Sun And Candlelight Part 19

' And a good thing too as it turned out, for Nick must have hurried round the back of the hospital and in at the other side so that he couldn't help but meet her if she went back to the Home.

He came face to face with them outside the Home door and Sarre said pleasantly: "Ah, good evening, Penrose," and stopped long enough to add: "T hear that the shoulder we did is making good progress.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks, but he'll be gone by then, I suppose.

' He nodded a casual goodbye and opened the door for Alethea.

"T'll be here," he told her, 'waiting.

' The Jaguar ate up the miles, heading for Harwich and the night ferry,

and Alethea, sitting beside Sarre, listening to his casual

conversation, felt a surge of excitement.

Until that moment, everything had seemed like a dream, an improbable one which wasn't likely to come true, but it was coming true.

Perhaps she should have insisted upon more time in which to make up her mind, she was suddenly beset by any number of vague fears, not one of them concrete enough to furnish her with enough material to worry over, yet all of them looming at the back of her head like a creeping fog.

"Sarre," she began, to be instantly hushed by his: "Don't say it, Alethea, you're scared, aren't you?

It's actually happening, isn't it?

and you feel as though you're being hustled and bustled into something you're suddenly not sure about.

But you're not; you're coming to spend a few days with me and my family

and if at the end of that time you feel you can't go through with it, then all you have to do is say so.

I told you that, my dear; the door is still wide open for you to

escape.

' He made it sound so logical and normal, she said at once: "Of course you're right, Sarre-it's last-minute nerves.

' He chuckled.

"Cured by a drink and dinner!

We'll stop at Marks Tey.

' They had plenty of time; they dined at leisure and then went on

again, arriving exactly at the right time to go on board without a long

wait.

Rather to Alethea's disappointment, Sarre showed no inclination to keep her up talking; he suggested that she went straight to her cabin, told her that he had arranged for her to be called in the morning and wished her a friendly goodnight, and despite her vague peevishness at this she

slept well and her good humour was quite restored by his cheerful greeting when she went on deck after her morning tea.

The ferry was on the point of docking and she looked about her with interest; true, the Hock of Holland looked very much like Harwich, but it was a foreign country and she had never travelled outside Great Britain before.

Sarre stood beside her, watching the bustle on the quay until it was time for them to get into the car, drive through Customs and finally start on their journey to Groningen.

It was still very early, not yet seven o'clock, but there was a good deal of traffic on the road.

Sarre drove towards den Haag, bypa.s.sed that city and took the motorway north.

He travelled at speed now until they were north of Leiden, when he turned on to the Haarlem road with the remark that they would stop for breakfast very shortly.

Alethea would have been content to go on; she was hungry, but there was so much to see that that didn't seem important at the moment.

All the same, when they stopped presently at a charming restaurant in the woods outside that city she discovered that she was ravenous and fell to on the rolls and toast, the thin slices of ham, the eggs and cheese with which their table was laden.

"T shall get fat, "she observed comfortably as she poured more coffee for them both.

"You don't eat a breakfast like this every morning, do you?

' Sarre nodded.

"Oh, yes--not quite as much, perhaps.

You will quickly become accustomed to it.

' "Will your children be at home when we get there?

' He glanced at his watch.

"They come out of school at twelve o'clock, and we should be home well before then.

If you're quite finished we might as well go.

' They didn't talk a great deal; Sarre pointed out anything which he considered might interest her and she asked questions--not as many as she would have wished, but she knew that he wanted to reach Groningen as quickly as possible and he was nice enough to slow down each time she exclaimed over something which caught her eye.

It was eleven o'clock as they reached the outskirts of the city; Alethea heard the church clocks chiming the hour, one after the other.

It was a pleasant welcoming sound and it made her feel a little less strange.

She got out her compact and powdered her pretty face and added a little more lipstick, and was surprised to see how composed was her reflection while her insides churned with excitement and a vague fear that something would go wrong.

Nothing was ever what one expected; certainly Groningen, from what she could see of it as Sarre wound his way to the centre of it, was far more beautiful than she had imagined, with its old houses bordering the ca.n.a.ls and its lovely churches.

They swept past the university and Sarre said: "We're almost home," and she braced herself, wondering what home would be like.

She had imagined red brick, but Sarre had been telling her that many people lived in flats; perhaps he had a flat too.

He turned the car into a narrow street which converged into a wider one, lined with trees and with a narrow ca.n.a.l running through it; there were bridges along its length and tall important houses on both sides of the cobbles.

It was quiet there and after the busyness of the main streets it was like pa.s.sing into another world and age.

Sarre slowed the car and then stopped.

"Here we are," he told her, and leaned across to open her door before getting out himself.

It wasn't red brick and it wasn't a flat, but a thin old house, towering to four storeys, its elaborate gable crowning its flat face.

The door was old too and stout, with large windows on either side, and rows of windows above, decreasing in size at each floor until the top one of all, set directly under the steep gable.

Alethea turned to look at Sarre who had come round the car's bonnet to

shut her door.

"It's not a bit what I expected, it's quite--quite beautiful and very large.

' He looked up at his home.

"It is a lovely old place," he conceded, 'it's also full of pa.s.sages

and unexpected stairs and funny little rooms, highly inconvenient, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

' He smiled at her.

"T hope you'll like it too, Alethea.

' "Oh, I shall!

' She stared up at him earnestly.

"It's just that I'm surprised.

' He laughed a little and took her arm as they crossed the brick

pavement and went up the three steps to the front door.

It opened as they reached it and a middle-aged man with a merry face stood back as they went inside.

"Welcom 'ome, guvnor, an' you, miss.

' He sketched a little bow at her and while she was still swallowing

surprise Sarre said easily: "Ah, Al, it's good to be back.

How's everything?

' "OK, Guv.

' He grinned engagingly at Sarre, who went on: "This is Miss Thomas,

Al, my fiancee. You'll look after her." "Course I will." He gave her a friendly respectful look. "Right proud we are to 'ave 'er, too." He opened an inner door and Sarre took Alethea's arm and drew her into the hall, a narrow lofty corridor stretching seemingly endlessly before them. She looked round her curiously, a little taken aback with the splendid marble topped side tables and the panelled walls hung with paintings. There was no sign of a staircase, but when they were halfway down the hall she saw it, at right angles to the hall, a handsomely carved one, its oak treads worn by countless feet.

Al had slipped ahead of them and opened another door and they went into a fair-sized room.

There were no windows but light came from the enormous windows of a

much larger room into which it led.

Al shut the door quietly behind him and Sarre took his hand from her arm and she stood just where she was, looking about her.

Nothing was as she had expected it to be.