"He's very much one for the girls." He turned to look at her as he opened the apartment door.

"You're not at all his cup of tea," he observed coolly.

Cordelia stared up at him, her face very red. She said, her teeth chattering with rage.

"I am paid to look after Eileen," she told him in a voice she strove to keep steady, 'not to be the b.u.t.t of your rudeness, Dr Tres...o...b..."

She ducked past him and skimmed along the hall and up the steps, bent

on reaching her room and staying there. He overtook her quite easily before she could get her hand on the doork.n.o.b. His large, firm hand closed over hers, gently pr ising it off, not letting go.

"Blame my lack of female company--I have become uncouth. I said it all wrong, didn't I?"

She tugged at her hand with no success at all, and muttered darkly, not looking at him.

"Cordelia, be good enough to look at me." And when she didn't, he put his free hand under her chin so that she had to meet his eyes. He went on deliberately, "You're not his cup of tea; not his sort--you don't know much about men, do you? He's out for a good time and you're easy game--a few days of what he calls fun and you'll be gone and he'll forget you." He added, "I'd prefer you not to see him again, Cordelia."

Her tongue betrayed her thoughts before she could curb it.

"Why do you bother?"

His face became as austere as his voice had been. "I am responsible for your welfare while you are under my roof." He let her hand go at last and Thompson who had come into the hall to enquire about tea, had trotted away again to tell Mrs Cook all about it and then gone back into the hall, making sure that they heard him this time.

When she joined him presently she had expected to feel awkward but Dr Salfinger wasn't mentioned, indeed, Dr Tres...o...b.. behaved as though they had just that moment met. She never would understand him, she thought despondently, even though she loved him so. She answered his polite impersonal remarks in like fas.h.i.+on and was glad when she could escape to her room. Quite easy as it happened, for he observed as he put down his cup and saucer that he had" some reading to do.

But he came out of his study ten minutes later and left the house, driving away in the Jaguar, and Cordelia, was.h.i.+ng her hair, never heard him go, nor did a strangely subdued Eileen, when she visited her later on that evening, think fit to tell her of her uncle's visit. Uncle Charles had asked a number of pertinent questions he had had no difficulty in worming her rather silly little plot from her.

"Why did you do it, Eileen?" He had asked her, 'had you thought that you might hurt Cordelia?"

She had protested against that.

"I wanted her to have some fun--she was lonely. Uncle Charles, she never goes anywhere, only with me when I'm there, and once to a concert with you.

I thought she might like a boyfriend."

"Your intentions may have been good my dear, but young Dr Salfinger is hardly.. why him?"

"I told him about Cordelia and he thought it would be fun to take her out and pretend that he'd fallen for her." Said Eileen sulkily.

"So I got her to come early so that he could meet her here."

He looked at her in silence and she said: "Are you angry Uncle Charles?"

"Yes, I am. You see, Eileen, Cordelia is a nice girl; not the kind ofperson people play tricks on. I daresay she thought that youngSalfinger really wanted to take her out and if she discovered the truthshe'd be upset." He smiled suddenly: "Don't play Cupid again, my dear;leave Cordelia to find her own love."

"But she never will, she never meets any one, only Thompson and Mrs Thompson and me--and you of course."

Her uncle went to look out of the window.

"Ah, but there's magic in Vienna, didn't you know? Anything mighthappen. Shall we wait and see?" He walked over to her and kissed herswiftly.

"Not a word, Eileen, cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart. How long must we wait for something magic to happen?"

"Not too long, my dear." He glanced at his watch. "I must go--I'm late."

And Cordelia, having no inkling of this conversation, was delighted tofind her charge so anxious to agree to her plans for the resuming ofdrawing lessons as soon as she got back to her uncle's. She walkedback to the apartment presently, her head full of schemes for keepingEileen happy for the last week before her parents arrived. It wasn'tuntil she was getting ready for bed after her solitary dinner, that shespared a thought for Julius Salfinger. Dr Tres...o...b.. had been verydefinite about her not seeing him again and it might be difficultputting him off. She would have to think of some watertight excuse ifhe 'phoned. She didn't think about him for long; she curled up in bedand allowed herself at last the pleasure of thinking about CharlesTres...o...b... Of course, it was a singularly profitless exercise; in a little more than a week he would wish her a pleasant goodbye and that would be that. She wouldn't see ' him again after that, even though he was going back to England she saw no chance of their paths crossing; she really would have to think seriously about another job. Instead, she went over the conversation they had had that afternoon, word for word, and not just once.

