Free Little Girl Lost by Val Wood Page B

tried to offer some comfort and support.’
    He told Margriet why he was going away again so soon and she said how sad the lady must be. ‘I would cry, Papa. I expect her children will cry too, now that they have no papa.’ Her own eyes filled with tears. ‘Please will you tell them that I am very sad for them?’
    â€˜I will, Margriet, and I’m sure they will take strength from your kind thoughts.’ He kissed the top of her head. ‘I will return soon.’
    When the ship docked the next morning he called first of all on his mother, and then took a train to Utrecht and a cabriolet to Cornelia’s house. The window shutters were closed and he wondered if Rosamund had been right after all and he was calling too soon.
    He gave a cautious knock on the front door and inhaled the sweet perfume of the roses and honeysuckle that were climbing up around it. A moment later the door was opened by Klara, who was dressed in white threaded with black ribbon, and gazed silently up at him as if not recognizing him.
    â€˜Hello, Klara,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m Frederik Vandergroene. Do you remember me? I was a good friend of your father’s. Would you give your mother my kind respects, and ask if I might call at a convenient time?’
    She nodded and said, ‘Please wait one moment,’ and leaving the door ajar she turned away and pattered down the hall. He heard her voice and then her mother’s and then Cornelia came hurrying to greet him.
    â€˜Oh, Frederik, how kind of you to come so quickly. Please come in. Klara said she was sorry she didn’t recognize you.’
    â€˜Not at all; I didn’t expect her to,’ he said. He thought how regal and dignified Cornelia looked. Although her face was pale, accentuated by the deep black of her gown, she smiled at him as she led him to the kitchen. He looked up the stairs as he passed and remembered helping Nicolaas down them so that he could eat with them at the table, and was suddenly devastated by his loss.
    He put his hands to his eyes, and as Cornelia turned to ask him to be seated he murmured, ‘Forgive me. I came to offer comfort and find that I am in need of it too.’
    She patted his shoulder in a maternal manner, but didn’t say anything, allowing him to sit quietly until he had suppressed his emotion. Klara sat on the arm of her mother’s chair until Cornelia whispered something to her. The child dipped her knee to Frederik and left the room.
    â€˜I’m sorry.’ He cleared his throat. ‘When I received your letter I was saddened, although the news was not unexpected, but now, here in your home, his loss has hit me hard.’
    â€˜I understand,’ she said softly. ‘I, of course, had time to adjust to the inevitable, and yet when it came—’ She broke off, fingering a black pendant at her neck, and paused a moment before continuing. ‘It was harder than I thought. But I am so glad that you are here. So very glad.’
    â€˜My wife thought it too soon to come,’ Frederik told her. ‘That you wouldn’t wish to be disturbed until your mourning period was over.’
    â€˜I would not wish my friends to stay away,’ she said simply. ‘I want us to share our happier memories. Nicolaas requested a simple funeral ceremony and asked me not to observe a long period of mourning. He knew that it is not in my nature to be sombre. I will wear black for a year, so as not to shock my neighbours, but I know Nicolaas would not mind if I began quietly to go out again after six months.’ She gazed into the middle distance. ‘But I am worried about Hans. He misses his father very much. I am not able to comfort him.’
    â€˜He’s young, but too old to want to show his feelings in front of others. He’s hovering between boy and man, I think?’
    â€˜He is,’ she agreed. ‘I believe he considers that he is now the man of the house