Tempestuous April by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1970-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

AEDE TELEPHONED the next morning; he would be free on the following day, he explained, so how would Harriet like to spend it with him in Leeuwarden. She agreed readily, suppressing the thought that if she did so, she would be unable to see Friso, always supposing that he came to his partner’s house. She thanked Aede with a false enthusiasm and went to find Sieske.

When she awoke the next day, it was to find the sky shrouded in high grey cloud, and by the time Aede arrived to fetch her, another lower layer of cloud was scudding in from the sea, blown by a wind which whined and whistled around the housetops. The road to Leeuwarden looked bare and sad; the country on either side unprotected.

‘It’s very flat,’ said Harriet. ‘The sea could rush in.’

Aede laughed comfortably. ‘You forget our dykes; they do not break so easily—it would need an earthquake or a bomb; besides, there are always men watching.’

It was a comforting thought; Harriet turned her attention to the city outskirts, and forgot the weather. They were driving down a rather dull road which led to a roundabout surrounded by modern buildings, then suddenly they were in the old city—there was nothing dull about the canal they crossed to enter the bustling, shop-lined street, bisected by a much bridged canal. The shops were modern, but above them rose a variety of old roofs, which Harriet found enchanting, but when she begged Aede to stop, he said,

‘Lord, no. Not here. We’ll go and have coffee and leave the car at the hotel; then we can walk around.’

At the end of the street, past the old Weigh House, he turned into an even busier street, crossed the canal again and stopped outside a pleasant hotel overlooking a square. They got out, and before they went inside. Aede took her arm and turned her round.

‘This is our most important statue,’ he explained, and pointed towards a pedestal upon which stood a cow. ‘Our prosperity.’ he said simply. ‘We owe it to our cows.’

They drank their coffee in the hotel, sitting in the window of the café overlooking the busy square, talking leisurely about the happenings of the previous week.

‘Did you enjoy Delft?’ Aede asked.

Harriet nibbled the little sugary biscuit which had come with her coffee. ‘Very much—I got lost.’ She told him all about it and he laughed and then said, ‘But you should be careful, you know, you’re a foreigner—you must never go off on your own again.’

‘That’s what Friso said.’

‘Did he? Well, yes, naturally.’ He stopped abruptly, and Harriet knitted her brows, trying to make sense of this remark. Why should it be natural for Friso to be concerned about her? She pondered it briefly and then went faintly pink as a possible solution struck her, to be at once cast down by Aede’s next words.

‘What I meant was, Friso would have said that to any pretty girl.’ He frowned, hunting for words. Harriet achieved a creditable smile.

‘Aede, what a nice compliment! And now do tell me what we’re going to do first.

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