Читать книгу No Need to Say Goodbye - Бетти Нилс - Страница 6

IT SHOULD have been the quietest hour or so of the night in the hospital, when the ill and the not so ill slept, the accident centre was temporarily quiet and the busy nurses could pause for a snack, meal or a cup of tea. Tonight, as so often happened, an ambulance with its flashing lights brought the staff nurse to her feet, ready to meet the ambulanceman as he got to the doors.

‘Coronary,’ he told her briefly. ‘In a bad way, too.’

The nurse nodded, said over her shoulder to the student nurse on duty with her, ‘Get hold of Sister Payne, tell her it’s a coronary, ask her to come,’ and then she went out to the ambulance.

So it was that Sister Louise Payne, sitting at her desk in her office, her shoes off, a mug of tea at her elbow, and writing the beginnings of the report, put down her pen with a little sigh as the phone rang, lifted the receiver, listened with composure, said with calm, ‘I’ll be down at once, Nurse. Go back to Staff and help her. I’ll get hold of Dr Giles,’ and dug her feet into her shoes once more.

Dr Giles, the medical officer on duty, had just got to his bed; he grunted his displeasure at being roused from the brief snooze he had hoped for and, in answer to Sister Payne’s firm voice telling him that she would meet him in the accident room, grunted again. She put down the receiver, knowing that despite the grumbles he would be there, and took herself off to the accident room.

Staff Nurse was glad to see her; the man was in a bad way and she hadn’t had much experience of coronaries; Sister Payne took over without a fuss, and when Dr Giles arrived, trousers and sweater over his pyjamas, they worked together.

‘Who is he?’ asked Dr Giles, not pausing in his work.

Sister Payne didn’t pause either. ‘Staff?’ she asked without turning round.

‘The ambulance was called by someone who saw him lying in the street. A Mr Tom Cowdrie… They found an envelope in a coat pocket. I’ve not had time…’

‘No, of course you haven’t, Staff.’ Sister Payne’s glance flickered briefly towards Dr Giles. ‘Ted, it’s the MP…Staff, get the police, will you? Ted should you get Dr van der Linden?’

‘Yes. Could Staff take over? Nurse can get the police, can’t she?’ He looked down at their unresponsive patient. ‘No, better not—I’ll stay here. Let Staff take over from you. You telephone.’

Sister Payne nodded her approval and sped to the phone, dialled a number and waited. The voice in her ear was tinged with irritation, to be expected at three o’clock in the morning, but her own remained admirably calm. She didn’t waste time in apologies. ‘A Mr Tom Cowdrie has just been brought in—the MP. A coronary. Dr Giles would be glad of your advice, sir.’

‘Ten minutes,’ said the voice in her ear, and the line went dead.

If anyone had had the leisure to look at the clock they would have noted that it was, in fact, nine minutes later when the senior medical consultant of St Nicholas’s Hospital came silent-footed into the accident room. He was a massive man, well over six foot and heavily built, with fair hair already silvered and splendid good looks with a high-bridged nose, a firm mouth and blue eyes half hidden by their heavy lids. He was wearing a thin polo-necked sweater and trousers, but no one looking at him would have known that he had been wakened from a deep sleep, driven his car for the mile through London’s streets which separated his house from the hospital, and still contrived to look as though he was on the point of doing an unhurried ward round.

He nodded to Dr Giles, smiled briefly at Sister Payne and bent over the patient, at the same time listening to Dr Giles’s brief résumé.

He nodded his approval, while issuing his orders in a manner which allowed of no hanging around by his supporters. Whoever was on call in X-ray was to be roused, so too whoever was on night duty in the path lab. ‘And, Ted, if the police are here, give them Mr Cowdrie’s address—his wife must be told. Deal with it, will you?’

Dr van der Linden had dragged off his sweater, the better to deal with his patient. ‘Warn intensive care, Sister, will you? As soon as he’s fit to move, we will get him up there.’

