The Chain of Destiny by Betty Neels Page A

know everything.’
    â€˜She sometimes says that she will marry you, only then she changes her mind because you’re too…’
    â€˜Old,’ prompted the professor. ‘As I am. I should point out to you that patients who have serious operations frequently believe themselves to be in love with the surgeon; it wears off the moment they realise that they are perfectly well again and resume a normal life.’
    She stared at him thoughtfully. ‘But isn’t that awkward for you?’
    â€˜An occupational hazard, shall we say, and not all that frequent.’ He took some toast and buttered it. ‘Thank you for your help. And what about you?’
    â€˜Me? Oh, I’m fine.’
    â€˜You have your free time, your day off and your salary?’
    â€˜Yes, thank you.’
    â€˜I think that you have had to put up with Julie’s occasional small rages; she can be shockingly rude.’
    Suzannah said nothing and he went on, ‘You feel that you can stay for another few weeks? Have you made any friends?’
    She looked at him in astonishment. ‘Good heavens, no—none of Julie’s friends speaks to me.’ And she added quickly, ‘Well, why should they?’
    â€˜Why indeed?’ He finished his coffee. ‘Shall we go and see Julie now? Anna will have told her mother that I am here; I’ll see her when I’ve examined Julie.’
    â€˜She’s in bed.’
    â€˜Yes, I know that. I should like to see her before she has had time to realise I’m here.’
    Julie was still asleep. She looked quite beautiful, her hair, grown again since her operation, framing her flushed face. The professor stood looking at her for a minute or two, and then picked up one arm flung acrossthe counterpane. She woke then, staring at him, at first with bewilderment and then with delight. ‘Guy—oh, I’m so glad to see you. Are you staying for a few days? Will you take me out one evening? Just us two?’
    He leaned over the foot of the bed, smiling a little. ‘I’m on my way to Amsterdam and it seemed a good idea to call in and see how you were. I’d like to take a look, if I may. It won’t take long.’
    She made a face. ‘Don’t you ever think of anything but your work? I feel fine.’
    â€˜Suzannah tells me that you have done exactly what I wished you to do; another week or two and you’ll be out of my hands.’
    He bent to examine her eye reflexes and then turn her head gently from side to side. ‘Nothing hurts? You have a good appetite? Don’t feel sick? Sleep well?’
    Julie was sitting up in bed, her arms round her knees. ‘I’m sure Suzannah told you everything. I can’t move without her…I’m fine. Last night I had a bad dream, but it didn’t last.’
    The professor sat down on the side of the bed. ‘You have nothing to worry about,’ he told her, ‘you have made a complete recovery but, just like anyone else, you need a little time to get over your operation. Do not do more than you have been doing; in a couple of weeks I’ll let you off the hook for three months before I need see you again.’
    â€˜And Suzannah? Can she go?’
    â€˜In two or three weeks’ time, yes.’
    A remark which Suzannah heard with some trepidation.
    He went away presently, and when Suzannah encountered Mevrouw van Dijl later in the morning it was to hear that he had gone again. He could have saidgoodbye, thought Suzannah forlornly, listening to Mevrouw van Dijl’s gentle voice. ‘Such a dear little boy,’ she was saying. ‘I knew him a very long time ago, before I married, and when Julie was born he was a schoolboy and so good and kind to her. She was a difficult baby.’
    She’s a difficult grown woman too, thought Suzannah.
    A few days later Julie’s two brothers came. The elder, a rather solemn man in his late twenties, was married