Kit Cavendish-Private Nurse

by Margaret Malcolm

  “Now please understand, once and for all, Sue, that you do not make decisions in this house in any circumstances. You take orders, just as the rest of the staff does. Is that clear?”

  “But, Aunt Ruth...” Sue protested, obviously on the point of tears.

  “You seem to be particularly obtuse this morning,” Mrs. Baylis interrupted icily. “So I’ll repeat what I have just said once more. Try to understand, because it’s your last chance. You are not to imagine that you can take advantage of the fact that I am your aunt. You are an employee here, no more. And if you don’t do as you’re told, you’ll be dismissed. Now go upstairs, wash your face and think over what I’ve said!”

  It was a most embarrassing position for Kit. She had no choice but to deliver Mr. Baylis’s message, but on the other hand she was quite sure that Mrs. Baylis would be extremely displeased if she knew that part of her conversation with Sue had been overheard.

  Then Sue came out of the study, her face tear stained and blotchy. Evidently she was too upset to notice Kit, for she stumbled against her as she rushed upstairs so that she had to grab at the banister to keep her balance.

  Mrs. Baylis stepped out into the hall.

  “Yes, Nurse, what is it?”

  “Mr. Baylis asked me to say that he would like to see you for a moment before you go,” Kit explained.

  She went quickly upstairs, and Kit followed more slowly, determined not to overhear any more conversations, however unwittingly.

  But at least it explained one thing to Kit. The measure of success that Sue achieved in running the house was not due to any particular skill of her own. She simply carried out Mrs. Baylis’s orders, and that they were extremely careful and detailed Kit did not doubt.

  Still wishing she hadn’t overheard, Kit realized there was nothing she could do about it, because it simply wasn’t her business. She wished she’d never gone there!

  She even thought of giving up the job, but the difficulty was to find a reason which would satisfy both the Baylises and her agency, which not unnaturally wanted the nurses they placed to be reliable. And in any case, Jason had said she was really helping Mr. Baylis, so professional integrity demanded that she see it through. But though she quickly reached this conclusion, she had an uneasy feeling that she had not yet heard the last of the affair.

  She was quite right. That evening at dinner Noel took it into his head to tease Sue because she was hardly eating anything.

  “It’s my belief you made the cook put arsenic in the gravy,” he told her, helping himself generously as he did so from the gravy boat. “In a few moments we’ll all start groaning and writhing, and then we’ll fall into our plates—a nasty mess! But you’ll be all right, because you’ve only eaten about enough to keep a sparrow going! Here, Sue, what’s up? I didn’t mean...”

  For Sue, obviously keeping her tears back with difficulty, pushed back her chair and fled from the room.

  “Here, I’d better go and see what’s wrong,” Noel suggested, but Mrs. Baylis put a hand on his arm.

  “I wouldn’t if I were you, Noel. Actually she had rather an unpleasant experience with one of the kitchen maids this morning, for which she feels to blame,” she explained. “The girl was grossly impertinent to Sue.”

  “Oh, my dear, we can’t have that,” Mr. Baylis said, frowning. “The girl will have to go.”

  “I’ve already told her that,” Mrs. Baylis announced regretfully. “A pity, because she was shaping up quite nicely. But I did feel there was nothing else to do. After all, Sue is one of the family, and I don’t think she should be treated as if she were one of the servants.”

  “Certainly not,” Mr. Baylis confirmed. “You’re absolutely right.”

  Mrs. Baylis smiled her thanks at his approval, but Kit was so deeply shocked at Mrs. Baylis’s duplicity that she kept her eyes on her plate. It was, of course, essential that Mr. Baylis not be worried at the present time, but surely it would have been possible to explain Sue’s tears without shifting the blame for them from her own shoulders onto those of the kitchen maid. Uneasily Kit realized that there was a deeper significance to the incident.

  Suddenly she realized that Noel was watching her intently, and though she made an excuse not to go to the drawing room after dinner, Noel managed to find an opportunity to say very quietly, “You know, we’ve never had that little chat I spoke of! I think it’s time we did, don’t you?”

