So Dear to My Heart Read online

  Lisa studied her. “You’re the sort of woman James Barrie had in mind when he wrote Quality Street. Someday some man will want to liken you to a garden and wrap you up in cotton wool. ”

  “Then he’ll have to be fairly expeditious,” Virginia said “because I was twenty-five on my last birthday, and in Quality Street that would place me high up on the shelf.”

  “You suggest ringlets .and lavender and a quiet background,” Lisa persisted. “You weren’t meant for the rough and tumble.”

  “There’ s no rough and tumble about the hotel in which I’ m staying at the present time. I can assure you.” Virginia told her, thinking of the elegance of the young woman who had been with Dr. Hanson the night before. And she had called him Leon! “It is absolutely super, as Jinx would say.” Jinx was their youngest schoolboy brother.

  When she left Lisa was beginning to delve into the volume of Swiss fairy tales, (translated into English), that Virginia had unearthed for her in a bookshop, and with a supply of magazines to last her until the sisters saw each other again, which Virginia promised would be the following afternoon. She was satisfied because the color in Lisa’ s cheeks was in no way due to makeup and she seemed somehow resigned—which was better than being overacutely aware of what awaited her and what might or might not be awaiting her in her future.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Two days later, Virginia received a telephone call at her hotel from Dr. Hanson, who said he would like to see her. When she suggested paying another visit to his consulting room he replied that he would prefer to talk to her in the hotel lounge, if that was convenient for her, and as it was the afternoon tea hour she sat waiting for him at a little table in a corner with a waiter ready to serve them tea as soon as the doctor arrived.

  He came in looking as impeccably groomed as she remembered him, but with his dark eyes even darker than she remembered, and that black, sleek hair of his dipping into the merest suggestion of a wave over one well-marked eyebrow. Virginia had gone out shopping that morning and had been unable to withstand the temptation to buy herself one of the dainty, embroidered muslin blouses that were so popular in that part of the world although far more expensive than she could afford—and she was wearing it with a finely pleated skirt and a little mist-blue cardigan that was draped across her shoulders. Her hair had received a fresh set, too, from a Swiss hairdresser—it was shining like a polished chestnut in the dim corner of the lounge.

  Dr. Hanson accepted tea—although she was not sure that it was one of his daily habits—and sat looking at her for a few moments in silence before he explained to her what it was that he wished to see her about.

  “I want you to know that I have arranged for you to stay in a more suitable place than this.” he told her then, as if it were quite impossible that she could have any objection to falling in with the arrangement. “I think you will be much happier, and

  your sister will probably be easier in her mind because you are well looked after, and altogether it is quite an excellent arrangement. ”

  “Oh?” Virginia said in faint astonishment, waiting for him to explain the arrangement he had made. But he produced his cigarette case, handed it to her and carefully lighted her cigarette and his own before proceeding to enlighten her.

  “My aunt will be delighted to have you as her guest,” he told her, almost taking her breath away completely by the statement. “She lives in a house that is much too large for her and she is a little lonely sometimes because she no longer entertains as much as it was once her custom to do. She has always been particularly devoted to young people, so you will be bestowing a kindness if you remain with her until the time arrives when you can return with your sister to England. ”

  “Oh, but—” Virginia wondered whether she could have heard correctly “—I couldn’ t possibly take advantage of such a kind offer! Why, your aunt hasn’t even met me!”

  “True,” he agreed with an eyebrow raised in surprise. “But is that any reason why you shouldn’ t stay with her? As I have already explained, she will be delighted to have you and unless you have already made plans for yourself—”

  “Oh, no,” she assured him. “I haven’t made any plans at all.”

  “Then you have perhaps an objection to staying with my aunt?”

  “Certainly not! ” she exclaimed; her voice quite warm with indignation because she felt that he was willfully misunderstanding her. “I think it is tremendously good of your aunt and—oh, but don’ t you see—She spread her hands a little and an earnest pink flush invaded her cheeks. “I can’t possibly take-advantage of such- such an offer when I’m a complete stranger...”

