‘On the contrary. Mr Bernardo seemed quite light-hearted about it, and Mrs Rebekah Rose made a spirited bid for the trinket. She offered fifty pounds.’
‘That old woman is mad! I know for a certainty that Bernardo paid at least a thousand pounds for the ring, and it would have cost him half as much again if he had not negotiated for it through another of his race.’
‘How good it is of the Jews to stick together over these matters.’
‘If only my mother’s brother did not approve of the match, it would never be permitted,’ said Opal, ignoring the goodness of the Jews. ‘Let us sit down on my waterproof coat. I should like a rest.’
‘Mr Bernard van Zestien? I could not help noticing that, when he and Mr Bernardo sat next to one another at luncheon, they appeared to be on very friendly terms,’ said Dame Beatrice, when they had seated themselves.
‘Oh, Bernardo has that sort of way with him. No doubt it helps him in business matters. I have no doubt, either, that it helped him to ensnare poor little Binnie, and, of course, even if the engagement
‘I should like to see the bust when it is finished,’ said Dame Beatrice, with truth. She and Opal arrived at the hotel to find that Petra and Ruby had preceded them.
‘The Point is nothing,’ said Petra. ‘Having said pebbles, that is everything one can say. It is cold and bleak, the water was rough and the birds are not interesting.’
‘I am glad I didn’t go,’ said Opal. ‘You have eaten the best of the cakes.’
‘That doesn’t mean much in a place like this,’ said Petra.
Dame Beatrice was silent during tea. Her chance reference to
CHAPTER SEVEN
Disappearance of an Heir
‘The state of man does change and vary,
Now sound, now sick, now blyth, now sary,
Now dansand mirry, now like to die:
« ^ »
I think,’ said Dame Beatrice, ‘that before they return to the Netherlands we should invite the van Zestien brothers and their father to visit us at the Stone House. Do you think dear Robert could join us?’
‘I expect he could come to dinner, anyway. What about the rest of the family? — not that we could put all of them up for the night,’ said Laura.
‘I did think we might invite them for lunch, although it seems a long way for them to come just for that.’
‘Yes, it does. Anyhow, the three men are the ones who’ve shown us hospitality, and Mrs Colwyn-Welch and her daughters have gone back to Holland, haven’t they?’
‘I imagine that they have, and, as we do not know whether the chasm between Bernardo and Binnie has been bridged, it might be embarrassing for the two of them to receive the invitation. We will leave it, then, at the professors and old Mr van Zestien. That, as you rightly point out, will relieve us of our social obligations.’
‘I wish awful old Rebekah Rose was coming,’ said Laura wistfully. ‘She’s almost too good to be true. Where does she live?’
‘I have no idea. I envisage a London flat, but I have nothing much to go on. In any case, I doubt whether she and her daughter would feel at home in rural Hampshire. Petra Rose did not seem to care for the salt marshes, mud and shingle of North Norfolk.’
The informally-worded invitations were sent off in due course and were answered promptly. The professors, it appeared, were delighted to accept and thought it very kind indeed of Dame Beatrice to remember them. They looked forward immensely to meeting her in London and visiting her clinic, and then driving with her to her country home. Their father, alas, was a little indisposed and was confined to his room. Again thanking Dame Beatrice and reiterating how much pleasure it would give them to renew their acquaintance with her, they remained hers most sincerely.
‘If they’re leaving Norfolk after lunch and coming by road,’ said Laura, ‘I should think they’d be in London in time for tea.’
This proved to be the case. The professors came in a hired, self-drive car and arrived, by way of the Norwich ring-road, Thetford and Newmarket, at exactly five o’clock. George immediately took charge of the hired car and garaged it, with Dame Beatrice’s own, safely beyond the ken of parking meters and traffic wardens (a service for which the professors were duly grateful), and Laura ushered them in.
As Henri and Celestine had been despatched to the Stone House in Hampshire to prepare for the arrival of the guests, there was nothing for it, Dame Beatrice observed to Laura, but to dine out. Over the dinner table Dame Beatrice asked for further news of the family. She had already made a civil enquiry as to the state of old Mr van Zestien’s health and had been told that it gave rise to no anxiety. He was seventy-eight and a little tired, that was all.
‘The family?’ repeated Sweyn, to whom the question was addressed. (Laura and Derde were deep in a
