Heart Specialist (6 page)

“
But that
’
s ridiculous,
”
she said and she leaned toward him across the table, as she said it, and then blushed because it would strike him that she was terribly eager to see him again.
“
I
mean
...
”

His eyes grew quizzical.
“
Give me your word that you
’
ll leave the taxi fares to me, and I
’
ll s
h
ow you Montmartre, if you haven
’
t already seen it, and all the other tourist
musts,
as well as some much more worthwhile discoveries of my own that I
’
m willing to wager you
’
ll enjoy as much as I did when
I
first came upon them. You have only to promise that you
’
ll let me buy lunch occasionally, an aperitif, a coffee—perhaps even dinner one night in a restaurant I know of where we are not likely to be staggered by the bill—and there is no reason why we shouldn
’
t see quite a lot of one another. That is, of course, if you
’
re agreeable?
”

Their eyes met across the table, and a tiny pulse in her throat gave a little leap. He was the first young man she had ever met whom she really wanted to see again.

“
I am
...
full of agreement!
”
she said.
“
But you must allow it to be
‘
Dutch treat
’
sometimes! That
’
s only fair!
”

“
We
’
ll see,
”
he said and smiled as if he was humoring her.
“
And now what about this afternoon
...?
”

“
No.
”
She stood up rather hurriedly.
“
I
must go now. My maid is expecting me
...
And then she laughed.
“
I know that sounds opulent, but it
’
s Miss Constantia
’
s maid, and she
’
s now looking after me!
”

He shook his head.

“
At the end of a year you
’
re going to find it terribly hard to live a normal life again.
”

“
I
don
’
t think so.
”

She smiled into his eyes, and he put out his hand and took hers, and for the first time their fingers met.

“
It
’
s been awfully nice meeting you.
”

“
It
’
s been rather more than awfully nice meeting you!
”
A taxi came bowling along, and he hailed it for her. As he put her into it he said rather anxiously,
“
But we haven
’
t arranged where we
’
re going to meet again. Same time tomorrow, this place?
”

She agreed.

“
Same time tomorrow, this place!
”

As the taxi wafted her away from him she wondered why her mood was so completely different from the mood that had claimed her when she had set out that morning. Inheriting a legacy had barely pleased her, meeting him had charmed her!

CHAPTER FIVE

It must h
ave been
her mood that caused her to issue instructions to the taxi driver to set her down in the very middle of the Champs-Elysees. It was the second time that day that she had countermanded instructions to a driver, and as she paid him rather more than his fare—which was high enough in any case—she had the feeling that she was being extravagant, mixed up with a delightful sensation that she was free.

Free to walk for a bit and allow some of her curious excitement to subside.

She hadn
’
t felt as excited as this for a long time, as if the world was all at once golden with promise, and life was a very delightful thing indeed.

Miss Constantia
’
s death had shocked her—shocked her and almost stunned her. That day in the drawing room at Chaumont, when she had been left so much alone, she had felt as if the only real friend she had had since she was
born
had gone out of her life. And Dr. Daudet had made her feel as if in some way she had failed that friend, and that in any case she was not nice to know.

Now a young man with blue eyes—perhaps a little darker and deeper than her own, and less like a blaze of delphiniums in a well-kept English border—had reassured her about her being nice to know. His eyes had told her that it would be very nice indeed to go on knowing her!

The Champs-Elysees at that hour seemed alive with color and movement. It was the hour when the fashionable were either returning from smart restaurants where they had lunched, or setting forth on an afternoon
’
s airing, and the cars that flashed by were expensive and glittering with chromium. Valentine, glancing at them occasionally, thought that Paris was undoubtedly the richest city in the world, for the female occupants of some of those cars had a fortune in jewels scattered on their persons, although it was still daylight.

She thought she would make for the children
’
s playground, where she would enjoy watching the young play in the sunshine. But barely had her taxi set her down when one of those long expensive cars drew up beside her. Dr. Daudet held open a rear door by the simple process of reaching behind him and said suavely that he would drive her home.

Valentine looked up and around in astonishment, saw that the young woman whose eyebrows had formed a questioning arch earlier in the day was still in the seat beside the driver, and automatically declined the offer of a lift.

“
Thank you, but I
’
ve only just dismissed my taxi,
”
she said.
“
I want to walk for a while.
”

Dr. Daudet continued to be suave.

