Heart Specialist (9 page)

“
No, no,
”
the doctor said soothingly.
“
I
don
’
t think anything of the kind, and it is perfectly natural he should want to go on seeing you. He is very likely a very charming young man with the right sort of appeal for you, but I still feel that you should not continue to live alone, and
I
want you to try and think if there isn
’
t someone you can invite to stay with you for a bit. A woman older than yourself, for preference, though for companionship you wouldn
’
t want her to be too old
...
”
And all in a flash Valentine thought of Jane—Jane Beverley! In her last letter, just before Miss Constantia
’
s death, Jane seemed to have been heavily sunk in the doldrums. It appeared that a new boss had superseded her old one, and she didn
’
t think she was ever going to get to like him. In addition to which, she had succumbed to seasonal flu and was feeling very low spirited indeed. As she wrote in her letter:

When I think of you in Paris at this time of the year
,
I feel so envious that I wish I could suddenly sprout wings and fly over and join you! If anyone would
find me a job in Paris I would simply leap at it
,
and my much disliked Mr. Paugrove could find himself another secretary, and you and I would visit all the spots Gavin and
I
visited on our honeymoon! To think that we had two weeks in Paris and stayed at the Meurice and did things properly.

And now I
’
m slaving away for a firm of accountants and growing old on my own.

But Valentine hesitated. Would it be fair to ask Jane to give up a secure job and come over to France and live with her for a period that couldn
’
t possibly extend itself beyond twelve months?

“
You have thought of someone?
”
Dr. Daudet said, watching her.

“
Yes. Yes, but
...
”
And then she explained why she wasn
’
t so sure she was the right person after all.

“
But that is nonsense,
”
Dr. Daudet exclaimed.
“
A woman of thirty-three isn
’
t afraid of life, and your friend has stated in her letter that she finds life growing impossible. She is in a rut and she wants to get out of it, and you can help her to do just that very thing. You are in a position to pay her a good salary, and a little bit over as a kind of bonus when
...
when the year is up
,
shall we say?
”

Valentine
’
s eyes had suddenly grown rather bright.

“
I would love to have Jane over here with me,
”
she admitted.

“
Then that is excellent!
”
And then with sudden caution,
“
But she is not a featherbrain, this young woman? She has been married, you say, and has a sense of responsibility? She would be able to guide you? Advise you?

Valentine looked at him and smiled slightly.

“
I tell you I do not need any guidance, or advice, but
Jane is the one to give it if it was needed. She is a most capable person
... And
she has a great sense, of humor. I have always thought it would be splendid if she got married again.
”

“
Marry yourself, young woman,
”
he said sternly beside her,
“
before you concern yourself with the remarrying of someone who has already experienced connubial bliss—if there is such a thing!
”

She. turned and looked at him with a sudden mildly provocative light in her eyes.

“
I
didn
’
t think Frenchmen believed in connubial bliss. I thought their ideas of marriage were strictly practical. Someone to run their homes and bring up the family, and
...?
”

“
And?
”

“
And any excitement—romance—would be outside the domestic circle!
”

When she had said that she was horrified, because she didn
’
t quite know why she had said it. and she caught her breath and didn
’
t dare look at him.

“
Ah, well,
”
he said at last, almost lazily
“
there might be something to be said for an arrangement of that sort. It
’
s a sort of all around arrangement and covers most things. But I wonder where you got your knowledge of Frenchmen?
”

“
I
don
’
t know any Frenchmen, or rather, many Frenchmen, apart from you. And Monsieur Dubonnet.
”
she added.

“
It might surprise you to learn that Dubonnet is very happily married, but I
’
m not surprised I
’
ve put strange ideas into your head. Like you,
I
have no time for marriage!
”
And he started up the engine.

The car purred and vibrated gently, and Valentine felt curiously sorry that they were moving on. He had given her a very nice lunch, and he could be very whimsical at times, and
...
and Miss Constantia had liked him. Her very last words had referred to him,
“
Leon has such a firm tread
!”