  “Yes, I do see,” he told her, a rather cool note in his voice and an amused gleam in his dark eyes as he regarded her. “You English have a perfect passion for being independent, haven’t you? And although if you persist in being independent it may mean that your sister, who has need of you. may have to be left alone here without any of her own people near her at a time when her morale needs to be bolstered, you would rather that that should happen than that you should accept the hospitality of a relative of mine who would be only too happy to have you beneath her roof. Well, in that case—”

  But Virginia’ s color had risen wildly, and she made a quick effort to soften what she realized must have looked a little like ungraciousness.

  “Oh, no!” she said. “I would do anything to remain near Lisa! It’s only that the suggestion that I stay with your aunt took me very much by surprise.”

  “Then, having overcome your surprise you are willing to consider the idea?” There was a slightly softer note in his voice and his eyes twinkled a little. “Perhaps if I take you along to see her, and you two have a talk—what then? Aunt Heloise may be able to persuade you, having, we will trust, a greater power of overcoming your scruples. ”

  She felt that he was laughing at her a little, but he stood up now as if he had firmly made up his mind that she could not refuse to meet his relative. She stood up, also, but still a little hesitantly. He might have a quiet voice and a quiet manner, but there was something so incisive, even slightly implacable about him at times, that she felt it would be unpleasant to be involved in a really serious argument with him. And, in any case, she had a feeling already that he would win, whatever the argument.

  “But I don’t feel I have a right to take up so much of your time,” she said.

  “Nonsense!” he exclaimed. “This afternoon I am able to spare the time, so we will go at once if you are ready. ”

  She did not even leave him to fetch a hat as he was striding ahead of her through the hotel lounge, which was packed at that hour with a considerable number of visitors; and when they were outside he helped her into his long black car and got in beside her at the wheel. She wondered whether he always drove himself or whether there were occasions when he made use of the services of a chauffeur; but his hands looked so flexible and virile on the wheel that they quite fascinated her and she realized that he probably enjoyed driving. In any case it was a most luxurious car and it threaded its way among the traffic on the lakeshore with a soundlessness and ease that conveyed an impression that it was propelled by magic.

  Virginia forgot after a time, however, to study his hands because the beauty of the lake compelled her to lift her eyes to it. The snow on the mountain peaks was at its most dazzling and slightly unearthly point of perfection at this hour, with the gold of the sun already declining. The gardens of the villas that dreamed on the shore of the lake were all a wilderness of blossom, purple and white lilac and clematis, pink chestnut and alpine roses. Orchards spread like a sea of pink and white foam almost overhanging the crystal clear water, and the deep green of new leaves was restful by comparison.

  “Have you made up your mind yet whether you like it here?” Dr. Hanson asked her suddenly, when they had been driving in silence for several minutes.

  “Oh, yes,” Virginia answered at once. “I think it’ s almost too beautiful. And everything looks so
extraordinarily clean,” she added with a little laugh, “as if all the shops and houses were washed clean every morning by some magic dew! But I expect it’s probably something to do with the atmosphere.”

  “This is your first visit to Switzerland?”

  “Yes. As a family we are not travelers. I suppose because we’ve never been able to afford it,” she replied candidly.

  He gave her a curious side glance and then looked away “As a family you are at least united,” he observed.

  He slowed the car to permit her to admire one of the most enchanting gardens on the shore of the lake, with a white house like a miniature palace in a fairy tale crowning the heights above it. A boat was moored to some timeworn steps that led into the pellucid waters of the lake.

  “That is the home of the Van Loons,” he said. “They are friends of mine, very charming American friends.”

  And Virginia recalled that on the night when she had first made his acquaintance in the dining room of her hotel, his lovely feminine companion, Carla, had reminded him that they were going on to the Van Loons. She wondered what sort of evening they had had there together.

