New Doctor at Northmoor (15 page)

He looked rather taken aback, and then he laughed. He was another big young man, hearty, tough, strong, with the kind of ginger hair that has brown overtones and looks like burnished copper. Gwenny didn
’
t know whether she liked him or hated him, but she didn
’
t believe for one moment that he had come in exclusively to find out the cause of her illness,,

‘
Oh, come now, you
’
re pulling my leg,
’
he told her.
‘
I
’
m serious, you know. People do things and get contaminated without realizing it. For instance, in my own field, a chap was experimenting with something and it splashed over his foot and I finished up with amputating it, but he hadn
’
t a clue as to what had caused the whole thing.
’

Gwenny looked alarmed, so he said hastily,
‘
Not that I
’
d have any excuse to do such a thing to you, my dear. But it is a viewpoint. Another point of view is the case of the old dear who was being treated for—well, never mind, the long Latin name won
’
t mean a thing to you
—
and it was discovered she
’
d caught a pox from one of her own diseased chickens. Do you like feeding hens, by the way?
’

‘
I loathe them,
’
Gwenny said clearly.
‘
Stupid things
!’

‘
Ah, well, that settles that, doesn
’
t it? Pity. I rather fancied trotting to our R.M.O. and telling him I
’
d solved his riddle all by myself, and handing him the answer on a plate.
’

‘
Is that how you are with each other? Making a joke of scoring off the other person?
’
Gwenny was shocked and showed it.

‘
I say, chuck it, dear,
’
the R.S.O. begged.
‘
You
’
re a doctor
’
s daughter. You know better than to look shocked at our good humour and funny little ways. Anyway, I
’
m about to be kicked out, it would seem.
’

But he wasn
’
t. The nurse who came in was Catherine Allen, and she looked all gooey and receptive, Gwenny thought sourly; and frightfully pleased to see him, though hardly surprised. It struck Gwenny that they had arranged a rendezvous in her room.

Gwenny was quite indignant.
‘
I want to sleep,
’
she said,
‘
so would you please go out, Nurse Allen?
’

Catherine Allen merely smiled broadly at her.
‘
Isn
’
t she sweet?
’
she appealed to the R.S.O.
‘
She gives me a verbal slap in the eye every time I come near her. You wouldn
’
t think it of her, would you? She looks such a dear baby!
’

He agreed.
‘
But the little frail types are often spitfires, you know.
’
And he smiled at Gwenny in a pleased way.

‘
Why don
’
t you both go out on the fire stairs if you want to talk to each other?
’
she snapped.
‘
Nurse Allen likes the fire stairs. She has parties out there with the R.M.O.
’

That brought a surprised stare from the R.S.O. and then both he and Catherine Allen gave a surprised snort of laughter, and for some reason were choked with smothered laughter. Finally, they both waved to Gwenny and went out. Both immersed in each other, she saw.

What a lot they were! Catherine Allen was said to lead a very complicated love life, but that seemed to Gwenny to be the understatement of the year. She wondered what the R.M.O. would have to say if he heard that Catherine Allen was now keen on the R.S.O. That girl! It was the way she looked at men. It was awful!

They went all to pieces, just over one of those gooey smiles of hers, with her eyes all big and wondering and inviting. Gwenny hated her.

Tilda visited Gwenny that day, and took to coming in every day from then onwards. She looked much thinner than Gwenny remembered her, but she seemed friendly enough. She came in every day, presumably for someone to grumble to, about being caught here in hospital.

‘
It isn
’
t as if there
’
s anything the matter with me beyond this arm,
’
she complained,
‘
and heaven bless us, I
’
ve been off a horse before now! It
’
s that R.M.O. of yours. He suspects internal injuries all the time. The other patients tell me so. The last R.M.O. threw them out as quickly as he could, to get beds for new patients, but not this one! It
’
s as if he
’
s praying for something unusual to come up, so that he has a new disease to play with—so the nurses say. Your sister Priscilla among them.
’

‘
Oh, Priscilla! Don
’
t take any notice of her,
’
Gwenny said sourly.
‘
She hates him. But then all my family do.
’

‘
Yes, I know. You
r Laurence was telling me. Why
do you suppose it is that the R.M.O. wants to do your family harm? Has he got real cause to hate them?
’

‘
I don
’
t really think he does, you know,
’
Gwenny said.
‘
That
’
s funny—I never thought of that before! No, I think it
’
s my family who hate him. Well, you can guess why!
’

‘
No, I can
’
t. Not really. You tell me,
’
Tilda invited.

