A Christmas Romance Read Free Page A

can’t have much time to catch buses and things.’
    ‘A car is a necessity for my job. You’re warm enough? I thought we might stop for coffee presently. At what time do your great-aunts expect you?’
    ‘If I don’t miss the bus at Braintree I’m there in time for lunch. But I’ll catch it today; I don’t expect it takes long to drive there.’
    He was driving north-east out of the city. ‘If you will direct me I will take you to Finchingfield; it is only a few miles out of my way.’
    She looked at his calm profile uncertainly; without his specs he was really veryhandsome … ‘You’re very kind but I’m putting you out.’
    ‘If that were the case I would not have suggested it,’ he told her. A remark which she felt had put her in her place. She said meekly, ‘Thank you,’ and didn’t see him smile.
    Clear out of the city at last, he drove to Bishop’s Stortford and turned off for Great Dunmow, and stopped there for coffee. They had made good time and Theodosia, enjoying his company, wished that their journey were not almost at an end. Finchingfield was only a few miles away and all too soon he stopped in front of the great-aunts’ house.
    It stood a little way from the centre of the village, in a narrow lane with no other houses nearby; it was a red-brick house, too large to be called a cottage, with a plain face and a narrow brick path leading from the gate to its front door. The professor got out, opened Theodosia’s door, collected her bag and Gustavus in his basket and opened the gate andfollowed her up the path. He put the bag and the basket down. ‘I’ll call for you at about half past six tomorrow, if that isn’t too early for you?’
    ‘You’ll drive me back? You’re sure it’s not disturbing your weekend?’
    ‘Quite sure. I hope you enjoy your visit, Theodosia.’
    He went back to the car and got in, and sat waiting until she had banged the door knocker and the door was opened. And then he had gone.
    Mrs Trickey, the aunt’s daily housekeeper, opened the door. She was a tall, thin woman, middle-aged, with a weather-beaten face, wearing an old-fashioned pinny and a battered hat.
    ‘You’re early.’ She craned her neck around Theodosia and watched the tail-end of the car disappear down the lane. “Oo’s that, then?’
    Mrs Trickey had been looking after the aunts for as long as Theodosia could remember and considered herself one of the household. Theodosia said cheerfully, ‘Hello, MrsTrickey; how nice to see you. I was given a lift by someone from the hospital.’
    The housekeeper stood aside to let her enter and then went ahead of her down the narrow, rather dark hall. She opened a door at its end, saying, ‘Go on in; your aunts are expecting you.’
    The room was quite large, with a big window overlooking the garden at the back of the house. It was lofty-ceilinged, with a rather hideous wallpaper, and the furniture was mostly heavy and dark, mid-Victorian, and there was far too much of it. Rather surprisingly, here and there, were delicate Regency pieces, very beautiful and quite out of place.
    The two old ladies got up from their places as Theodosia went in. They were tall and thin with ramrod backs and white-haired, but there the resemblance ended.
    Great-Aunt Jessica was the elder, a once handsome woman with a sweet smile, her hair arranged in what looked like a bird’s nest and wearing a high-necked blouse under a cardiganand a skirt which would have been fashionable at the turn of the century. It was of good material and well made and Theodosia couldn’t imagine her aunt wearing anything else.
    Great-Aunt Mary bore little resemblance to her elder sister; her hair was drawn back from her face into a neat coil on top of her head and although she must have been pretty when she was young her narrow face, with its thin nose and thin mouth, held little warmth.
    Theodosia kissed their proffered cheeks, explained that she had been driven from London by an acquaintance at the