The Fateful Bargain by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1988-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

RATHER TO Emily’s surprise, Mevrouw van Tecqx was already at breakfast when she went downstairs. ‘I don’t see a great deal of Sebastian,’ she explained, ‘so I came down early so that we might have a little talk before he left. I am so glad that he will be at home for a few weeks; he goes back to London in January, I believe.’ She poured coffee for Emily and handed her the cup and saucer. ‘You have no plans, my dear? Lucillia is making good progress, is she not, but you are not counting on leaving us before she is in better heart?’

Emily laid a slice of cheese on her bread. ‘No, mevrouw, I told Mr van Tecqx I would stay as long as I was needed. That was the bargain we made. I can never repay him for operating on Father…’

‘Oh, I think that is mistaken on your part, child. You are more than repaying him. Where do you plan to go first today?’

‘Well, there’s so much to see—I thought the Nieuwe Kerk first, then the Oude Kerk, and then I’ll walk about and get my bearings. Mr van Tecqx told me I can get lunch in any of the coffee shops, and then I’ll look at the shops for a while…’

‘It gets dark early, you must come back when you wish. Bas will get you tea if you would like that, and of course you will dine with us. Sebastian will be back soon after six o’clock. If you want to stay out for tea, there is a charming little café at one side of the Markt; go through the shop into the little room beyond; it will be quiet, and the cakes are delicious.’

Emily poked her head round Lucillia’s door before she left the house and found her sitting up in bed eating her breakfast. ‘I’m just off,’ she said. ‘I’ll look in the shop windows and study the fashions and tell you all about them when I get back.’

She whisked herself away quickly before Lucillia could say more than goodbye.

Armed with the street map Bas had pressed upon her, she set out. The Markt was close by and to her delight it was market day. There were stalls everywhere, selling everything. It was still early, but they were already busy, and Emily roamed around, admiring the flowers and fruit and the rows of undergarments, vivid blankets and material by the yard blowing in the strong wind. The Nieuwe Kerk—and not so new, since it had been built in the fourteenth century—was vast and, so early in the day, almost empty of people. Emily wandered up and down and spent quite a time contemplating the mausoleum of the murdered William of Orange and the monuments to the House of Orange, a great many of them lying in the vaults below the choir. She left at last and found her way to Oude Delft and so to the Oude Kerk, built a century earlier, painstakingly restored;

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