Betty Neels - Henrietta's Own Castle

Her companion stopped before her door and got out to open it for her and hand her her basket, a courtesy she hadn’t looked for. If she hadn’t been so sure that he would snub her, she would have asked him in for a cup of tea; as it was she thanked him for her lift very nicely and asked how she might get Charlie when she wanted him.

‘Turn right at the gates,’ he told her, ‘follow the drive round to the back of the castle, the garages are there. Go in and out as you please, if there is no one about, the doors are only locked at night.’ He turned to go, but at the door he paused. ‘Your business was satisfactory?’

‘Yes, thanks.’ She was longing to tell someone about it; that she would be able to live in this dear little house for months, that there was more money than she had expected. Instead she stood silent, waiting for him to go, trying not to notice the way he was staring at her. At length he said: ‘The dominee will be coming to visit you within the next day or two, his name is Rietveld, he speaks English. His daughter will probably come with him. She has just finished her studies at High School, her name is Loes.’

Something in his voice aroused her curiosity. Loes—a pretty name and probably a pretty girl in whom he was interested, perhaps more than interested; the idea dispirited her. She thanked him for the information in a level voice and added a polite ‘good evening’. She was, she warned herself, standing behind the closed door listening to the almost soundless departure of the Rolls, getting a little too interested in him herself, and that would be a foolish thing to do, since he disliked her. She sighed and went to put on the kettle; a cup of tea was supposed to cure most things; perhaps it would cure the peculiar sense of loneliness she was feeling.

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