She watched his hands on the wheel. They
,
too
,
were firm and capable, and his square jaw, when she peeped at him sideways, was very firm. It was the sort of jaw that wouldn
’
t give way. But his mouth was distinctly human. She liked the shape of it, the attractive masculine lips, the laughter lines at the corners. And as her eyelashes swept upward, and she could see his pleasant straight nose, his thick black eyelashes, strongly pronounced eyebrows and little touches of frost in the blackness at his temples, she wondered more than ever why she had made that silly remark about Frenchmen.

And then she remembered Madame Faubourg
!
“
Why,
”
she asked suddenly in rather a small voice,
“
why, Dr. Daudet, do you think Miss Constantia left me so much of her money?
”

“
In order to make you happy, little one,
”
he replied, concentrating on the bumpers of a sleek car ahead, which, having a woman driver at the wheel, he strongly suspected might come into contact with his own front bumpers at any moment.
“
In order to give you one glorious year
...
perhaps!
”

“
But you don
’
t really believe that, do you? You think she wanted me to marry?
”

“
We return to the subject of marriage as if it was a serpent with hypnotic eyes! And undoubtedly the original serpent in Eden had hypnotic eyes. Yes. I think she wanted you to marry.
”

“
She said she had never been married herself, and she wished she had. She said she would have liked to have had a husband who would have arranged little treats for her and brought her home simple presents like
...
like earrings!
”

A tear splashed down onto her gloved hand, and then to her horror another, and another
...

Dr. Daudet reached for his immaculate linen handkerchief and passed it to her.

“
Before you wash us both away, and my car as well!
”
he said, but he spoke gently.

CHAPTER SEVEN

That night he telephoned her.
and she felt very much surprised to hear his voice on the other end of the wire.

“ ‘
Alio,
‘
alio
!”
he said.
“
You distracted me so much on our homeward drive this afternoon that
I
didn
’
t receive your promise to write to that friend of yours—Madame Beverley.
I
think it would be as well if you did so without delay. And don
’
t encourage callers while you are alone.
”

“
I have no intention of doing so,
”
she said, knowing to whom he was referring.

“
Good!
”
he exclaimed.
“
But don
’
t be bored, either. Madame Faubourg will take you under her wing if you
’
d like her to, you know. And
I
have another suggestion.
”

“
Yes?
”
she said.

“
I
have an old aunt—one with a sense of humor like your Madame Beverley—whom I would like you to get to know. My suggestion is that
I
take you to tea with her one afternoon.
”

“
But ... but why should you bother to do that?
”
she asked, surprised.

“
Perhaps because you press on my conscience, my little Anglo-Saxon! You are so transparently what you are, and I did not treat you well in the beginning.
I
have explained that
I
thought you were too ornamental! And you know that we Frenchmen have a weakness for collecting ornaments, and perhaps
I
did not wish to be tempted! Now
I
feel that your particular quality of being ornamental is the type that should be shut away in some glass-fronted cabinet in a quiet English drawing room, but
I
do not happen to have an English drawing room handy, and you would almost certainly wither in
a glass
case. So, as you are far more vulnerable than you realize, and I stand to lose a considerable sum of money if someone like that young Englishman of yours should persuade you to alter certain of your views before a year is out. I must bestir myself to make the money safe. My aunt will be good for you and produce the right friends for you.
”

“
No young men?
”
she asked with a deceptive demureness in her voice.

“
No young men!
”
he answered.
“
You will have to wait for those until the year is up!
”

“
Thank you, Dr. Daudet,
”
she said.
“
Thank you for your desire to protect and your overwhelming interest!
”

“
It is self-interest, as
I
have told you.
”
he replied and he laughed softly on the other end of the line.
“
Very, very selfish self-interest.
”

She didn
’
t know what to say
,
or why he was laughing at her in quite that gentle, but nevertheless jibing, way. And then, still lightly, but with a change of tone, he exclaimed.
“
Well, as I am going out to dinner
I
must hang up now. What a thing it is to have one
’
s personal engagements overlapping, don
’
t you agree?
”

“
My personal engagements seldom overlap,
”
she told him. And then, as if something prompted her to do so. she added,
“
It is kind of Madame Faubourg to be willing to take me under her wing, bur you needn
’
t tell her so tonight. I ...
I
will tell her so myself when
I
see her again.
”

But as she set down the receiver, she thought.
I d
on
’
t know that I want to see her again! I don
’
t know that I even like her, or could ever like
h
er.