It was more than an hour later when Mr Cowdrie was borne carefully away to the intensive care unit; Sister Payne watched Dr van der Linden’s broad shoulders disappear through the door after the trolley, listened with sympathy to Ted Giles’s rueful comment that there wasn’t much point in going back to his bed, made sure that the nurses in the accident room were starting on the clearing up, and went tiredly up to her office; it was very nearly time for her early-morning round, and she still had the report to write. Mr Cowdrie’s wife had arrived, but so far hadn’t seen her husband; Dr van der Linden would talk to her first, and then in all probability bring her along for Sister Payne to solace with tea and sympathy. She penned the report with the speed of long practice, answered an urgent summons from the women’s medical ward with her usual calm, and was just on her way back to her office, expecting to have a quick cup of tea before commencing her rounds, when Dr van der Linden bore down upon her with Mrs Cowdrie beside him. Sister Payne paused, stifling an urge to gallop briskly in the opposite direction; it was all very well for Dr van der Linden; he would in all probability take himself off home to a couple of hours’ sleep and a tasty breakfast cooked by a loving wife…

She greeted him pleasantly and Mrs Cowdrie with sympathy; she was a much younger woman than she had expected, fair and fluffy and nicely made-up and dressed with care. Surely, thought Sister Payne, she wouldn’t have stopped to do her face and dress so carefully, knowing that her husband had just been dragged back from death’s door, and even now, for that matter, had a foot still inside it?

Mrs Cowdrie was summing her up, too: a handsome girl, tall and with a splendid figure, her dark hair a little untidy. Her large brown eyes had shadows beneath them from tiredness and her straight nose shone; all the same, she had a serene beauty which Mrs Cowdrie would never achieve.

Dr van der Linden watched her from under hooded lids, his face without expression. He said blandly, ‘Ah, Sister, would you be kind enough to give Mrs Cowdrie a cup of tea and arrange for a taxi to take her home presently? I have explained that she may remain here if she wishes, but she would prefer to go home.’

There were still fifteen minutes before she needed to start the morning round; Sister Payne murmured suitably and led Mrs Cowdrie away to sit in the office and drink her tea, but only after that lady had taken a fulsome farewell of Dr van der Linden.

‘I really must go back home,’ she explained to Sister Payne. ‘I sleep very badly, you know, and this has upset me. I shall spend the day in bed.’

‘Your husband is very ill…’ began Louise carefully. ‘There is a rest room here, if you care to stay?’

‘Well, there is nothing I can do, is there? I have to think of my own health, Sister. Do you suppose that he will recover?’

Louise hid shock behind a calm face. ‘I really don’t know, Mrs Cowdrie. That is for Dr van der Linden to tell you.’

Mrs Cowdrie put down her cup and saucer. ‘He’s quite something, isn’t he? I’ll be off, thanks for the tea.’ She looked round the office. ‘Is this where you spend your nights? I suppose you knit or read to pass the time?’

She was quite serious; Sister Payne said quietly, ‘I do have things to do…’ She telephoned for a taxi and escorted the lady to the hospital entrance, then turned her steps in the direction of the men’s medical ward, to start her round. The intensive care unit first… Mr Cowdrie had a good chance of recovery, she considered. She frowned; Mrs Cowdrie had taken his sudden illness very coolly—what wife worth her salt would worry about her lack of sleep at such a time, let alone go back home until her husband had been declared safely out of danger? She met Dr van der Linden at the door, on his way out, and he paused to speak to her. They had known each other for some time now, and maintained a pleasant, rather cool relationship, each respecting the other without showing interest. They might, on occasion, hold a brief conversation about the weather or some similar impersonal topic, and at the hospital ball he would dance with her once, something he was obliged to do in common courtesy, but for the most part their talk was strictly professional, concerning the patients.

‘Mr Cowdrie should do, Sister. I’ve left instructions with Staff Nurse. Let me know if you’re not happy with anything.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘You will be handing over within another hour or so?’

