Death of a Delft Blue

‘And which did he choose?’

‘Unhesitatingly he chose the bagpipes. You would care to hazard a guess as to the outcome of this possibly doleful story?’

‘Oh, yes. He got his own way and the girl as well. She had to put up with the bagpipes because she wanted the toy.’

‘You speak with an authoritative note which compels my admiration and respect.’

‘Oh, well, you’re not the only psychologist among those present,’ said Laura, squinting modestly down her nose. ‘You should read the women’s magazines. That’s where I pick up my tips on feminine psychology, and I may say that they always work out.’

‘Dear me! What a mine of information I seem to have missed! Tell me more.’

‘No, no. You tell me what the organ-grinders said.’

‘Their ability to speak English was surprisingly limited, judging by my experience of most of the Netherlanders we have met, but I understood them to say that they had no idea how the tune had come to be part of their instrument’s stock-in-trade. They do not like the air. They prefer gay tunes, but some of the foreign tourists like this one, so I was told.’

‘Must be the Scottish tourists, I should think.’

‘True,’ said Dame Beatrice; but she spoke in an absent-minded manner and Laura realised that her thoughts were elsewhere. This was proved when she added, ‘Extreme wealth, in some cases, may exercise a subversive influence on its owners.’

‘All power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but the power of money corrupts absolutelier than any other power, you think? commented Laura. ‘Doesn’t always work out that way, though, does it? Look at Lord Nuffield.’

‘Ah, but he seems to have been more interested in motor cars than in money. I cannot see him as a case in point.’

‘Talking of money,’ said Laura, after a pause, ‘what about Grandmother Rebekah? She seemed the most gosh- awful old girl, I thought, and crude, at that, but I noticed you didn’t agree.’

‘She is loyal, out-spoken, vulgar and dependable, dear child, I imagine. But Time will show. That is, if we ever meet Mrs Rose again.’

‘As you say. What did you make of the other grandmother?’

‘Mrs Colwyn-Welch? If there is such a thing as a typical Dutchwoman, I think it is she.’

‘No, but what did you make of her?’

‘I think she keeps those middle-aged daughters on too tight a rein.’

‘I wish I knew why the tunes on that barrel-organ included The Lament for Flodden,’ said Laura. ‘It doesn’t make sense. The French might be interested, but why the Dutch?’

‘Perhaps we have been warned,’ said Dame Beatrice, with mock solemnity.

CHAPTER FOUR

Maastricht and Valkenburg

‘La curiosite la plus remarquable de Fauquemont est la grotte municipale.’

Local Brochure

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The province of Limburg,’ pronounced Laura, a day or two later, surveying from the terrace of their hotel a view of hills and woods, ‘does not make me think of Holland at all. Holland is flat, canalised and consists of a mixture of tulips, clogs, windmills, polders and patched trousers.’

‘It is obvious to me,’ said Dame Beatrice, putting down a cup which had contained the usual excellent Dutch coffee, ‘that your holiday is doing you good. What do you wish to do this afternoon?’

‘Well, according to the book of words supplied free gratis and for nothing by this excellent hostelry, there seems to be something at Maastricht called the Hill of St Pietersburg. It lies two miles, or thereabouts, to the south of the town, and has an enormous quarry with tunnels two hundred miles long and fifty feet high. It possesses an art gallery and some prehistoric remains in the form of fossils. Many famous names are inscribed on the walls and, in direct contradiction of the urgent appeals of our own National Trust and other bodies concerned with the preservation of ancient monuments, visitors are actually invited to add their own signatures to the names of the great. We are even informed that this testimony to the fact that we once lived, moved and had our being will be in evidence for at least a thousand years. There is only one snag about visiting these caves.’

Dame Beatrice cackled.

‘I am delighted to hear it,’ she said. ‘The idea of heaven, without a hint or two of hell, would be intolerable. Describe this little rift within the lute.’

‘We must have a guide to take us round.’

‘It seems a reasonable precaution. Even the most intrepid of hikers, (why so-called?), and speleologists, might burke at the thought of two hundred miles of underground galleries and labyrinths. Let us, then, guide included, spend the afternoon in the bowels of the earth.’

They drove to Maastricht and attempted this, but discovered that the conducted tour took only about an hour and a half. Dame Beatrice declined to add her inscription to those of Sir Walter Scott, the Duke of Alba, and