‘
Well, Laurence wanted the job of R.M.O. here,
’
Gwenny said unwillingly.

That amused Tilda.
‘
Silly boy, he isn
’
t good enough. I shouldn
’
t think any hospital would have him for
R.M.O. I think he
’
d be better mucking out stables, if you ask me.
’

‘
Who, our Laurence?
’
Gwenny was shocked.

‘
That
’
s right. Oh, I
’
m batty about him, but I
’
m bothered if I
’
d like to think that he was the only doctor
within miles. I suppose
—’
She looked at Gwenny
consideringly.
‘
I suppose he
’
s never said, in passing, how much he cares for me?
’

Gwenny said, generously,
‘
He
’
s mad enough about you to make my parents pretty wild. I hope I
’
m not being tactless, but you know what they
’
re like. I mean, they do rather expect him to attend to his work and not keep nipping over to your people
’
s farm to waste time in the stables with you
!’

That seemed to please Tilda very much.
‘
You
’
re being as tactful as a load of old bricks falling on me, but never mind, Gwenny! It
’
s sweet music in my ears.
’

It pleased Tilda so much that she came to sit with Gwenny the next afternoon too, while the garden party was on.

‘
Don
’
t you want to go out there with the rest of them
?’
Gwenny asked in surprise.

‘
Not allowed to. I might like a go at the rifle range, but I expect it
’
s pretty well watered down, being on hospital premises, but it
’
s definitely out for me,
’
Tilda said.

‘
Laurence is coming, I think,
’
Gwenny ventured.

‘
At least, I got the impression he was, from something my mother said—or was it my father? I don
’
t know, but anyway, if you want to slip off and see my brother,
I don
’
t mind.
’

Tilda saw Laurence, from Gwenny
’
s window, but of course she couldn
’
t go down.
‘
I wonder if he
’
d come up these fire stairs to see me, if I could attract his attention?
’
she murmured.

‘
What can you see?
’
Gwenny asked wistfully.

‘
Not much. People wandering through to the back lawns where the side-shows are, but the well-dressed part of it is down below, of course. Funny, how people put on their maddest clothes and try to behave all special, at these hospital affairs, isn
’
t it?
’

‘
There was a pair of field-glasses,
’
Gwenny offered.
‘
I had them and they took them away from me, the day my mother came and upset me. If you were to go and ask Sister, she might lend them to you, if you made it clear they weren
’
t for me.
’

Tilda thought it a good idea. She hobbled out and came back with them in triumph.

For a girl with a buckled arm and leg she was in amazingly good spirits, Gwenny considered. But then w
a
sn
’
t it the way with these horsy people? Get half killed on the hunting field and hobble about in plaster for weeks and they still look as if everything
’
s wonderful, but some malignant fate is keeping them trussed up and unable to mount a horse
’
s back. Gwenny lay and considered the horse lover, but as usual got no further. They were an alien race and she had never understood her own brother Laurence getting caught up in a passion for a horsy woman.

Tilda gave a running commentary of what she could see from the window.
‘
I can see Arthur Peake, your R.S.O. Do you like him?
’
And without waiting to hear if Gwenny did like Arthur Peake, she continued,
‘
I seem to have lost sight of Laurence, but I can see your sister Priscilla, with a tall thin young man with fair hair.
’

‘
And glasses?
’
Gwenny wondered.

‘
That
’
s right. A rather square face. He looks tough.
’

‘
Daddy used to talk about him. He rather liked him.
It
’
s Ralph Milward, the casualty officer.
I only met
him once.
He
doesn
’
t say much,
’
Gwenny mused.

‘
I
can see your mother.
Will
she be
coming up
?’

‘
I
doubt it. She
’
s probably here
to meet any influen
tial people she can get interested in
her
good
causes. I
wash she
’
d just be at home baking
and
sewing
and com
fortable things like that. She
’
s so energetic
and she gets
so bitter if people don
’
t
run
round
in circles about her
old ladies.
’

Tilda snorted.
‘
Her old people loathe
her for what
they call her unwarrantable interference,
but I expect
you are well aware of that.
’

Gwenny wasn
’
t, so she didn
’
t
say she had thought
anything about it.

‘
And your father is around, looking
angry as usual.
You know, if
I
didn
’
t think
it a quite daft idea, I would
think your father was aching
to get back into hospital
service again.
Am I daft,
do
you
think?
’

Gwenny didn
’
t answer that one,
either. She was sorry
to hear that her father had made
it
so
obvious to
others.