He nodded unsmilingly, and walked rapidly away, doubtless to his bed, thought Louise enviously, and then reflected that, unlike her, he had a ward round in a few hours’ time, whereas, once the house was quiet, she would be able to sleep.

She was a little late going off duty, since she had to give a lengthy report to the day sister on intensive care. The March morning, although bright, was chilly; she paused at the entrance to shiver. The streets around the hospital were already teeming with traffic and the buses would be full.

The big door swung open behind her and Dr van der Linden came to a halt beside her. ‘I’ll give you a lift,’ he said pleasantly.

‘Kind of you, sir, but I can get a bus…’

‘Yes, I know.’ He touched her arm. ‘The car is over here.’

A Jaguar XJS, sleekly elegant and powerful. He ushered her into the front seat and got in beside her. ‘Fourteen, Bick Street, Hoxton, isn’t it?’

She wondered how he knew, but said nothing, only, ‘You must be going out of your way.’ And, when he didn’t reply, ‘This is very kind of you.’

Bick Street was almost in Islington; she supposed one would call it shabby genteel, with its facing rows of small villas, brick built and ugly and with mod cons which had been mod at the turn of the century. Dr van der Linden drew up soundlessly before number fourteen, and its front door was flung open to allow three people and a dog to emerge. A girl, small and fair and pretty, a schoolgirl, fair, too, but a good deal taller and not as pretty, though still worth a second glance, and a schoolboy with sandy hair and glasses on his nose. The dog stayed with him, behind the girls; it was a smooth-coated type with a plumy tail and very large pointed ears.

There were no gardens before the houses; they crossed the pavement and peered at Louise through the car windows. The doctor obligingly opened the window and said, ‘Good morning.’

Louise said, ‘My sisters, Zoë and Christine, and my brother, Michael, and Dusty.’

They chorused their how do you dos, and Dusty barked a brief greeting.

‘Dr van der Linden kindly gave me a lift.’ Louise spoke briefly, and made to get out. Dr van der Linden got out, too, and opened her door.

‘A pleasure, Sister Payne,’ he said formally, then got in again and drove away with a vague wave of the hand.

The little group went into the house. ‘I say, Louise, do you work for him? Aren’t you lucky?’ It was Zoë who spoke. ‘And I spend my days at that dreary old typing school.’

Louise was in the hall, taking off her coat. ‘Well, dear, it’s only for another week or two, then you can get a smashing job with a film producer or stockbroker or something.’ She followed the others into the kitchen. ‘I don’t work for him—he’s a consultant. I only see him if he comes in for something urgent.’

‘All the same, he drove you home…’

‘Well, we met at the door.’ Louise spoke absent-mindedly, turning over the few letters the postman had brought. ‘Chris—Mike, are you ready for school? Away with you, my dears—see you at teatime. Have a good day.’

Alone with Zoë, she sat down at the kitchen table. She was too tired to eat much, but Zoë made fresh toast and another pot of tea, and sat with her for a while until it was time for her to leave the house, too.

‘I’m back early this afternoon,’ she said as she got her coat, ‘so leave everything, Louise. You look as though you need a good sleep.’

Alone, Louise finished her toast, poured another cup of tea and opened her letters. Presently she would wash her dishes—the others had already done theirs—let Dusty out into the strip of garden behind the house, have a bath and go to bed. For two years now, ever since their mother’s death, when she had taken over the reins of the household, they had kept to a routine which on the whole worked very well. The three younger children kept the house tidy, made their beds and laid tables and washed up, and, on her nights off duty each week, she cleaned the little house, did the week’s shopping and saw to the washing and as much of the ironing as possible. It left little time for leisure, but at least they were together and had a home. There was no money, of course; just sufficient to live decently, and tucked away in the bank was the small capital her father had left, enough to send Mike to university when the time came.

They were lucky to have a home, however shabby, she reflected, unfolding the first of her letters.

