A Mistletoe Kiss (13 page)

They reached the office and Mr Gower held open the door for her, indicating the tray standing on the desk. ‘You'd better pour, Miss Preece,' he said, seating himself in the visitor's chair. He cleared his throat, took the cup she handed him, then stood it down on the desk. ‘I've often meant to ask you where you go when you have lunch. I frequent Miss Eliza's Dining Rooms on Heyworth Street.' He looked fixedly into his cup of tea as though it were a crystal ball and he could read the future in its murky brown depths. ‘I've often thought it would be pleasant if we could take our lunch hour together.' He paused as though expecting Miss Preece to reply, but she said nothing, too surprised and embarrassed to speak. Mr Gower shot a quick glance at her beneath lowered lids. ‘Of course, when I go to Miss Eliza's, I take a book, but I would much prefer to have a companion, and I expect you feel the same.'

Miss Preece would have liked to be honest and admit that sharing a meal with Mr Gower was the last thing
she wanted. The two had a fairly amicable working relationship, but Miss Preece thought crossly that she would die of embarrassment if she had to spend one of her precious lunch hours seated opposite Mr Gower at one of the small tables in the nearby Dining Rooms. However, it would never do to say so. Instead, she made a sort of muttering murmur which she hoped he would accept as a reply, and picking up her cup took a large mouthful of tea, only discovering that it was far too hot when it was too late. She could not quite prevent herself from spluttering, so produced a hanky from her sleeve and manufactured a sneeze, then had to mop her streaming eyes whilst staring resentfully at her colleague.

‘Miss Preece? Are you all right? I'm afraid I didn't put any sugar in your tea – I wasn't sure if you took it or not – so perhaps it was that which disagreed with you. I'm so sorry; I didn't mean … I was just trying …'

Miss Preece began to assure Mr Gower that she was quite all right and then, despite her resolve, began to giggle. ‘I'm sorry, Mr Gower, but the tea was dreadfully hot and burned my mouth,' she explained, doing her best to banish her mirth. ‘Like yourself, I occasionally have a meal at Miss Eliza's, but I'm well used to eating alone, so I can't say it worries me.' She hesitated, then took the plunge. ‘But what made you mention eating out, Mr Gower? Come to that, why have you made a pot of tea? You usually leave that to me, or to Miss Ryder, if you and I are both busy.'

Mr Gower looked hunted and his rather long,
serious face took on a pinkish hue. ‘I wouldn't have said anything, except that I've noticed, these past few days, that you seemed … oh, I don't know … easier, not so formal. And I thought … I hoped …'

‘Well, I'm very sorry if I've given you a false impression,' Miss Preece said firmly. She had decided that, since she had no desire whatsoever to be on lunching out terms with him, she should make it clear. ‘But I'd better tell you straight out that I'm really quite content with my own company. I don't mean to be rude,' she added hastily, ‘but I was a solitary child and I'm afraid I'm a solitary adult, too.'

She had kept her eyes fixed on Mr Gower as she spoke and was pretty sure that the look which crossed his face when she finished speaking was one of relief. She realised that the incident must have been even more embarrassing for him than it had been for her, and because of this she leaned forward across the desk and spoke urgently. ‘I've just thought, Mr Gower, that there is a reason why I might have seemed less formal in the last couple of days. Do you remember the young girl who used to come to the library at least once most days? She couldn't find a responsible person to sign her library membership form, so of course she couldn't borrow books, but she was really keen on reading and I soon realised that given the opportunity she would soak up knowledge like a little sponge. I dare say you remember that I gave her permission to use the Reading Room, bringing her schoolbooks. She used the information she culled here to write her holiday task, and made an excellent job of it. When
that was finished, she began to read what I would call children's classics. If you remember, and I'm sure you will, you said you thought it was all right for her to do that.'

She paused, looking interrogatively at her companion, and Mr Gower nodded. ‘Yes, I remember,' he said. ‘She was a scruffy little kid when she started visiting the library, but she had cleaned herself up and looked quite respectable by the time she'd been working here for a couple of weeks. Only after a bit she disappeared, and you went back to being – well, not so interested in our borrowers. You changed, but now you've changed back! What happened?'

