The Promise of Happiness by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1979-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

THE WEEK flew by. The Baroness, while delighted that Becky had a job and somewhere to live, was a little peevish at the idea of her leaving. True, she had an abundant staff only too happy to fulfil her every whim, as Becky pointed out to her, but that proved to be no argument with her patient. ‘I liked you the moment I set eyes on you, my dear,’ declared the Baroness, ‘and I am going to miss you. You will, of course, visit me whenever possible.’

And Becky, used by now to the little lady’s imperious ways, said that yes, of course she would. ‘I’m only a short walk away,’ she pointed out, ‘and I shall get off duty like everyone else.’

She had gone for an interview at the hospital, feeling scared, not because she wasn’t sure if she could manage the job—she was sure of that, but worried that her tiny smattering of Dutch might decide the authorities against her. It was a tremendous relief to find that everyone, from the Directrice to the Home Warden who showed her over the Nurses’ Home and where she could change each day, spoke English. She would have lessons in Dutch starting on the very first day and she would be expected to work hard at them and speak Dutch whenever possible. To start with, the Directrice explained, she would do routine work on the ward with another nurse until she felt that she was able to deal with patients on her own. ‘And that shouldn’t be long,’ declared the Directrice cheerfully. ‘It is amazing how quickly one learns if one applies one’s mind to it.’

Becky had gone back to the Baroness’s house with a dictionary and a book of Dutch medical terms, which she was delighted to find weren’t so very different from the English ones—indeed, several of them were English. She had seen the Baron on the way, driving along the narrow street in his beautiful car. If he had seen her he gave no sign and she really hadn’t expected her to; she had been rude and he must think her wretchedly ungrateful. Although she had tried to thank him…

She had met the beautiful Nina too. She had gone into the city to do a small errand for the Baroness and coming out of the shop she had come face to face with Nina. She had smiled and said Hullo and been cut dead for her pains. But Nina had recognised her; her blue eyes had slid from Becky’s tidy, mousey hair, down her cheap cotton dress, and come to rest on the sandals she had bought at Bata’s.

And when, on her last day as the Baroness’s nurse, she was about to leave for her new home, Nina and the Baron arrived together as she was waiting in the hall for the taxi, she remembered that look and her small determined chin went up. Nina nodded casually as she passed her, but the Baron stopped.

‘Ah, yes, of course you start your new job tomorrow,’ he remarked.

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