An Independent Woman

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It was almost six o’clock when Thomas returned, bringing the Professor with him. The Professor spent a few minutes with Ruth, assured Thomas that she was looking better, and wandered into the kitchen, where Julia was laying a tray of suitable nourishment for Ruth.

‘Get your coat,’ he told her. ‘I’ll drive you home.’ Julia thumped a saucepan of milk onto the stove. ‘Thank you, but I’ll get a bus when I’m ready.’

Not so much as a hello or even a good evening, thought Julia pettishly.

His smile mocked her. ‘Thomas is here now. Two’s company, three’s none.’

‘Thomas will want his supper.’

Thomas breezed into the kitchen. ‘I’m a first-rate cook. We’re going to have a picnic upstairs. You go home, Julia. You’ve been a godsend, and we’re so grateful. You will come tomorrow?’

‘Yes,’ said Julia, and without looking at either of the men went and got her coat, said goodnight to her sister and went downstairs again.

The two men were in the hall and Thomas backed into the open kitchen door to make room for her, but even then the professor took up almost all the space. He opened the door and she squeezed past him into the street. Thomas came too, beaming at them both, just as though he was seeing them off for an evening out.

The Professor had nothing to say. He sat relaxed behind the wheel, and if he felt impatience at the heavy traffic he didn’t show it. Watching the crowded pavements and the packed buses edging their way along the streets, Julia suddenly felt ashamed at her ingratitude.

‘This is very kind of you,’ she began. ‘It would have taken me ages to get home.’

He said coolly, ‘I shan’t be going out of my way. I’m going to the children’s hospital not five minutes’ drive away from your home.’

A remark which hardly encouraged her to carry on the conversation.

He had nothing more to say then, but when he stopped before her house he got out, opened the car door for her and stood waiting while she unlocked the house door, dismissing her thanks with a laconic, ‘I have already said it was no trouble. Goodnight, Julia.’

She stood in the open door as he got into the car and drove off.

‘And that’s the last time I’ll accept a lift from you,’ she said to the empty street. ‘I can’t think why you bothered, but I suppose Thomas was there and you had no choice.’ She slammed the door. ‘Horrid man.’

But she was aware of a kind of sadness; she was sure that he wasn’t a horrid man, only where she was concerned. For some reason she annoyed him…

She got her supper, fed Muffin, and went to warn Trudie that she would be going to Ruth for the next few days. ‘No one phoned about a room, I suppose?’ she asked.

‘Not a soul. Probably in a day or two you’ll have any number of callers.’

But there was no one.

For the next few days Julia went to and fro while Ruth slowly improved. Of the Professor there was no sign, although her sister told her that he had come frequently to see her. Dr Soames came too, and told her that she was much better. ‘Though I look a hag,’ said Ruth.

‘A beautiful hag,’ said Julia bracingly, ‘and tomorrow you’re going to crawl downstairs for a couple of hours.’

Ruth brightened. ‘Tom can get the supper and we’ll have it round the fire, and I dare say Gerard will come for an hour…’

‘Gerard?’

‘The Professor. I simply couldn’t go on calling him Professor, even though he seems a bit staid and stand-offish, doesn’t he? But he’s not in the least, and he’s only thirty-six. He ought to be married, he nearly was a year ago, but he’s not interested in girls. Not to marry, anyway. He’s got lots of friends, but they’re just friends.’

‘You surprise me…’

Ruth gave her a thoughtful look. ‘You don’t like him?’

‘I don’t know him well enough to know if I like or dislike him.’

Ruth gave her a sharp look. ‘I’m feeling so much better; I’m sure I could manage. You’ve been an angel, coming each day, but you must be longing to be let off the hook.’

‘There’s nothing to keep me at home. Trudie looks after herself and keeps an eye on Muffin. And if you can put up with me for another few days I think it might be a good idea.’

‘Oh, darling, would you really come? Just for a couple more days. I do feel so much better, but not quite me yet…’

‘Of course I’ll come. And we’ll see how you are in two days’ time.’

After those two days Julia had to admit that Ruth was quite able to cope without any help from her. It was all very well for her to spend the day there while Ruth was in bed, but now that she was up—still rather wan—Julia felt that Ruth and Tom would much rather be on their own.

The moment she arrived the next morning she told Ruth briskly, ‘This is my last day; you don’t need me any more…’

Ruth was sitting at the table in the tiny kitchen, chopping vegetables. She looked up, laughing. ‘Oh, but I do. Sit down and I’ll tell you.’

Julia took a bite of carrot. ‘You want me to make curtains for the bathroom? I told you everyone could see in if they tried hard enough.’

‘Curtains, pooh! Dr Soames says I need a little holiday, and Thomas says so too. He wants you to go with me. Do say you can. You haven’t got another lodger yet, and Trudie could look after Muffin.’