“
I very much want to have a talk with you, Miss Brooke,
”
he said to her.
“
I telephoned after you had gone out this morning, and Martine said it was unlikely you would be in for lunch, so
I
didn
’
t telephone again. Madame Faubourg has asked me to drop her at her hairdresser
’
s, so if it wouldn
’
t be encroaching upon your time, could I go back with you to the apartment now?
”
Madame Faubourg leaned across the back of the seat and smiled at her. She was quite exquisite, Valentine thought, taking note of her almost subconsciously: dark and Latin and exquisite.

“
You should be more careful about the manner in which you board a taxi, Miss Brooke,
”
she said in faultless English and on a note of humorous reproof.
“
Leon and I saw you do so somewhat recklessly, to say the least, after we very nearly ran you down this morning! Were you thinking about your wonderful good fortune, or aren
’
t you used to our Paris traffic yet?
”

Before Valentine had time to answer the doctor said incisively,
“
Do please get in, Miss Brooke.
I
am not permitted to park here, and at least I can drop you wherever you wish to go.
”

Obediently she sat in the backseat of his car, and as it moved forward effortlessly, with the miraculous smoothness she remembered, and got caught up in the stream of traffic, Dr. Daudet made the necessary introductions over his shoulder.

“
Madame Faubourg knew Miss Constantia fairly well, Miss Brooke. Miss Valentine Brooke is very English, Elise, and you two ought to get to know one another. You know England very well.
”

“
My husband was a diplomat, Miss Brooke,
”
Madame Faubourg explained, smiling once more almost too brilliantly across the back of the seat at Valentine.
“
And for two years he was attached to the court of St. James. I loved living in London, and we also had a house in the country. It was delightful, and but for my husband
’
s untimely death we might still be living there.
”

“
Oh
...
I
’
m sorry!
”
Valentine said and thought the other smiled this time with a strange inscrutability.

“
Life provides with little blows,
”
she remarked,
“
but I have recovered.
”
She touched the doctor
’
s shoulder with suede-covered fingertips.
“
Stop here, Leon,
cherie
.
I am afraid my poor Jules has been kept waiting a little,
but it was rather an inconvenient appointment anyway. And I did enjoy our lunch. Thank you a million times!
”

She smiled at him, and it was a smile unlike the two she had directed at the English girl. Her eyes under the brief brim of her hat, were like dark, melting, velvet pansies, and her exotic mouth quivered with softness.

“
Thank you,
”
she repeated, barely audibly, and touched his cheek—a mere feather
’
s touch with those same gloved fingers—before he helped her out and the door of the impressive hairdressing establishment opened to receive her.
“
Au revoir,
Miss Brooke,
”
she called before she crossed the sidewalk.
“
It is certain we shall meet again before long, and I shall look forward to our getting to know one another. You must let me introduce you if you have not many friends in Paris. I know,
I
think, everybody!
”

And then she was gone, swallowed up by Monsieur Jules
’
s gilded portals, and Dr. Daudet opened the rear door of his car and looked in at Valentine.

“
It will be easier to converse if you join me in the front,
”
he suggested. And then with an unusual twinkle in his dark eyes,
“
You look rather small on that backseat!
”

Valentine joined him with a stiffness that he could not help but notice. Her small face, which had looked so bright and alert such a short time before, when he had driven his car alongside her, was set in lines of aloof composure, and as she settled into the seat vacated by Madame Faubourg she clasped her hands primly over the clasp of her handbag.

He sent her a rather curious sideways glance before he started the car.

“
You were looking as if you had suddenly discovered that life can be very pleasant when we came upon you
just now,
”
he observed.
“
Now you look as if you have suddenly remembered that it has a seamy side, also!
”

She did not reply.

“
Were
you feeling particularly, well, for want of a better word, shall we say happy?
”
he asked, as if his curiosity
had to be satisfied.

She nodded her head, and the gold hair fell forward over her shoulders.

“
I had just had a rather pleasant lunch,
”
she
admitted.

His dark eyebrows ascended.
“
With someone who is also rather pleasant?
”

She nodded again.

“
Male or female?
”
he said while piloting the car across the Bois.

“
Male.
”

“
I
should
not have asked,
”
he said, his lips twisting with sudden cynicism.
“
A pleasant lunch almost always involves the companionship of a member of the opposite sex.
”

You should know
, she thought, sending him also a sideways glance, for he had no doubt enjoyed very thoroughly his own lunch with Madame Faubourg. And no doubt there were other Madame Faubourgs!