It was typewritten, from their landlord, who had rented them the house when her father had had to go into hospital and her mother, knowing that his illness was terminal, had moved to London, lock, stock and barrel, not to mention her four children, so that they might be near him. When he had died they had stayed on because Louise was half-way through her training, and her mother, with some help from her, could just about manage to make ends meet. When her mother had died, two years previously, they had stayed on; Louise had a safe job, Zoë would soon be working and helping out with the housekeeping and the younger ones were doing well at school, although Louise wasn’t too happy about the schools. Sensibly, she didn’t allow herself to worry about the future. It was important to get the two younger ones through their exams; only then would she decide what was best to be done. It was obvious to her that, even if she met a man she would like to marry, he would jib at having to provide for her brother and sisters and, whereas while she had been training and her mother was still alive, she had never lacked for invitations from the housemen at the hospital, they had cooled off when they had discovered later that she now had responsibility for the upbringing of the family. She didn’t blame them, and if she repined she did it in private, turning a calm face to the world.

Unfolding the letter, she allowed herself speculation as to its contents. Another rise in the rent, she supposed; there had never been an agreement. Years ago, when they had first moved there, there had been what the landlord had called a ‘gentlemen’s agreement,’ and when on her mother’s death she had asked him about it, he had assured her that since this arrangement had been in force for some time there was no point in altering it. She had agreed with him, and hadn’t even had a rent book.

A great pity that she had agreed, she reflected, reading his letter. The house had been sold and the new owner would like to take possession as soon as possible, and since there was no written agreement and no lease to expire he would be glad if she could arrange to leave as soon as she had found suitable accommodation. The letter ended with a brief apology—the price he had been offered for the house was too advantageous to be ignored, and he regretted any inconvenience it might cause her.

She read the letter through again once more, slowly, in case she had missed something. She hadn’t—there it was in black and white. She got up, cleared the table, washed the china, set the table ready for their evening meal, let Dusty in from the garden and went upstairs to run the bath, all the while her tired brain doing its best to wrestle with the news. She could get advice, she supposed, but she was pretty sure that the landlord had the law on his side; it was quite true, there was no agreement as such, and for all she knew when her mother had rented the house she might have agreed verbally to leave if asked to do so. Bick Street hadn’t been much sought after; it was only in the last year or so that house prices had soared.

She got into bed and, because she was so very tired, fell asleep at once, to wake in the early afternoon and start worrying again. She had no intention of saying anything to the others, not until she had made quite sure that the landlord was within his rights and, if he was, and she was pretty sure that he was, she had done some house-hunting. She had strong doubts about being able to rent a house and, even if she could get a council flat, what would happen to Dusty?

She got up, made herself some tea and went into the tiny strip of garden with the dog. The daffodil bulbs were showing and there were late snowdrops in one corner and crocuses as well. She remembered the pleasant garden surrounding the house in the country where she had been born and brought up until her father’s illness, and she sighed, but she had common sense; thinking about the past wasn’t going to help the future. She went indoors and started to get the high tea they all shared, and when they were all sitting round the table, discussing the day, she joined in cheerfully and just as usual, making sure that the evening routine of dog-walking, homework and small household chores was in train before she took herself off to work.

It was a busy night with emergency intakes, unexpected crises on the wards and the intensive care unit full up. Mr Cowdrie had improved; Louise, going along to see him, met Dr van der Linden bent on the same errand.

He stopped abruptly, his massive proportions preventing her from sidling around him with a murmured, ‘Good evening, sir.’

‘No sleep?’ he enquired, and, at her surprised look, ‘No colour, puffy lids, shadowed eyes. Something worrying you?’

For a brief moment she toyed with the idea of flinging herself at him and pouring out her problem; he would be a good, patient listener, utterly impersonal and probably able to give her sound advice for that very reason, for he had no interest in her as a person, only as Night Sister. The next second she said in her calm way, ‘No, sir. I didn’t sleep as well as usual, that’s all.’

He nodded, stood aside for her to go in and followed her to the first of the patients, and presently Ted Giles joined them.

There were two more nights before she would be free with nights off, and she wisely decided to do nothing until she could occupy the whole of her mind with her personal worries. She went about her duties in her usual calm fashion and, although she slept badly, her excuse to her sisters and brother that she had a cold was accepted without suspicion.