  “No,” Kit said bluntly.

  Noel’s eyes narrowed.

  “You remember, I asked you from whom you were going to take orders,” he remarked significantly.

  “This has nothing to do—” Kit stopped suddenly, but she had already said too much.

  “So there is something,” he said softly. “Yes, decidedly, we must have a talk ... soon!”

  A few days later Victor came to spend the weekend. It was the first time since Kit had come to Moneyhill that he had stayed for longer than a few hours, and she felt a certain amount of apprehension, though she could not pin down the reason for it. Victor, after all, was showing absolutely no interest in her personally, and surely he would have found some opportunity for doing so before this if he had wanted to.

  In this she proved to be right. Even before he actually arrived at Moneyhill, Victor found—or made—an opportunity for a confidential talk.

  Returning from one of her short, brisk walks, Kit realized that a car had drawn up beside her. Victor leaned out.

  “Hello, Kit!” he said breezily. “Jump in and I’ll give you a lift back to the house.”

  One of Victor’s characteristics that had always irritated Kit was his supreme confidence that she would be only too pleased to fall in with his wishes. Despite her final dismissal of him four years ago, his complacent smile and the way he leaned over to open the passenger door showed that he had not changed in this respect “Thank you very much, Victor,” she said pleasantly, “but I came out for a walk to get some exercise and fresh air. And one doesn’t get either in a car, does one?”

  Victor frowned.

  “All right, I’ll be frank,” he conceded. “I want to have a talk with you ... about Mr. Baylis’s condition.”

  Instantly, Kit was on her guard.

  “Dr. Heathfield or Dr. Grainger will be able to give you far more satisfaction than I can.”

  Victor surveyed her suspiciously.

  “You’re being very cagey, aren’t you? That usually means things aren’t too good, doesn’t it?”

  “It means that nurses don’t discuss their patients—even with old friends,” she added, guessing that the words were trembling on his lips.

  Victor fidgeted momentarily with the steering wheel.

  “Well, perhaps you’re right,” he admitted grudgingly. “Though all I wanted to know is how I’m to behave when I’m with Mr. Baylis. I mean, what orders have you been given about the way he’s to be treated? Surely you can tell me that!”

  “Mrs. Baylis—”

  “My dear girl, she takes caution to an extreme degree,” Victor said impatiently. “Or so it seems to me.”

  “I can only tell you what Dr. Heathfield told Mr. Baylis,” she said coldly. And practically word for word she repeated the warnings Jason had so emphatically given.

  “Hm. And how long does that stand?” he asked when she had finished.

  “Until Dr. Heathfield gives fresh instructions,” Kit said firmly. “And now, I really must get on—”

  “Wait a minute, Kit,” Victor urged. “Did Heathfield say whether Mr. Baylis might talk business?”

  “Not in my hearing,” Kit admitted carefully. “But, as I said, he made it very clear that Mr. Baylis must not overtax himself in any way. I would say that covers business discussions.”

  “Well, yes, if it was anything worrying,” Victor agreed. “But good news ... As a matter of fact, Kit, I’ve just finished going through the firm’s accounts for the year. It’s been a marvelously good year. Surely it couldn’t worry the old man to be told that?”
/>
  “I’m sorry, Victor, I can’t give you an opinion,” Kit said firmly. “I simply don’t know.”

  “You’re not very helpful, are you?” Victor grumbled.

  Kit shrugged her shoulders.

  “Why not phone Dr. Heathfield or Dr. Grainger and ask them?” she suggested.

  “Oh, that’s making altogether too much of it,” Victor said impatiently. “Better just avoid the subject, I suppose.”

  “Well, if you can’t be bothered to take the obvious way out, it’s no doubt better to err on the safe side,” Kit told him.

  And without waiting for his reply, she turned away from the car and resumed her walk back to the house. A moment later Victor shot past her. Uneasily Kit reflected that there was something characteristic in that. Somehow, Victor always contrived to get ahead of one.

  Friday evening and most of Saturday passed without incident.

  Then on Saturday evening Kit heard Victor’s voice, alarmed and placatory.