‘Oh, she went to her grandparents for a month,' Miss Preece said at once. ‘I was surprised how much I missed her. We'd got into the habit of walking a part of the way home together and discussing whichever book she was reading. Then sometimes she would tell me about her family. Her grandparents work the canal, taking goods from Liverpool to Leeds and vice versa, and they take the girl – she's called Hetty Gilbert, by the way – with them for a month each summer.' She looked across the desk at Mr Gower and knew that her eyes were sparkling with excitement and her lips curling into a smile. ‘School starts again in three days, so Hetty will be back in Liverpool any time now. And I've no doubt she'll be slipping through the library doors just as soon as she's able.'

Mr Gower gave Miss Preece a broad and friendly smile; it was as though Hetty's story had banished his embarrassment and allowed him to show a perfectly
natural interest in the child's doings. ‘And because you know she'll soon be back, you've become as you were before she left,' he said triumphantly. ‘You must introduce me to Miss Hetty when she comes in again. If you're busy, send her up to the reference library; there's a great deal to interest an intelligent child up there, and it might do me good to try to find books which she would enjoy.' He gave a creaky chuckle, which sounded as though it were not often used. ‘Most of my readers are students or professors, who already know a good deal about the subject they are studying. It'll be a change to have a fresh young mind, eager to learn.'

When she returned to the main library, Miss Preece realised that she would never regard Mr Gower in quite the same light again. She had thought of him as dry and desiccated, believing his only interest to be in his work amongst the books in the reference library. She had never questioned where he went in his lunch hour, nor who made his sandwiches when he ate his lunch at the library. She had imagined him to be dull, authoritarian and indifferent to those beneath him, but now she realised that like herself he was shy, almost diffident, and with the thought came another, even more surprising. Mr Gower, she told herself, had hidden depths. In future, she must realise one should never take anyone at face value. Immediately, she remembered Hetty, and began to look forward to hearing the story of her voyage on the refurbished
Water Sprite
.

* * *

School started the next day, and as soon as it was over Hetty rushed home to collect any messages her aunt might have for her, intending to visit the library just as soon as she possibly could. But when she entered the kitchen she realised that something had changed, though she could not for the life of her have said what it was. She looked across at her aunt, her brows rising. ‘What's happened? The kitchen looks … well, different.'

Her aunt pulled a rueful face. ‘You've gorrit in one, chuck,' she said grimly. ‘We wouldn't say nothing in front of your gran and grandpa, but we've had a bit of a shock.'

Hetty began to speak, but her aunt cut across her. ‘Paper tablecloths!' she said grimly. ‘Paper napkins an' all, only they calls 'em serviettes. Next thing we know, it'll be paper tea towels.'

Hetty grasped the point at once. At this time of day the kitchen should have been piled with clean and well-starched table linen. Now it was empty and the fire beside which Aunt Phoebe usually heated her irons no longer blazed. ‘Oh, Aunt Phoebe, I'm so sorry! How many of your cafés and restaurants don't need you any more?'

‘The two biggest,' Aunt Phoebe said gloomily. ‘And mark my words, others will follow suit soon enough,'cos it's a big saving. We're going to have to pull in our horns, Hetty, so it's blind scouse tonight. And of course we have to pay out for Tom's apprenticeship … still, I dare say we'll manage.'

‘So you don't want any messages this evening?'
Hetty asked hopefully, throwing her school bag down on the stone-tiled floor. ‘If you're sure I'll just nip up to the library …'

Aunt Phoebe said rather listlessly that she had done her own messages earlier in the day and Hetty slid out of the doorway before her aunt could change her mind. She and Lucy had spent their dinner hour telling each other all their news, but now Hetty guessed that Miss Preece also would be agog to hear of the happenings on the
Water Sprite
.

As she entered the library, she saw that there was quite a queue of people returning their books and getting out new ones. Miss Preece was date-stamping the books going out and exchanging occasional murmured remarks with her readers, but when she saw Hetty a big smile crossed her face.