She left the hospital later than usual after her last night of duty; Sister Berry, who would take over from her for three nights, had only recently been made a sister and, although a good nurse, needed a good deal of bolstering up. Louise took care that the staff nurses on duty with her were experienced but all the same she always wrote a rather more detailed report for her.

Dr van der Linden was coming in as she was going out. His ‘good morning’ was preoccupied, but he paused after he had passed her and retraced his steps. ‘Nights off? You look as though you need them.’

He had gone again before she could say anything; she made her way home, feeling plain and alarmingly desirous of bursting into tears.

In the afternoon, after she had had a nap and done the shopping, she went along to the two estate agents in the neighbourhood. Evidently neither of them had anything to offer her; indeed, they looked at her askance. No one rented a house these days, not when mortgages were so easy to get. There was one flat, two bedroomed, and excluding rates the rent was rather more than the sum she earned in a week. She went back home, prepared the evening meal and when they had all finished it, cleared the table and told them about the landlord’s letter. ‘I’m not sure what we can do,’ she finished matter-of-factly, ‘but since I pay the rent a month in advance and I’ve only just paid it, we have got more than three weeks…’

‘Haven’t we any relations?’ asked Mike.

‘Only Great-Aunt Letitia, but she washed her hands of Father when he married Mother. Don’t worry, I’ll think of something.’ Louise spoke with such certainty that their relief was evident.

There was not time to talk about it in the morning; she saw them off, washed up, took Dusty for a brisk walk round the dull streets and came back to find that the postman had been. Only one letter, and that sufficiently official-looking for her to hesitate before she opened it.

She slit the envelope deliberately; there could be no worse news than that which she had had from the landlord. It might even be better…

It was. The letter, brief and businesslike, sent from Ridgely, Ridgely, Smith and Ridgely, Solicitors, with an address in the city, informed her that Miss Letitia Payne, her father’s aunt, whom she could barely remember, had recently died and had left her house at Much Hadham and her estate, less an annuity to her housekeeper, to her eldest great-niece, Louise Payne. If Miss Payne would have the goodness to call at the above address, matters would be made clear to her.

Louise read the letter again, slowly this time, not quite believing it; she had never doubted that miracles did happen, but she hadn’t expected one to happen to her. She read the letter again and then, being a practical person, got her coat and her purse and went across the street to the corner shop where there was a telephone box.

In answer to her request to speak to Mr Ridgely, a vinegary voice asked which one.

‘Well, I don’t suppose it matters, if you could just say that it is Miss Louise Payne.’

From the dry-as-dust voice which came on the line, she supposed that she was speaking to the most senior of the Mr Ridgelys. It sounded a little shaky, but assured her that the contents of the letter were, in fact, true. ‘Solicitors, young lady, are not given to levity,’ said the voice peevishly.

‘So sorry,’ said Louise, ‘but it is a surprise. Shall I come and see you today?’

‘By all means. I shall place your affairs in the hands of Mr Gerald Ridgely, who will apprise you of all the details. If you could make it convenient to see him at noon, today?’

She got there with a few minutes to spare; there had been time for her to change into the suit she had bought at Country Casuals’ sale; it wasn’t quite warm enough for the chilly March day, but she felt well dressed in it. Her abundant hair she had pinned neatly into a chignon, and her shoes were well polished. After all, it was a momentous occasion, worthy of her best efforts.

The solicitors had rooms in an old house just off Holborn; steep stairs led her to the first floor, where she found a vinegar-faced and very thin woman at a desk. Upon hearing her name, the woman led her wordlessly to a door at the end of a short passage.

The man who rose to shake her hand was grey-haired and looked as though he needed a thorough dusting. ‘Young Mr Ridgely,’ intoned the thin woman and left them. Louise took the chair she was offered, wondering just how old the elder Mr Ridgely might be if this was the young one, and dismissed the thought as frivolous.