  Aunt Heloise. or Madame d’Auvergne. was seated in a room that made Virginia think of a grand salon when she and Dr. Hanson entered it together. All her preconceived notions of what a villa should look like, which had been built up largely on a study of advertisements in local newspapers at home announcing, often ambiguously, “a villa at Ealing,” or Twickenham or some such district, accompanied by a photograph that had often impressed her, were upset entirely by both the outside and the inside of Madame d’ Auvergne’ s villa.

  It was not as large as the Van Loons’ and not quite as fairylike, but it was a place to delight the most aesthetic taste. The salon, where the mistress of the place awaited them in a wide window that overlooked all the exotic delights of the garden, was not only of splendid proportions but exquisitely furnished. And Aunt Heloise herself looked like a grand duchess with high-piled white hair and a complexion that was a challenge to every young woman of her acquaintance. She was dressed as if about to receive the most important company in something that looked like a robe of dove-gray velvet. On her breast were pinned more than one glittering brooch and there were several rows of pearls about her neck.

  “So there you are, my dear! ” she exclaimed upon meeting Virginia. She smiled and leaned forward, one hand on a slender ebony cane, but did not rise or come to meet them. Later Virginia was to discover that she was a martyr to rheumatism that even her nephew could not cure.

  But just now her expression was smiling and beaming and there was a kind of sparkling gaiety in her voice. “How nice,” she said, “how very nice that Leon was able to persuade you! I hope you’ve brought all your things with you, my dear? There’s no need for you to go back to the hotel at all.”

  Virginia felt Dr. Hanson’s eyes on her, a somewhat sardonic gleam in them.

  “First, my dear aunt.” he said, “you have to convince Miss Holt that she is really welcome, that she is not inconveniencing you in the very smallest degree. And I think also that she has the Englishwoman’s horror of not being quite independent, which you will have to do something about! ”

  “Tut, tut!” exclaimed his aunt. “We will see about that.” She looked at Virginia as if she found her a most pleasing spectacle to gaze at. “What pretty hair you have, my dear,” she told her. “It reminds me very much of what my own was like before it turned so uncompromisingly white! ”

  She touched a little bell at her elbow. “We will have tea and a talk and you and I will get to know one another. Leon can run away to his patients or to anyone else whom he might care to run to, but it is essential to our becoming acquainted that he should not be around while we do so.”

  Leon Hanson smiled in a way that Virginia had already discovered he could do—charmingly, with a flash of very even white teeth. It was a smile that had obvious affection in it as his eyes dwelt on Madame d’ Auvergne.

  “I accept my dismissal with equanimity,” he told her. “But Miss Holt has already consumed one lot of tea this afternoon, although I don’t suppose she’ll be averse to another. Englishwomen get a great deal of consolation out of endless cups of tea. ” He looked at Virginia with a faint challenge in his eyes. “Shall I have your cases sent here to you. Miss Holt? If you like I will settle with the proprietor and you can settle with me later.”

  “Thank you,” Virginia answered, realizing that she would appear ungracious indeed if she still declined to accept Madame d’ Auvergne’ s hospitality. “That would be kind of you. ” Aunt Heloise regarded her nephew triumphantly. “So I succeed where you failed, Leon. ”

  “Apparently,” he answered, a faintly dry note in his voice.

  And then they all looked up as a car swept up to the foot of the terrace steps and a slender and very elegant young woman stepped

  out and moved toward the glassed-in front porch.

  “Ah, that is Carla come to say goodbye! ” Aunt Heloise exclaimed. She looked toward Virginia and explained, “Carla has a voice—a voice like a bird—and she is going to Italy to sing at La Scala. And after that she pays a short visit to America.”

  But Virginia was watching Leon Hanson. He was standing near the window and had been studying every graceful movement of the woman who had come to say goodbye. And his face was dark— dark and plunged into a kind of inscrutable gloom that had in it a curious, forbidding quality.

  She remembered that he had not seemed particularly sympathetic about Lisa’ s interrupted musical career. Was it because the very thought of a young woman following the profession of music was painful to him at this time? Perhaps intensely painful!

