In the Middle Ages it was very select; all the rich merchants lived here, and their daughters took their daily walks by the lake.

It was so select that no one was allowed to carry a basket or have a dog with them.

It's still considered select.

There's a very good hotel here, but an even better one much quieter and

smaller on the sh.o.r.es of the Aussenalster.

' He turned into a busy city street and Alethea caught a glimpse of shops before seeing the lake again, this time stretching out of sight, its banks lined with trees and gra.s.s, its smooth water ruffled by small ferry boats going from side to side, and any number of sailing boats.

"Now we're in the Alsterufer," Sarre told her.

"It leads to the Harvestehuder Weg--the hotel's just along here, in front of the park alongside the lake.

' It looked delightful, white-painted, its windowsills ablaze with red

geraniums, set amidst a formal garden.

Sarre turned the car off the road into the short drive and stopped

before the entrance and while a porter saw to the luggage, ushered her inside. They had rooms overlooking the lake, and in the gathering twilight, it looked quite beautiful.

Alethea, hanging over her balcony in order to watch the swans and ducks on the water, turned when Sarre spoke to her from the door. "I'm operating in the morning," he observed, 'and I'm afraid I shall have to go back after dinner for a consultation.

Will you be all right here on your own?

If you like you could go shopping in the morning--I can drop you off as

I go.

You'll find the shops very good, only please take a taxi back here.

I hope to get away in the afternoon, but it's possible that I shan't be

free until seven o'clock or (hereabouts.

' She wasn't going to let him see how disappointed she was at the prospect of a whole day without him.

"T'd love to poke around," she a.s.sured him cheerfully.

"I've been reading up a lot about Hamburg, and there's a street of

little frame houses I want to go and look at.

' "The Kramer Amtsstuben," he replied.

"T know where they are.

I don't have to be at the hospital until nine o'clock.

If you don't mind getting up early I'll take you there and then drop you off in the Monckeberg Stra.s.se--that's where the shops are.

' She would at least see him for a short time; she agreed readily and,

she hoped, not too eagerly, and agreed again when he suggested a stroll

by the lake before they changed for the evening.

It was incredibly peaceful, right in the heart of the city and yet surrounded by trees and shrubs, the gra.s.s under their feet going to the water's edge.

The sailing boats and dinghies had finished for the day, and there, by the quiet lake, they might have been miles from anywhere, only as they retraced their steps Alethea could see the lights of the city shining over the far end of the water.

They stopped for a minute and she pointed across to the opposite sh.o.r.e.

"That looks delightful over there.

' And indeed it did, the gra.s.s and the trees and beyond them the dim outlines of large villas against the sky.

"Bellevue," Sarre told her.

"Napoleon stayed here once and remarked "Quelle belle vue" when he saw it for the first time, and it's .

been Bellevue ever since.

A very wealthy neighbour hood, so I understand.

' As wealthy as the neighbour hood in which they lived in Groningen,

thought Alethea wryly.

"Do you speak German?

' asked Sarre casually as he took her arm and they walked on.

"BUte," said Alethea promptly, and he roared with laughter.

"One of the most useful words in the language," he a.s.sured her, 'and

you're so pretty that you don't need to know even that.

' She was glad of the gathering darkness so that he wouldn't see how red her face was.

"Oh, well," she stammered, 'that's nice of you to say so.

' and hoped he would say more, but he only suggested that it was time they returned to the hotel. She put on a new dress, pink crepe patterned in a deep rose, and her heart gave a little leap of pleasure at Sarre's approving look when she joined him in the bar. It went on leaping for most of that evening, for he kept looking at her with open admiration during their dinner and said presently, when they got up to dance: "T think I'm the envy of every man in the room, my dear.

' Alethea could have danced the night through after that, but when for form's sake she suggested that she should go to bed, he agreed so readily that she wondered if she had imagined the look on his face just because she had so much wanted him to admire her.

She wished him a rather brief goodnight and only then remembered that he hadn't returned to the hospital.

But he hadn't forgotten, it seemed; he had arranged to go late in the evening, so that she hadn't needed to be alone.

She said "Oh', in a startled little voice, and felt tears p.r.i.c.k her eyelids.

"Now I feel selfish.

' He smiled down at her.

"It is I who am selfish, keeping you to myself all the evening, my

dear.

' He bent to kiss her cheek.

"Goodnight.

' It was a glorious morning and Alethea was up early to dress and knock

on Sarre's door half an hour later.

He was sitting at a small desk writing and she said at once: "Oh, sorry--I'll go down, shall I?

' He had got to his feet at once.

I was filling in time.

I hope you slept?

' She nodded.

"And you?

They didn't keep you too late at the hospital?

' He told her a little of what he intended doing that morning; a shattered arm and shoulder which he hoped to piece together again.

"Probably it will take a good deal of the afternoon as well," he told her, 'and after that there is a foot they've asked me to repair.

' She listened carefully, deeply interested because she was a nurse, and wanting to know everything just because she loved him.