‘You are Miss Louise Payne?’ The dusty gentleman sounded suspicious. She opened her bag and produced her birth certificate, thankful that she had had the wit to bring it with her. He read it carefully and slowly, and nodded several times, and then opened the file in front of him.

‘You know of your great-aunt’s house and where it is situated?’

‘Oh, yes. Although I haven’t been there for a very long time. My parents took us there several times when they were alive.’ Just in case he was still suspicious, she added, ‘A small white house on a corner with trees around it.’

‘Just so, Miss Payne. There are of course some changes in Much Hadham; it is a much sought-after area in which to live, being near enough to London for those who work here to commute. You could get a very good price for the house…’

Louise shook her head. ‘I haven’t had a chance to talk it over with my sisters and brother, but I think they will want to live there—I know I do.’

He looked at her over his old-fashioned, gold-rimmed spectacles. ‘I understand that you are a night sister at St Nicholas’s Hospital? You will be able to continue your work there if you should decide to live in your great-aunt’s house?’

‘Oh, no. I would have to find another job—Bishop’s Stortford or Stevenage, I suppose, but it would be marvellous for Christine and Michael; they’re still both at school and not very happy where they are now. Zoë, who is nearly nineteen, is just finishing a secretarial course and, I hope, will get a job.’

‘There is very little money in your great-aunt’s estate; she has made provision for her housekeeper—’ he glanced at the files ‘—Miss Wills, who is already in receipt of her retirement pension.’ He coughed drily. ‘The sum of one thousand, four hundred and twenty three pounds, eighty-five pence is available to you; such debts, funeral expenses and so forth have already been discharged.’

Louise, with a bank balance of slightly less than a thousand pence, managed to restrain her yelp of delight. She asked, she hoped not too eagerly, ‘Is the house furnished?’

‘Yes. I should add that when I was last there, a good deal of it was too large for the house; mid-Victorian. Do you have your own furniture?’

‘Well, yes, not a great deal, but what there is is rather nice—left from the house where we lived before we came to London.’

‘Then if I might advise you, Miss Payne, I should visit your great-aunt’s house—your house, I should say! It is called Ivy Cottage, by the way—and decide what you wish to keep; the rest you might sell and add to your capital. The money due to you will be paid into your bank if you will be so good as to let me have particulars of that before you go. The house is empty and I will give you the keys now.’

He handed over a bunch of old-fashioned keys, each one labelled. ‘If there is anything I can do for you, do not hesitate to let me know. Now, if I might have the name of your bank?’

They parted soberly, because young Mr Ridgely would have been shocked if she had hugged him or danced a jig of pure joy on his Turkish carpet. She walked away from the sombre building with her feet upon air, her head full of a hundred and one ideas, most of them highly impractical. It was an occasion for champagne, singing and dancing, none of which would go down well in High Holborn. A bus home, she decided, allowing the sensible side of her nature to get the upper hand, a strong cup of tea and a good think.

Here fate took a hand: Dr van der Linden, going about his own business on the opposite side of the street, caught sight of her and, even at that distance, he could see the glow of sheer happiness on her face. Intrigued, he crossed over.

‘Either you have won the pools or you have accepted an offer of marriage from a millionaire,’ he observed, not bothering with a good morning.

Louise raised her lovely eyes to his. She was in such a state that it seemed perfectly natural that he should join her there on the pavement; rather like a dream, when the most extraordinary things seemed quite normal.

‘I don’t know any millionaires, and I can’t afford the pools, but yes, something quite marvellous has happened.’

‘In that case, come and tell me all about it.’

He didn’t wait for her to answer, but took her arm and walked up Grays Inn Road and turned into Theobald’s Road, where he ushered her into a smart brasserie.

As they went inside, Louise said half-heartedly, ‘But I must get home.’

‘Of course, but you may as well lunch with me now we are here.’

It was not yet one o’clock; they had a table for two by the window and Dr van der Linden said, ‘Whatever it is, you are in no state to order a meal. Allow me?’

