Free Heart Specialist by Susan Barrie

addition to which, she had succumbed to seasonal flu and was feeling very low spirited indeed. As she wrote in her letter:
    When I think of you in Paris at this time of the year , I feel so envious that I wish I could suddenly sprout wings and fly over and join you! If anyone would find me a job in Paris I would simply leap at it , and my much disliked Mr. Paugrove could find himself another secretary, and you and I would visit all the spots Gavin and I visited on our honeymoon! To think that we had two weeks in Paris and stayed at the Meurice and did things properly.
    And now I ’ m slaving away for a firm of accountants and growing old on my own.
     
    But Valentine hesitated. Would it be fair to ask Jane to give up a secure job and come over to France and live with her for a period that couldn ’ t possibly extend itself beyond twelve months?
    “ You have thought of someone? ” Dr. Daudet said, watching her.
    “ Yes. Yes, but ... ” And then she explained why she wasn ’ t so sure she was the right person after all.
    “ But that is nonsense, ” Dr. Daudet exclaimed. “ A woman of thirty-three isn ’ t afraid of life, and your friend has stated in her letter that she finds life growing impossible. She is in a rut and she wants to get out of it, and you can help her to do just that very thing. You are in a position to pay her a good salary, and a little bit over as a kind of bonus when ... when the year is up , shall we say? ”
    Valentine ’ s eyes had suddenly grown rather bright.
    “ I would love to have Jane over here with me, ” she admitted.
    “ Then that is excellent! ” And then with sudden caution, “ But she is not a featherbrain, this young woman? She has been married, you say, and has a sense of responsibility? She would be able to guide you? Advise you?
    Valentine looked at him and smiled slightly.
    “ I tell you I do not need any guidance, or advice, but Jane is the one to give it if it was needed. She is a most capable person ... And she has a great sense, of humor. I have always thought it would be splendid if she got married again. ”
    “ Marry yourself, young woman, ” he said sternly beside her, “ before you concern yourself with the remarrying of someone who has already experienced connubial bliss—if there is such a thing! ”
    She. turned and looked at him with a sudden mildly provocative light in her eyes.
    “ I didn ’ t think Frenchmen believed in connubial bliss. I thought their ideas of marriage were strictly practical. Someone to run their homes and bring up the family, and ...? ”
    “ And? ”
    “ And any excitement—romance—would be outside the domestic circle! ”
    When she had said that she was horrified, because she didn ’ t quite know why she had said it. and she caught her breath and didn ’ t dare look at him.
    “ Ah, well, ” he said at last, almost lazily “ there might be something to be said for an arrangement of that sort. It ’ s a sort of all around arrangement and covers most things. But I wonder where you got your knowledge of Frenchmen? ”
    “ I don ’ t know any Frenchmen, or rather, many Frenchmen, apart from you. And Monsieur Dubonnet. ” she added.
    “ It might surprise you to learn that Dubonnet is very happily married, but I ’ m not surprised I ’ ve put strange ideas into your head. Like you, I have no time for marriage! ” And he started up the engine.
    The car purred and vibrated gently, and Valentine felt curiously sorry that they were moving on. He had given her a very nice lunch, and he could be very whimsical at times, and ... and Miss Constantia had liked him. Her very last words had referred to him, “ Leon has such a firm tread !”
    She watched his hands on the wheel. They , too , were firm and capable, and his square jaw, when she peeped at him sideways, was very firm. It was the sort of jaw that wouldn ’ t give way. But his mouth was distinctly human. She liked the shape of it, the attractive masculine lips, the