Julius Salfinger 'phoned the next day, but she was out and Thompson, offering to take a message had been told not to bother. Cordelia heaved a sigh of relief when she was told; Eileen would be coming home late the following afternoon and once she was back, she could give the perfectly true excuse that she must stay with her until her parents returned. But she had reckoned without Fate. She had brought back a good many of the odds and ends Eileen had col A lected while she was in hospital on the previous evening and she wasn't going again until tea time, when Eileen's uncle would bring the child home, and she would pack up the rest of Eileen's things at the same time. That left her with a morning to herself and since time was running out, she decided to walk through some of the older streets of Vienna and treat herself to coffee at Sacher's. It was a brilliant mom- ing; the doctor had left the apartment directly after breakfast with a brief reminder that she should be at the hospital by four o'clock to help Eileen collect her things ready for him to pick them up shortly after.

"If there are any messages for me at lunchtime, 'phone me at the hospital, will you?" he had asked as he went, so that her vague idea about staying out to lunch was squashed.

All the same, she had several hours of the morning to herself, she took a tram to Heldenplatz and started walking in the direction of St Stephan's Cathedral, taking any small street she fancied, keeping it's tall spire in view.

Her way took her close to Graben, so that she lingered to look in the shops there. She was admiring the beautifully arranged flowers in a florist's window when someone took her arm.

Julius Salfinger the last person she wanted to see.

"What luck," he began, 'and how pretty you look this morning. What about that dinner date? I know of an enchanting little restaurant!"

She said pleasantly, "Hullo Julius. I'm afraid I won't be able to have dinner with you Eileen's coming home today you know that, of course and I'll not be free now until her parent's arrive."

"Nonsense of course you can manage an evening. When the child's in bed she'll come to no harm you can slip out, no one need know. . ."

"I couldn't do that, I'm sorry, Julius."

His smile faded.

"Standing me up, my dear? I don't imagine that you get many dates, do you? I would never have asked you out in the first place if it hadn't been for young Eileen trading on my good nature with her tale of a poor young woman with no money and no chance of having a bit of fun. I'm sorry I put myself out."

Cordelia felt rage and humiliation rising in her throat, choking her.

She said in a voice which didn't sound like her own any more.

"Then why did you ask me out to dinner? Surely giving me lunch was all that your your pity demanded?" : He said sulkily.

"Girls enjoy my company, they can't wait to be asked out again. . ."

"Well, here is one who doesn't; you're conceited. .." She swallowed the tirade on her tongue and marched past him into the nearest shop.

It was a superior gentlemen's outfitters and the sauve young man who came to see what she wanted was quite put out when she refused to look at Italian silk ties and dressy waistcoats, indeed, after a few perplexed minutes he came to the conclusion that she hadn't heard him or even seen him. She hadn't she was unaware of her surroundings, wrapped in such bitter thoughts that she felt sick.

She left the shop presently, walking quickly, not caring where she was going, presently she found lected while she was in hospital on the previous evening and she wasn't going again until tea time, when Eileen's uncle would bring the child home, and she would pack up the rest of Eileen's things at the same time. That left her with a morning to herself and since time was running out, she decided to walk through some of the older streets of Vienna and treat herself to coffee at Sacher's. It was a brilliant mom- ing; the doctor had left the apartment directly after breakfast with a brief reminder that she should be at the hospital by four o'clock to help Eileen collect her things ready for him to pick them up shortly after.

"If there are any messages for me at lunchtime, 'phone me at the hospital, will you?" he had asked as he went, so that her vague idea about staying out to lunch was squashed.

All the same, she had several hours of the morning to herself, she took a tram to Heldenplatz and started walking in the direction of St Stephan's Cathedral, taking any small street she fancied, keeping it's tall spire in view.

Her way took her close to Graben, so that she lingered to look in the shops there. She was admiring the beautifully arranged flowers in a florist's window when someone took her arm.

Julius Salfinger the last person she wanted to see.

"What luck," he began, 'and how pretty you look this morning. What about that dinner date? I know of an enchanting little restaurant!"

She said pleasantly, "Hullo Julius. I'm afraid I won't be able to have dinner with you Eileen's coming home today you know that, of course and I'll not be free now until her parent's arrive."

"Nonsense of course you can manage an evening. When the child's in bed she'll come to no harm you can slip out, no one need know. .."

"I couldn't do that, I'm sorry, Julius."

His smile faded.

"Standing me up, my dear? I don't imagine that you get many dates, do you? I would never have asked you out in the first place if it hadn't been for young Eileen trading on my good nature with her tale of a poor young woman with no money and no chance of having a bit of fun. I'm sorry I put myself out."

Cordelia felt rage and humiliation rising in her throat, choking her.

She said in a voice which didn't sound like her own any more.

"Then why did you ask me out to dinner? Surely giving me lunch was all that your your pity demanded?"

He said sulkily.

"Girls enjoy my company, they can't wait to be asked out again.. ."

"Well, here is one who doesn't; you're conceited. . ." She swallowed the tirade on her tongue and marched past him into the nearest shop.