Free A Match for Sister Maggy by Betty Neels Page B

right. I’ll ring if I want you.’
    Maggy went downstairs with the tray to be met with a rather shocked Pratt, who assured her that there was no need for her to be carrying trays and that she had only to ring when she needed anything done. He put the tray down on a marble-topped wall table in the hall, and opened a pair of double doors and showed her into the dining room, led her to the vast table and pulled out her chair.
    â€˜Master Paul has gone back to Leiden, Sister. He wished you good night and hopes that you will be comfortable.’
    Maggy ate the delicious meal, barely noticing what was on her plate. The room was large and of a rich unobtrusive splendour; she felt lost and very lonely in it. Why had she imagined that the doctor would stay—at least to dine? She was, after all, only the nurse. She sat at the gleaming mahogany table, drinking her coffee and wishing she had never come. She must have been mad to have consentedto the doctor’s wishes, she should have had nothing more to do with him, and then forgotten him completely. Upon reflection, she admitted to herself that this would have been very difficult indeed. She got up and strolled over to the window; it was a lovely moonlit evening, she could see quite clearly across the gardens to the country beyond. She closed her eyes and thought of her own lonely beautiful Highlands; she longed to be there, walking the dogs, with her home in the valley below; a small safe refuge where she could shut out the rest of the world—she opened her eyes—only she wouldn’t be able to shut out Paul.
    Maggy got up the next morning after a night of dreams and bouts of heavy sleep, and went to the window. It was a lovely morning; the country around was calm and peaceful, she could see a great distance in every direction. She dressed and went to see how her patient did.
    Mevrouw Doelsma, after a sound night’s sleep, was in the best of spirits. The day passed happily enough, as did the next two days. Maggy found that she had a fair amount of time to herself while her patient rested. Mrs Pratt took her on a tour of the house, which, she learned, was more than two hundred years old. A great deal of the furniture was almost as old too, and very beautiful. Maggy spent a long time studying the portraits on the walls. Several of them were very obvious ancestors of the doctor. She was surprised to find that there was an extensive park behind the house, and a sizeable stable block, which she made up her mind she would explore one day. She had already made friends with the gardeners and Piet, the groom, who spoke no English, but made things surprisingly clear by means of nods and smiles.
    Mevrouw Doelsma was proving herself to be an excellent patient and progressing well, but Maggy took care notto stray too far from the house. They spent a long time in each other’s company, and Maggy listened enthralled to her patient recounting the history of the house and the family. Of the doctor there was no sign. His mother spoke of him frequently, but gave no clue as to his whereabouts.
    Maggy went to bed at the end of her fourth day there resigned to the possibility of not seeing him again. She presumed that he would come to see his mother, but it would be unlikely that he would seek her out other than to give her his instructions, and enquire as to his mother’s condition. She told herself not to cry for the moon, and resolved to enjoy herself as far as possible while she was in Holland.

CHAPTER FIVE
    M AGGY SUPPOSED IT was the wind that wakened her—it was sighing and rustling around the old house; she supposed that she would get used to it in a day or so. She lay listening to it, and gradually became aware of another sound. She sat up in bed and looked at her watch. Who would be walking about at half past one in the morning? She strained her ears and was sure that she heard voices. She got out of bed, pulled on her dressing gown and slippers, and went