‘You’re going to Monica’s?’It would be lovely to go away from the dull little house and duller street. ‘Yes, of course I’ll come.’

‘You will? You really won’t mind? Thomas won’t let me go alone…’ She added quickly, ‘And we’re not going to Monica. We’re going to Holland.’

Before Julia could speak, she added, ‘Gerard has a little cottage near a lake. There’s no one there, only his housekeeper. He says it’s very quiet there, and the country’s pretty and just what I need. Thomas wants me to go. He’s got a couple of days due to him and he’ll drive us there.’

‘There won’t be anyone else there? Only us?’

‘Yes, you and I. Tom will stay one night and come and fetch us back—he won’t know exactly when, but it will be a week or two. You’re not having second thoughts?’

Which was exactly what Julia was having, but one look at her sister’s still pale face sent them flying; Ruth needed to get away from London and a week in the country would get her back onto her feet again. Although early summer so far had been chilly and wet, there was always the chance that it would become warm and sunny. She said again, ‘Of course I’ll love to come. I’ll fix things up with Trudie. When are we to go?’

‘Well, Thomas can get Saturday and Sunday off— that’s in three days’ time. We shan’t need many clothes, so you’ll only need to bring a case—and I’ve enough money for both of us.’

‘Oh, I’ve plenty of money,’ said Julia, with such an air of conviction that she believed it herself.

‘You have? Well, I suppose you have more time to work for the greetings card people now, and of course there’s the rent from Trudie…’

Which was swallowed up almost before Julia had put it into her purse. But Ruth didn’t have to know that, and she certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone that she no longer had a market for her little verses. There would be another lodger soon, she told herself bracingly and she would find a part-time job; in the meantime she would enjoy her holiday.

The nagging thought that it was the Professor who had been the means of her having one rankled all the way home. For some reason she hated to be beholden to him.

She felt better about that when she came to the conclusion that he didn’t know that she would be going; beyond offering the use of his house, he wouldn’t be concerned with the details.

The Professor, phoning instructions to his housekeeper in Holland, was very well aware that she would be going with Ruth; he had himself suggested it, with just the right amount of casualness. He wasn’t sure why he had done so but he suspected that he had wanted her to feel beholden to him.

He was an aloof man by nature, and an unhappy love affair had left him with a poor opinion of women. There were exceptions: his own family, his devoted housekeeper, his elderly nanny, the nursing staff who worked for him, life-long friends, wives of men he had known for years. He had added Ruth to the list, so in love with her Thomas—and so different from her sharp-tongued sister. And yet—there was something about Julia…

No need to take a lot of clothes, Ruth had said. Julia foraged through her wardrobe and found a leaf-brown tweed jacket, so old that it was almost fashionable once again. There was a pleated skirt which went quite well with it, a handful of tops and a jersey dress. It was, after all, getting warmer each day. As it was country they would go walking, she supposed, so that meant comfortable shoes. She could travel in the new pair she had had for the weddings. She added undies, a scarf and a thin dressing gown, and then sat down to count her money. And that didn’t take long! There would be a week’s rent from Trudie to add, and when she got back there would be another lot waiting for her. She went in search of her lodger and enlisted her help.

Trudie was a quiet, unassuming girl, saving to get married, good-natured and trustworthy. She willingly agreed to look after Muffin and make sure that the house was locked up at night.

‘You could do with a holiday. No doubt when you get back you’ll have a house full of lodgers and not a moment to yourself.’

A prospect which should have pleased Julia but somehow didn’t.

Three days later Thomas and Ruth came to fetch her. They were to go by the catamaran from Harwich, a fast sea route which would get them to their destination during the afternoon. Julia, who had received only a garbled version of where they were going, spent a great part of their journey studying a map—a large, detailed one which the Professor had thoughtfully provided.

Somewhere south of Amsterdam and not too far from Hilversum. And there were any number of lakes and no large towns until one reached Utrecht.

Ruth said over her shoulder, ‘It’s really country, Julia.

Gerard says we don’t need to go near a town unless we want to, although it’s such a small country there are lots of rural areas with only tiny villages.’

It didn’t seem very rural when they landed at the Hoek and took to the motorway, for small towns followed each other in quick succession, but then Thomas turned into a minor road and Julia saw the Holland she had always pictured. Wide landscapes, villages encircling churches much too large for them, farms with vast barns and water meadows where cows wandered. And the further they drove the more remote it became. The land was flat, but now there were small copses and glimpses of water. Julia looked around her and sighed with pleasure. Maybe there were large towns nearby, and main roads, but here there was an age-old peace and quiet.

Ruth, who had been chattering excitedly, had fallen silent and Thomas said, ‘See that church spire beyond those trees? Unless I’ve read the map wrongly, we’re here…’