‘Yes, I would,’ said Britannia baldly. ‘I’d starve for him. And if I thought I wouldn’t make him happy, then I’d go away.’

She frowned, for she hadn’t meant to be quite so dramatic about it; one’s thoughts sometimes sounded silly spoken aloud. But apparently Mevrouw Luitingh van Thien didn’t think so; she said approvingly, ‘I have always been sure of that, my dear.’

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes and then went on with their inspection: the remainder of the bedrooms on the first floor, and at the back of the house, in the older part, the large nursery, very much as it must have looked when the professor was a small boy; there was a night nursery too, and a bathroom and tiny kitchen and several smaller bedrooms. They inspected it in silence until Mevrouw Luitingh van Thien remarked softly: ‘Jake’s nanny married when Corinne left the nursery—she has a daughter who is also a nanny—a pleasant homely girl, like her mother.’

Britannia went a bright pink, but spoke up in her honest way. ‘You mean she would come to us if we wanted her.’

‘Yes, my dear, that is what I meant. We had better go back the way we came; there is a small staircase at the end of this passage, but it is too narrow for you. We will leave the top floor until you can walk in comfort. There is a wonderful view from the parapet and when the children were young, we turned one of the rooms into a games room where they could play those noisy games young people love. The other rooms are for the servants—they have a sitting room there too, and Emmie and Marinus have a small flat, and there are the attics, of course, full of the odds and ends families accumulate over the years.’

They were making their way back as she talked and now Britannia was making her way clumsily down the staircase. At the bottom she said politely: ‘Thank you for showing me round; it’s quite beautiful. Would you mind if I put my leg up for half an hour before lunch? It’s a little uncomfortable.’

Which it was, but she wanted a little time to think, too. At the back of her mind she was worrying about Madeleine. She couldn’t believe that she wouldn’t do all she could to get Jake back, if she had ever had him… Britannia lay back on the sofa, determined to be sensible about it, think the whole thing out in a rational manner and make up her mind what to do. She didn’t get very far, of course; she knew what she wanted to do; she wanted to marry Jake and when he brought the subject up again, she would tell him that. Having settled everything in this simple fashion, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

The professor came home after lunch, examined her ankle and pronounced it to be progressing splendidly, then suggested that they might drive to the outskirts of Hilversum and visit a friend of his, Reilof van Meerum. ‘He has an English wife, Laura—I think you might like each other.’

‘Don’t you have any more patients today?’

‘Lord, yes, but not until half past six at my rooms—I’ll have to go on to the hospital after that to take a look at one of my patients there, but I’m free this afternoon. Like to come?’

Of course she liked to go with him. Madeleine was forgotten, she put on her outdoor things and limped downstairs under his watchful eye. ‘You’re making astounding progress,’ he observed, ‘but go easy on the stairs, my darling, and use a stick for another day or two.’

It was a cold, crisp day and the road to Apeldoorn was beautiful in the thin sunshine. Britannia occupied the few miles before they joined the motorway in telling Jake about her morning, and they passed the time pleasantly enough as they raced towards Amersfoort, and if she was a little disappointed because he had nothing to say concerning their future, she was careful not to let it spoil her happy mood. They left the motorway at Amersfoort and took the road to Baarn, and a mile or two beyond that pleasant town, along a fine avenue lined with great trees, he turned in between brick pillars and along a short drive, to stop before a large square house with a stone balustrade and a massive porch.

As Jake helped her out, Britannia asked: ‘Are they expecting us?’

‘I saw Reilof this morning and we are expected, my love.’

As if to substantiate his remark the door was flung open and a smallish girl with mousy hair and pretty eyes ran out. ‘Reilof said you would be coming—what a lovely surprise.’ She put up her face for Jake’s kiss and turned to Britannia. ‘I’m Laura,’ she said. ‘Reilof and Jake are old friends and I hope we’ll be friends too.’ She smiled and instantly looked pretty. ‘Come in—Reilof’s in the sitting room, guarding the twins—Nanny’s got a day off.’

She led them indoors, where a white-haired man took their coats and exchanged a few dignified remarks with Jake and was made known to Britannia as Piet, without whom, Laura declared, the house would fall apart. ‘We’re in the small sitting room.’

Reilof van Meerum was standing by the window, a very small baby over his shoulder. The baby was making a considerable noise, but his proud parent was quite unruffled by it. He came forward to meet his visitors, shook Jake’s hand as though he hadn’t seen him in weeks and then turned to Britannia. ‘Jake and I are such old friends that I don’t suppose he’ll mind if I kiss you.’ He grinned. ‘He always kisses Laura.’ He glanced at his small wife with such devotion that Britannia caught her breath and then smiled as he went on. ‘We’re fearful bores at present, you know—we’ve only had the twins a month, and our days revolve round them.’

Britannia took a look at the baby on his arm; dark like his father and at the moment, very ill-tempered. The other baby, sleeping peacefully in its cradle, was dark too. ‘A girl?’ essayed Britannia, and Laura nodded. ‘Yes—isn’t it nice having one of each? She’s called Beatrix Laura, and he’s Reilof, of course.’

Reilof junior stopped screaming presently and was put to sleep in his cradle and the two men wandered off to Reilof’s study while the two girls settled down for a gossip. There was a lot to talk about, as they had much in common, for Laura had been a nurse before she married Reilof. It wasn’t until Piet had been in with the tea tray and gone to fetch his master that Laura asked diffidently: ‘I’m not being nosey, but are you and Jake going to get married?’

‘Yes,’ Britannia told her, ‘I hope so. But there’s nothing definite yet.’

There was no time to do more than exchange smiles, for the two men came into the room then and the rest of the visit was taken up with light-hearted conversation. They left presently and started their journey back to Hoenderloo, travelling fast because Jake hadn’t much time; perhaps it was because of that he had little to say in answer to Britannia’s cheerful remarks about their afternoon, and when she took a quick peep at him it was to see that he was deep in thought, his mouth set sternly, and a faint frown between his eyes, so that her efforts at conversation dwindled away into silence. Something was annoying him—was still annoying him. At last, unable to bear the silence any longer, she said forthrightly: ‘You look vexed. Have I done something?’

They were travelling very fast and he didn’t look at her. ‘No.’ And then: ‘I’m glad you enjoyed your afternoon.’ But it was uttered in such an absentminded fashion that she knew that he wasn’t really thinking about that at all.

She didn’t say any more then until they had reached the house once more and he had helped her out of the car and they were indoors, and although he was as kind and considerate as he always was towards her she sensed his impatience. ‘I’ve a mind to climb the staircase by myself,’ she told him lightly, ‘and it’s a good chance, because you want to be off again, don’t you?’

She didn’t wait for his reply but started off across the hall, walking quite firmly with her stick so that he would be able to see that she was independent now. But when she heard his footsteps cross the hall towards his study she paused thankfully to lean on the carved banisters before mounting the wide stairs. Jake had forgotten to shut the study door, she thought idly, and then froze as she heard the faint tinkle of the telephone as he lifted the receiver and said: ‘Madeleine? Ik moet met je spreken—morgen middag—zal je thuis wezen?’