  CHAPTER FOUR

  During the next few days Virginia found it was quite a simple matter to settle down comfortably as an obviously welcome guest in Madame d’Auvergne’s household. Madame d’ Auvergne was the ideal hostess and as a lover of luxury in her own surroundings, she saw to it that visitors beneath her roof enjoyed to the full its many amenities.

  Virginia was provided with a bedroom that was far more luxurious than anything she had ever slept in. When she first saw it she could hardly believe it was to be placed at her disposal for as long as she might require it. It was the prettiest bedroom she had ever seen, with a pale green carpet and curtains of oyster-pink moire silk draped like a cascade at the tall windows, one of which opened outward onto a little balcony overlooking the gardens at the back of the house. There was a dressing table standing in a petticoat of oyster-pink satin and a mirror framed in beaten silver on the wall above the fireplace. There was a chair in which she could recline at full length with her feet on a padded footrest and a dainty writing table. And there were books on a little table beside her bed, which had a quilted headboard.

  The first morning when she awakened it was to find a maid standing beside her with a daintily arranged breakfast tray. The maid placed the tray on a little table that extended across the bed and made the enjoyment of the piping hot coffee, served with cream that floated on top of it in rich, thick puffs, crisp rolls fresh out of the oven and golden pats of butter and cherry jam, an unalloyed pleasure.

  At first Virginia imagined that she must have overslept and was ready to apologize to the young woman whose name she already

  knew was Franzi, but the latter laughed and assured her in quite good English that Madame d’ Auvergne never had breakfast outside her own room and all guests in the house were treated similarly.

  She picked up a bed jacket from the foot of the bed and draped it around Virginia’ s shoulders over her simple pink nightdress, and Virginia felt almost embarrassed by so much attention.

  “Madame is so crippled with the rheumatism that she does not find it easy to get about,” the maid told her.

  “Then perhaps there is something I could do for her?” Virginia suggested. She was suddenly inspired by an idea. “I could deal with her morning mail for her and answer her correspondence! And perhaps there are litt
le errands I could perform for her. ”

  Franzi laughed, showing excellent, strong white teeth. She was not much more than sixteen or seventeen, but so sturdily built and well developed that Virginia deduced she was a country girl, particularly as she had the most inviting roses in her cheeks.

  “Madame will think the suggestion kind, but I doubt whether she will permit it to be carried out,” she answered, thinking that the English young woman was not as excitingly beautiful as Mademoiselle Carla and her wardrobe could certainly not be compared with hers—Franzi had unpacked for Virginia the previous evening—but there was something about her that reminded Franzi of the first of the flowers when they appeared after the melting of the winter snows. Something delicate as the aconites and as simple as the marguerites that swept in a wave across the floor of the valley where her own home was.

  And Madame d’ Auvergne also laughed heartily when Virginia put forward to her her suggestions, declaring that in these days her mail presented few difficulties because she was such a bad correspondent. But she patted Virginia gratefully on her slim shoulder and told her what she could do.

  “You can play chess with me every evening,” she said. “And if you don’t already know how to play, I will teach you. Leon is the only one who plays with me nowadays, but as he is always determined to win, and nearly always does, it is not so amusing.”

  So after dinner every evening, when no one came to visit them, Virginia played chess with her hostess in the salon that was hung with lilac mauve hangings and where the Empire furniture looked particularly right against a deeper mauve carpet. And in the mornings she sometimes went shopping for madame, exchanging her library books and matching ribbons and laces for her, for Madame d’ Auvergne had a weakness for feminine frills and fripperies and loaded herself with them on every possible occasion. She also had a passion for jewelry such as rings, brooches, necklaces that flashed on her broad bosom, and earrings that drew attention to the exceeding delicacy of her ears. When guests came to dinner she usually appeared dripping with diamonds and finely graded pearls. Black velvet was her favorite evening wear, and it made her high-piled hair look particularly magnificent.