Dearest Eulalia

At the house he didn’t go in but as he handed over the basket he said, ‘Will you have lunch with me tomorrow? We might drive out into the country. I find the weekends lonely.’

It was a good thing that his numerous friends in London hadn’t heard him say that. He had sounded very matter-of-fact about it, which somehow made her feel sorry for him. A stranger in a foreign land, thought Eulalia, ignoring the absurd idea; he seemed perfectly at home in London and his English was as good as her own.

‘Thank you, I should like that.’

‘I’ll call for you about eleven o’clock.’ He smiled at her. ‘Goodbye, Eulalia.’

Jane thought it was a splendid idea. ‘Time you had a bit of fun,’ she observed, ‘and a good meal out somewhere posh.’

‘It will probably be in a pub,’ answered Eulalia.

She told her grandfather when she carried up his lunch.

‘Splendid, my dear; he’s a sound chap, just like his father was. I’ve asked him to come and see me again. He tells me he is frequently in England although he has his home in Holland.’

Eulalia, getting the tea later while Jane had a rest, spent an agreeable hour deciding what she would wear. It was nearing the end of October but the fine weather had held although it was crisply cold morning and evening. She decided on a short jacket, a pleated skirt and a silk jersey top, all of them old but because they had been expensive and well cut they presented an elegant whole. He had said that they would drive into the country, which might mean a pub lunch, but if it were to be somewhere grander she would pass muster…

When he called for her he was wearing beautifully cut tweeds, by no means new but bearing the hallmark of a master tailor, and his polished shoes were handmade. Even to an untutored eye he looked exactly what he was—a man of good taste and with the means to indulge it. Moreover, reflected Eulalia happily, her own outfit matched his.

He went to see her grandfather, to spend ten minutes with him and give him a book they had been discussing, and then stopped to talk to Jane, who was hovering in the hall, before he swept Eulalia out of the house and into the dark grey Bentley parked on the kerb.

‘Is this yours?’ asked Eulalia.

‘Yes. I need to get around when I’m over here.’ He glanced at her. ‘Comfortable? Warm enough? It’s a lovely morning but there’s a nip in the air.’

He took the M4 out of London and turned off at Maidenhead. ‘I thought the Cotswolds? We could lunch at Woodstock and drive on from there. A charming part of England, isn’t it? You don’t need to hurry back?’

‘No. Jane likes to go to Evensong but I expect we shall be back long before then. Do you know this part of England well?’

‘Not as well as I should like but each time I come here I explore a little more.’

He had turned off the A423 and was driving along country roads, through small villages and the quiet countryside to stop presently at North Stoke, a village by the Thames where they had coffee at a quiet pub. He talked quietly as he drove, undemanding, a placid flow of nothing much. By the time they reached Woodstock, Eulalia was wishing the day would go on for ever.

The Feathers was warm and welcoming, with a pleasant bar and a charming restaurant. Eulalia, invited to choose her lunch, gulped at the prices and then, urged by her companion, decided on lobster patties and then a traditional Sunday lunch—roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, vegetables… and after that a trifle to put to shame any other trifle. Eulalia finally sighed with repletion and poured the coffee.

‘What a heavenly meal,’ she observed. ‘I shall remember it for years.’

‘Good. The Cotswolds are at their best in the autumn, I think.’

He drove to Shipton-under-Wychwood, on to Stow-on-the-Wold and then Bourton-on-the-Water where he obligingly stopped for a while so that she might enjoy its charm and the little river running through the village. At Burford he stopped for tea at a hotel in its steep main street, a warm and cosy place where they sat in a pleasant room by the fire and ate toasted teacakes oozing butter and drank the finest Assam tea.

‘This is bliss,’ said Eulalia, mopping a buttery mouth. She smiled at him across the little table. ‘I’ve had a heavenly day. Now we have to go back, don’t we?’

‘I’m afraid so. I’ll settle up and see you at the car.’

Eulalia, powdering her beautiful nose, made a face at her reflection.

This has been a treat, she told herself. It isn’t likely to happen again and so I mustn’t like him too much. Even if I were to meet him at St Chad’s it wouldn’t be the same; he might not even recognise me. He’ll go back to Holland and forget me.

It was already getting dusk and this time Mr van der Leurs took the main roads, travelling at a steady fast pace while they carried on an easy flow of small talk. But for all that, thought Eulalia as they were once more enclosed by the city’s suburbs, she still knew almost nothing about him. Not that that mattered since she was unlikely to see him again. She hadn’t asked him when he was going back to Holland but she supposed that it would be soon.

At the house, he came in with her. They were met by Jane in the hall.

‘You’ll have had your tea, but the kettle’s boiling if you’d like another cup. The Colonel’s nicely settled until supper time. I’m off to church.’

She smiled at them both. ‘You’ve had a nice day?’

‘Oh, Jane, it was heavenly.’

‘I thought it might be. I’ll get my hat and coat.’

‘I don’t suppose you want more tea?’ Eulalia asked Aderik.

‘I’d love a cup. While you are getting it may I have five minutes with the Colonel?’

‘He’d like that. Do you want me to come up with you?’

‘No, no. I know my way. I won’t stay more than a few minutes.’

He went up the staircase, tapped on the Colonel’s door and, bidden to enter, did so.

The Colonel was sitting in his chair doing a jigsaw puzzle but he pushed it to one side when Mr van der Leurs went in.

‘Aderik. You had a pleasant day? Where did you go?’

Mr van der Leurs sat down beside him and gave him a succinct account of the day.

‘You found Lally good company? She goes out so seldom. Never complains but it’s no life for a girl. I do wonder what will happen to her when I am no longer here. She can’t stay here—the place has to go to a nephew. A good chap but married with children.’

‘Perhaps I can put your mind at rest about that, sir. I intend to marry Eulalia.’

The Colonel stared at him and then slowly smiled. ‘Not wasted much time, have you?’

‘I’m thirty-eight. Those years have been wasted romantically. I fell in love with her when I first saw her at St Chad’s a day or two ago. I see no reason to waste any more time. You have no objection?’

‘Good Lord, no. And your father would have liked her, as I’m sure your mother will.’ He paused to think. ‘She has no idea of your intentions?’

‘None.’

‘Well, I’m sure you know how you intend to go about that. You have lifted a load off my mind, Aderik. She’s a dear girl and she has a loving heart.’

Mr van der Leurs got up and the Colonel offered a hand. ‘You’ll stay for supper?’

‘No. I think not; enough is as good as a feast. Is that not so?’

The colonel rumbled with laughter. ‘You’re very like your father. Goodnight, my boy.’

Eulalia was in the kitchen. She and Jane were to have jacket potatoes for their supper but it was hardly a dish to offer to a guest. She hadn’t asked him to stay to supper but she expected him to. She made the tea and when he entered the kitchen gave him a worried look.