The Quiet Professor. Betty Neels

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ her briefly and drove off.

      ‘We should get there well before ten o’clock,’ he told her. ‘Once we can get out of London we’ll use the motorway this time.’ He turned to smile at her. ‘It’s a lovely evening too.’

      She agreed, feeling better already. ‘Is there anything special you want to do? There are some marvellous walks if you feel like it…’

      ‘Let’s see how we feel,’ he said easily. ‘Your family might have some ideas.’ He added, ‘You look tired; have you had a bad day?’

      That was the nice thing about him, she thought—he always remembered that she worked as well as he and took an interest in her days. ‘Well, not bad exactly, just lots of small things going wrong. We’d got straightened out by the time I went off duty and Jenny’s very capable.’

      They talked shop for some time—it relieved the tedium of their slow progress during the rush-hour—but presently when they were clear of the suburbs they fell silent. There’s no need to talk, thought Megan; we know each other well enough for there to be no need to make conversation. She felt comfortable with him. The thought flashed through her mind that they were perhaps too comfortable; surely she should feel rather more than that when they were together? It left her uneasy and presently she voiced her doubts.

      ‘Oscar, do you feel excited when I’m with you?’ That didn’t sound quite right and she tried again. ‘Don’t laugh—I really want to know.’

      They were on the motorway and it was comparatively free of traffic so that he was able to answer her without distraction.

      ‘Megan, dear, of course I won’t laugh, and I do understand what you mean. My feeling for you is—how shall I put it?—deep and sincere, but I believe I am not a man to get excited, as you put it. I am happy and content and I believe that we shall settle down very well together.’ He glanced at her smiling. ‘Does that answer your question?’

      She wanted to tell him that it didn’t but instead she told him that it did. Perhaps there was no such thing as the kind of romance one read about in books. She twiddled the ring on her finger and told herself that she was happy.

      Her mother and father and Melanie were waiting for them when they arrived. They had made good time and since it wasn’t yet ten o’clock they had waited supper for them and they sat round the table talking, comfortably aware that the next day was Saturday and there was no hurry to go to work in the morning. Megan, sitting beside Oscar, was pleased to see that he got on so well with Melanie. She smiled at her sister across the table; she had mothered her and shielded her as a child and she loved her dearly. It was a delight to see her talking and laughing so easily with him.

      She woke early because it was a habit born of hospital routine, and decided that it was far too soon to get up. She got out of bed and pulled back the curtains. The sun wasn’t quite up but the sky was clear and the country around was green and fresh. She drew a contented breath and then let it out with a small gasp. Oscar and Melanie had just left the house by the kitchen door below her window. They were talking softly as they went down the garden to the gate at the end which would lead them to a lane which would take them into the woods beyond the house.

      Megan got back into bed and thought about it. Perhaps Oscar hadn’t slept well, and, intent on an early morning walk, had met Melanie, who had possibly got up early to get morning tea for everyone. He had talked during supper about bird watching; he might have been going to do just that and Melanie had offered to show him the best places to watch from. She turned over and went to sleep again.

      She woke a couple of hours later to find Melanie sitting on the edge of the bed with a cup of tea in her hand, and she sat up, her dark hair hanging in a tangle about her shoulders. ‘Where were you and Oscar going?’ she asked.

      ‘Did you see us? Why didn’t you call—we’d have waited for you. Oscar wanted to see some birds, remember? And he came downstairs while I was in the kitchen—I’d got up early to get the tea so we had a cup and I took him along to Nib’s Wood.’ She looked anxious. ‘You don’t mind, Meg?’

      ‘Darling, of course not. As a matter of fact that’s what I thought you were going to do. Oscar’s nice to be with, isn’t he?’

      ‘Oh, yes, he doesn’t mind that I’m not witty and amusing…’

      ‘Who does mind?’

      ‘Oh, George at the Manor and the Betts boys at Home Farm and the new clerk in father’s office.’

      Megan said indignantly, ‘They don’t say so?’

      ‘Well, not quite, but that’s what they mean.’

      Megan put her arms round her sister, ‘Darling, don’t take any notice of them. You’re nice as you are and all the nice men—the kind you’ll marry—like girls like you.’

      ‘Oh, I do hope so.’

      Melanie put a gentle hand on Meredith’s head. He had curled up on the end of the bed and not stirred but now he opened his eyes and yawned. ‘I’d better get up,’ said Megan, ‘and see to this monster. Is breakfast ready?’

      ‘Half an hour. What are you going to do today?’

      ‘Show Oscar the village, give Mother a hand, potter in the garden. Oscar works very hard. I dare say he’ll like to be left to do his own thing.’

      When she got downstairs her mother was in the kitchen dishing up eggs and bacon, and Melanie was making toast.

      Megan carried the coffee through to the dining-room and found her father and Oscar there. She stooped to kiss the top of her father’s head as he sat in his chair and offered a cheek to Oscar.

      He flung an arm round her shoulders. ‘I was up early; I’ve been bird watching,’ he told her. ‘Melanie was up too and she kindly showed me the best places to go to. I must say the country around here is delightful. I’m almost tempted to turn into a GP and settle down in rural parts,’ but when he saw the look on Megan’s face he laughed and added, ‘But I won’t do that, I’ve set my heart on a good London practice and a senior post in one of the teaching hospitals. Megan knows that, don’t you, darling?’

      ‘Yes, of course I do. You’ll be so successful that we’ll be able to afford a cottage in the country for weekends.’ She smiled at him, knowing that he’d set his heart on making a success of his career and understanding that he intended to do just that with a single-minded purpose which could ignore her own wish to live away from London. He deserved success, she thought; he had worked very hard and he was a good doctor. She watched him being gentle with Melanie and felt a glow of gratitude; her sister, usually so painfully shy, was perfectly at ease with him.

      Driving back to Regent’s on Sunday evening, she asked Oscar, ‘You enjoyed yourself? You weren’t bored?’

      ‘Good lord, no, it was marvellous. I like your family, Megan. That young brother of yours is a splendid chap.’

      ‘Yes, he is, and he likes you. So does Melanie. You must have seen how shy she is with people she doesn’t know well but you got on with her splendidly.’

      He didn’t answer, she supposed because of the sudden congestion of traffic.

      At the hospital he said, ‘How about another weekend when I can get one?’

      ‘Lovely. СКАЧАТЬ