Old Mrs Rennet, who collected books for practically everyone in her street, was handing in a tottering pile of new borrowings for stamping, but she turned to see whom Miss Preece was greeting with such pleasure and cackled as her eyes met Hetty's. She turned to address Miss Preece. ‘I see your little friend is back again; she's been gone a fair while this time.' She turned back to Hetty. ‘An' I know where you've been. When I were a young girl, your gran was one of me bezzies. We'd go off to magic lantern shows, museums, theatres … oh, all sorts together. I were that cut up when she took to goin' about wi' a boy from the canal,'cos I thought I'd never see her again. But I were wrong; for many a long year she'd come visitin' me for a crack whenever the barge was down at the docks. So I reckon
you've been on the canal with Jim and Dulcie. Am I right?'

Hetty beamed back at the old lady, nodding vigorously. ‘That's it, Mrs Rennet. But things have changed on the canal. Gramps had an engine put in recently so I'm not as useful as I was when they were horse-drawn. Still, I suppose in a way it gives me more freedom …'

Miss Preece finished stamping the last of Mrs Rennet's books and began to pack them into the old lady's large canvas bag. Then she turned to Hetty. ‘You'll find the book you were reading when you were last here in the top drawer of my desk,' she said in a low voice. ‘If you need anything else, wait until I'm free and I'll see to it.'

‘Thanks Miss Preece,' Hetty murmured. She could see by the length of the queue that she would have plenty of time to read her book before the library closed.

After about half an hour, Miss Preece came into the Reading Room and beckoned to Hetty. ‘Put the kettle on the gas ring and make Mr Gower and myself a cup of tea, there's a good girl,' she whispered. ‘My assistant is off today and I'm sure Mr Gower must be longing for a cup, as I am. Make yourself one as well, of course,' she added. Hetty placed her book down on the table and went into the little office, feeling a surge of pride as she lit the gas under the kettle, first checking that it was full of water. It was nice to be trusted, to feel a part of the library, almost a member of staff, and presently she carried a cup of tea to Miss Preece, though she waited to deliver it until the older woman had
finished for the time being with her queue of borrowers. Then she carried the second cup up the stairs, going cautiously so as not to slop tea into the saucer. She had remembered that Miss Preece did not take sugar, but that Mr Gower, who had a sweet tooth, liked two lumps in his tea. If it had been morning they would each have had two ginger nuts with their drink, but she had seen by the clock in the office that the library would be closing in rather less than half an hour and knew that Miss Preece and Mr Gower would then be going home to their teas and so would not want biscuits.

‘Good afternoon, Mr Gower,' she said demurely as she arrived in front of the librarian's desk, placing his cup down upon it as she spoke. ‘Miss Preece asked me to bring your tea up; she's still quite busy.'

Mr Gower picked up the cup, took a sip and gave Hetty a wintry smile. ‘Thank you,' he said, and Hetty was agreeably surprised since quite often in the past he had merely grunted when she had performed some small service. ‘Did you have a nice holiday?'

More and more surprising. Was it possible that he had missed her? But it did not do to take such things for granted. ‘Yes thank you, Mr Gower, I had a lovely time,' she said politely. She needed to keep on the right side of him, since she guessed that, had he wished to do so, he could have forbidden her library sessions.

However, when it was time to close and he came downstairs, he seemed happy enough to see her replacing books on the shelves and generally helping Miss Preece, and presently the three of them left the
building, Mr Gower locking up. On the pavement, he fell into step with Miss Preece and for one awful moment Hetty thought that he might be going to accompany them on their walk home. She did not dislike Mr Gower, but she thought him dull company and was longing for the moment when she and Miss Preece might be able to catch up on each other's news without the presence of a third party to inhibit them.

However, he only walked a few yards with them before bidding them a polite good evening and crossing the road, heading in the opposite direction from that which Hetty and Miss Preece would take. Hetty was unable to suppress a sigh of relief, which made her companion look sideways at her with a little smile hovering. ‘Don't you like my revered colleague?' she asked teasingly. ‘He isn't as grim as I once thought him, though no one could accuse him of being exciting company, exactly.'