He seemed to be frowning through the windshield.

“
Have you many friends in Paris, Miss Brooke?
”

“
Not many,
”
she answered.
“
Although friends of Miss Constantia have been very kind. Some of them have telephoned.
”
And not one of them has displayed any hostility toward me, she could have added, but didn
’
t.

“
But this particular friend today ... he was not a friend of Miss Constantia
’
s?
”

“
No,
”
she had to admit.

His frown seemed to settle into a deep cleft between his brows.

“
You are in rather a lonely position just now,
”
he
observed.
“
It is not perhaps good for a young girl of your age to be in quite such a lonely position.
”

Once again she said nothing.

They had reached the quiet district where the apartment was situated, and he seemed to be grappling with a problem that had suddenly arisen. As the car slid to a standstill before the gray facade of the block of apartments he said, looking downward at the chromium-plated wheel on which his gloved hands rested,
“
I don
’
t think I
’
ll come in with you today, Miss Brooke, if you
’
ll forgive me. I have just remembered that I have to see my secretary about something rather important before four o
’
clock, and as time is getting on I
’
d better return directly to my consulting rooms. But perhaps you would lunch with me some time? Tomorrow perhaps, if that is convenient?
”

She sat very still for a moment and then said,
“
I
’
m sorry, Dr. Daudet, but tomorrow is not possible.
”

“
No?
”
He sent her an inscrutable sideways look.
“
Don
’
t tell me you have another luncheon engagement tomorrow—with the same man?
”

“
As a matter of fact, I have,
”
she answered.

His hands gripped the wheel. She knew that they were very finely shaped hands, and his gloves were a very pale primrose, and against the glittering chromium they fascinated her for some reason. She found herself watching them and the slight restless tapping of one little finger.

“
The day after tomorrow then.
”
There was a note in his voice that suggested that this was an experience new to him, and that it grated because it was new.

“
Thank you, I could manage the day after tomorrow.
”

“
You overwhelm me with relief!
”
he exclaimed dryly.
“
I began to think your appointment book was stacked with entries that would leave me no opportunity, to see you at all!
”

And this suddenly made her feel as if something grated on her very seriously.

“
Dr. Daudet,
”
she said, gathering together her gloves and handbag,
“
there is really no reason why you should concern yourself with me and my affairs. I am sure you have far better things to do with your time, and my concerns have nothing whatsoever to do with you. At the end of the year you will get what is left of the fifteen million francs Miss Constantia left me—and
I
don
’
t think you need feel anxious lest the sum will be very badly depleted by that time. It won
’
t!
”

He spread his hands with the lazy amused gesture of a Frenchman.

“
How do I know,
mademoiselle
,
if you persist in handing out favors to one man only? A year is a very long time, long enough to acquire a husband and dispose of him, if you felt like it! In England I believe the divorce courts manage these things very efficiently! Therefore it is only natural. I should be alarmed when it seems that you—what is the English phrase you have—are going
‘
steady
’
with one young man already!
”

She reached for the door to open it.

“
I promise you, Dr. Daudet, that you will have the bulk of Miss Constantia
’
s fifteen million francs,
”
she told him between her teeth.

He slipped out of his own door and went around to hold open hers for her.

“
I shall hold you to that,
”
he said, and from his expression she couldn
’
t tell for a few moments whether he was making fun of her, or serious. Then she saw that his eyes were dancing.
“
I shall most certainly hold you to that, Mademoiselle Brooke!
”

She didn
’
t even offer him her hand when she said goodbye and he watched her move toward the steps with the same expression in his eyes. He said with much
empressement
,
“
I shall look forward to our lunch the day after tomorrow,
mademoiselle
! May
I
pick you up here about one o
’
clock?
”

“
You may if you wish,
”
she answered. Then she turned and looked at him with complete coolness.
“
But if you find that your appointment book is more heavily stacked with entries than you imagined,
I
shall understand perfectly if you telephone and cancel the arrangement!
”
He smiled swiftly, and it was the nicest, most genuinely amused smile she had seen on his lips.

“
Touché
!
”
he said. Then he reached for her hand, and to her infinite surprise he carried it up to his lips, and kissed it with the utmost gallantry, even a sort of courtliness.
“
Au revoir, mademoiselle
!
There is not the least likelihood that I shall telephone to cancel the arrangement and I hope you will not be tempted to do that very thing, either!
”