So Dear to my Heart by Susan Barrie

Author:Susan Barrie [Susan Barrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: F
ISBN: 9788726564440
Publisher: Saga Egmont International
Published: 2021-03-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter twelve

It was surprising how quickly Virginia, who had never before in her life coped with two such young children alone, settled down in the Van Loon household. The children were precocious, it was true, but in Virginia they recognized authority overlaid with a sweet reasonableness which appealed to them, and they never tried her too far.

They were also, she discovered, two rather lonely mites, who lapped up affection like a pair of puppies, and Virginia was good at lavishing affection on children. She never tired of reading stories aloud, or attending to small hurts, or answering an endless stream of questions. Morever she answered the questions to the best of her ability, and this satisfied the children more than subtle evasions.

Peter was the more highly strung of the two, and of the two he made the most exacting demands on her. He was inclined to have nightmares, and he was also inclined to be fractious and irritable at times, and she exerted a lot of patience trying to sort out his problems for him. They were the problems of a naturally nervous child who had had very little settled home life, but he responded noticeably to Virginia’s methods of dealing with him. He even began to copy her English accent, which amused Mary Van Loon very much indeed.

Mrs. Van Loon never interfered with Virginia’s nursery arrangements. The children had lessons when Virginia decided they should, and their daily outings and amusements were entirely her affair. It was something of a responsibility, but it kept Virginia occupied, and that was what she preferred just then. She could also have as much time off as she wanted if she cared to take it, for she had been provided with an excellent nursery-maid who could take over when she went out, but her disinclination for going far from the villa somewhat surprised her employer, who had imagined that during the period of her sister’s convalescence she would wish to spend as much of her free time with her as she could manage.

As for Lisa, her physical health had improved so markedly since her operation that she seemed to be romping back to a condition of complete bodily fitness. The exercises for her fingers had started, and although it was early days yet there seemed little doubt that with perseverance, and if all went well with her otherwise, a bright and promising future would once more lie open before her.

She telephoned Virginia almost daily, and Virginia gathered that in addition to the routine exercises to restore the suppleness to her fingers, the rest of her time was not allowed to hang heavily on her hands. Madame d’Auvergne was introducing her in all the circles where she had introduced Virginia, and everyone was being particularly kind to her. Clive Maddison was still exceedingly attentive, and she met him most mornings for coffee on the lake shore. He had even succeeded in making such a favorable impression on Aunt Heloise that nowadays he had the right of entry to her villa at almost any time he wished.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.