Off With The Old Love by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd
Published: 2013-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

‘A pleasant evening, I hope?’ enquired the Professor suavely as he went to scrub before his list. ‘Where was the concert?’

She told him briefly and he said, ‘Ah, that new conductor—all the fashion at the moment, I believe. Modern music, was it?’

‘Very,’ said Rachel and went back to her trolleys, subduing a strong desire to tell him just how awful she had found it. He would have listened and, even if he was a devotee of the stuff, he would have given her his full attention.

The list was an exacting one. The Professor, as he always did, carried on a desultory conversation with his companions, touching on a variety of subjects, but music wasn’t mentioned, nor did he refer to it while they had their coffee break. When at length he had finished, he bade them all good day, added his thanks, and went unhurriedly away. For some reason Rachel felt frustrated; she had prepared herself for his observation about her evening, and steeled herself against the advice he gave so readily. It was a bit of a let down.

At dinner Lucy warned her that there was a badly injured child in. ‘Fell off a high wall, face downwards. Professor van Teule has had a look and he wants to operate; he was talking to George when I came to dinner. You’ll get the good news when you get back.’

He was waiting for her, standing with his back to the office, looking at the chimney pots. He turned round when she went in.

‘There’s a child for a splenectomy. Can you be ready in twenty minutes or so?’

‘Certainly, sir. Boy or girl?’

‘A little boy—ten years old—fooling around on a demolished block of flats.’

‘Oh, the poor lamb. Is his mother with him?’

‘No, she hasn’t been traced. There doesn’t seem to be a father.’

‘Someone must look after him—love him.’

‘They’re looking for his granny; she works somewhere in the Mile End Road.’

‘Doesn’t it make you furious?’ She had gone to stand by him, sharing the deplorable view. ‘Can you keep him as long as possible?’

‘Yes. He can go to the country branch when he’s fit again and we must see what we can do about Granny. A temporary job close by, perhaps?’

‘The world’s a funny place.’ Rachel was voicing her thoughts, hardly aware that she was sharing them with him. ‘All these dressed-up people yesterday evening, listening to that frightful music, and being what they call successful. They’re not, you know; they don’t do anything that matters.’ She gave a great sigh. ‘You do.’

She didn’t see his slow smile and the gleam in his eyes.

‘Thank you, Rachel. But it takes all sorts to make a world. I take it that you didn’t altogether enjoy your evening?’

‘The thing is,’ she told him seriously, ‘Melville is so popular. When we go out he meets so many friends he has to stop and talk to.’

‘But you must meet a number of famous people?’

‘No,’ she said slowly. ‘You see, he thinks—quite rightly—that I wouldn’t have much in common with them.

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