Free Heart Specialist by Susan Barrie Page A

laughter lines at the corners. And as her eyelashes swept upward, and she could see his pleasant straight nose, his thick black eyelashes, strongly pronounced eyebrows and little touches of frost in the blackness at his temples, she wondered more than ever why she had made that silly remark about Frenchmen.
    And then she remembered Madame Faubourg ! “ Why, ” she asked suddenly in rather a small voice, “ why, Dr. Daudet, do you think Miss Constantia left me so much of her money? ”
    “ In order to make you happy, little one, ” he replied, concentrating on the bumpers of a sleek car ahead, which, having a woman driver at the wheel, he strongly suspected might come into contact with his own front bumpers at any moment. “ In order to give you one glorious year ... perhaps! ”
    “ But you don ’ t really believe that, do you? You think she wanted me to marry? ”
    “ We return to the subject of marriage as if it was a serpent with hypnotic eyes! And undoubtedly the original serpent in Eden had hypnotic eyes. Yes. I think she wanted you to marry. ”
    “ She said she had never been married herself, and she wished she had. She said she would have liked to have had a husband who would have arranged little treats for her and brought her home simple presents like ... like earrings! ”
    A tear splashed down onto her gloved hand, and then to her horror another, and another ...
    Dr. Daudet reached for his immaculate linen handkerchief and passed it to her.
    “ Before you wash us both away, and my car as well! ” he said, but he spoke gently.

 
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
    That night he telephoned her. and she felt very much surprised to hear his voice on the other end of the wire.
    “ ‘ Alio, ‘ alio !” he said. “ You distracted me so much on our homeward drive this afternoon that I didn ’ t receive your promise to write to that friend of yours—Madame Beverley. I think it would be as well if you did so without delay. And don ’ t encourage callers while you are alone. ”
    “ I have no intention of doing so, ” she said, knowing to whom he was referring.
    “ Good! ” he exclaimed. “ But don ’ t be bored, either. Madame Faubourg will take you under her wing if you ’ d like her to, you know. And I have another suggestion. ”
    “ Yes? ” she said.
    “ I have an old aunt—one with a sense of humor like your Madame Beverley—whom I would like you to get to know. My suggestion is that I take you to tea with her one afternoon. ”
    “ But ... but why should you bother to do that? ” she asked, surprised.
    “ Perhaps because you press on my conscience, my little Anglo-Saxon! You are so transparently what you are, and I did not treat you well in the beginning. I have explained that I thought you were too ornamental! And you know that we Frenchmen have a weakness for collecting ornaments, and perhaps I did not wish to be tempted! Now I feel that your particular quality of being ornamental is the type that should be shut away in some glass-fronted cabinet in a quiet English drawing room, but I do not happen to have an English drawing room handy, and you would almost certainly wither in a glass case. So, as you are far more vulnerable than you realize, and I stand to lose a considerable sum of money if someone like that young Englishman of yours should persuade you to alter certain of your views before a year is out. I must bestir myself to make the money safe. My aunt will be good for you and produce the right friends for you. ”
    “ No young men? ” she asked with a deceptive demureness in her voice.
    “ No young men! ” he answered. “ You will have to wait for those until the year is up! ”
    “ Thank you, Dr. Daudet, ” she said. “ Thank you for your desire to protect and your overwhelming interest! ”
    “ It is self-interest, as I have told you. ” he replied and he laughed softly on the other end of the line. “ Very, very selfish self-interest. ”
    She didn ’ t know what to say , or