She would have eaten dry bread and water quite cheerfully; as it was, she polished off salmon mousse, a cheese soufflé of incredible lightness and fresh pineapple doused in kirsch and whipped cream, all the while only half listening to her companion’s easy flow of small talk. It was only when the coffee-tray had been set before them that he said, ‘Now, supposing you unburden yourself; it won’t seem real until you do.’

She still felt as though she were in a dream, which was perhaps why she began without preamble. ‘I’ve inherited a house—from a great-aunt I haven’t seen in years. The marvellous thing is this, our landlord actually gave us notice to move out of our house because it’s been sold, and I had no idea what I could do.’ She poured their coffee, beaming at him across the little table. ‘Now we can go to Much Hadham…’

He interrupted her abruptly. ‘Much Hadham? The village near Ware?’

She was still too bemused to notice the abruptness. ‘Yes. It’s a small house called Ivy Cottage. There’s a garden, a real one, not just a dusty strip of grass, and trees, and Mike and Christine can go to decent schools and Zoë is bound to get a good job…’

‘And you?’ he prompted.

‘Me? No, I mean I, don’t I? I’ll get a job at Bishop’s Stortford or Stevenage.’ Her practical mind was beginning to take over again. ‘I’m sorry to bore you with all this; you’ve been very kind. I think I was so bowled over that I could have danced a jig in the middle of Holborn. You see, it’s a miracle…’

His voice was reassuringly matter of fact. ‘They do occur.’

He gave her an abstracted smile and she said hurriedly, ‘Thank you for my lunch, I did enjoy it. I must be getting back.’

He made no effort to detain her, but paid the bill and walked back the way they had come. In High Holborn she stopped. ‘There is my bus stop…’

He ignored her, and lifted an arm to a passing taxi, put her inside, closed the door on her with a suave, ‘Allow me,’ and paid the driver and gave her address. She sat there, too astonished to speak, while the cab bore her homewards. He hadn’t even said goodbye, she remembered; he must have been bored out of his mind. She went a bright pink at the idea and the cabby, glancing back in his mirror, thought what a very pretty girl she was.

Dusty was delighted to see her again and, since there was no one else to talk to, she told him all about it while she hoovered and polished and hung out lines of washing, impatient for the others to come home.

She had tea ready for them, and over that meal told them the news.

‘We would have had to move anyway,’ she finished, ‘but now we will have a real home of our own and no rent to pay…’

They sat and stared at her, speechless until Mike let out a whoop of delight. ‘I’ll be able to leave this school…’

‘So will I,’ crowed Christine. Not a demonstrative family by nature, they hugged each other, talking a good deal of nonsense and making outrageous plans. Louise went to the dark little pantry and fetched out a bottle of sherry she had been saving for Zoë’s nineteenth birthday and opened it, and they sat round, the washing up forgotten, while she told them her own sensible plans. They agreed to everything that she suggested; she was the eldest and a good deal older than they were, and they had become accustomed to go to her for help and advice. If she said that it was the best thing for them to move, then move they would, and be overjoyed to do it.

On her first morning after her return to night duty, she went to the office and handed in her resignation; she had always got on well with the senior nursing officer, and now she was listened to with sympathy.

‘In the circumstances,’ declared Miss Pritchard, ‘I can understand that you have no choice but to move to this house which you have been left—most fortuitously, I must add. I shall be very sorry to lose you, Sister, and can but hope that you will be able to find another post near your new home. You can rely upon me to give you an excellent reference, and if I can help in any way, I shall be glad to do so.’

Her friends at the hospital received her news with mixed feelings; she was well liked and, moreover, they had all known each other for a number of years, but they echoed Miss Pritchard’s opinion; there was nothing else for Louise to do. There was no question of selling the house at Much Hadham, she would never get sufficient for it to buy anything similar in London, and in a way, she reflected on her journey home, it was nice not having to make up her mind about it; circumstances had done that for her. She composed a letter to the landlord before she went to bed, and slept soundly for the first time in days.