  “Really, Mr. Baylis, you’re quite wrong! There’s no need for you to be upset! In fact, you mustn’t—”

  “Damnation, I’m not a baby! I know what’s good for me and what isn’t! Go and get those accounts this minute! Do you hear? This minute!”

  As Kit dashed toward the half-closed door, she heard a strangled, frightening sound ... and then silence.

  Kit reached her patient just in time to keep him from pitching forward in his chair. Mr. Baylis’s face was leaden and his breath came in terrible, uneven gasps.

  “Help me get him onto the sofa,” Kit said imperatively, and Victor, his face hardly better in color than Mr. Baylis’s, did as he was told.

  “Kit, honestly I did my best,” he told her urgently. “But he went right off the deep end—”

  “Be quiet!” Kit ordered. “Loosen his collar and tie while I go up and prepare an injection. And for heaven’s sake, don’t lose your head!”

  She flew out into the hall, almost colliding with Mrs. Baylis. “Nurse, what’s the matter?”

  “Mr. Baylis has had another attack,” Kit said, from halfway up the stairs. “I’m getting an injection for him. Please phone the doctor at once!”

  Half an hour later, his patient as comfortable as he could be in the circumstances, Jason faced Mrs. Baylis, Victor and Noel.

  “And now,” he said ominously. “I would like to know exactly what happened and why my orders have been so criminally ignored!”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The shocked silence that followed Jason’s forthright attack seemed to Noel almost tangible. For a moment no one knew what to say.

  Then Ruth Baylis, sitting very erect, took up the challenge.

  “I find your manner both objectionable and inexplicable, Dr. Heathfield,” she said icily.

  “Do you?” Jason was clearly not in the least quelled by her attitude. “Then I must make myself clear. I gave certain orders to you, Mrs. Baylis, to the effect that nothing must be done to cause Mr. Baylis distress of any sort. I find that those orders have been disobeyed, and as a result, my patient came very near to death. No, that is not an exaggeration, Mrs. Baylis,” he said in response to a protesting movement of Ruth’s hands. “I repeat very near to death. Surely you can see that I must know what and who is responsible in order that I can make sure it does not happen again. Unless I’m satisfied that a full and true account is given, I’ll be compelled to retire from the case.”

  And he will, too, Noel thought, half admiring, half resenting the man who so clearly had the courage of his convictions. I wonder if they realize what they’re up against?

  “Well?” Jason asked sharply.

  Noel nodded.

  “Fair enough,” he commented. “Unfortunately, I was out when it all happened, so I can’t give you firsthand information. But I understand that Mr. Wrinch was alone with my father at the time.”

  Jason turned to Victor.

  “Is that so, Mr. Wrinch?”

  “Yes, it is,” Victor admitted, giving Noel a resentful look. “But I assure you that far from disobeying your orders, I was doing my best to carry them out.”

  “Indeed? Then you seem to have been most unfortunate in your methods,” Jason said dryly. “May I have a detailed account of what happened?”

  “Well...” Victor began unwillingly, “Mr. Baylis asked me if I had completed the firm’s accounts for the year. I gave him a vague answer that annoyed him. He told me that if they weren’t complete by now, they ought to be, and what was holding things up? Seeing that he was getting worked up, I admitted that actually they were complete. He became even more annoyed because he felt that he was being treated like a child and insisted on seeing a copy of the accounts. When I tried to persuade him that it would be better for him not to see them...”

  “Why did you do that, Victor?” Noel asked softly. “Is there something wrong with the accounts?”

  “Certainly not!” Victor retorted indignantly. “But I was clearly given to understand that under no circumstances must Mr. Baylis be allowed to discuss business matters.”

  “And who gave you to understand that?” Noel inquired.

  “Nurse Cavendish!” Victor said triumphantly. “I took the trouble to ask her.”

  For a moment Noel’s eyes met Jason’s, and a look of understanding passed between them.

  “Of course,” Noel said to no one in particular, “there is always the possibility that Mr. Wrinch misunderstood Nurse Cavendish. How about asking her just what she did say?”

  “An excellent idea, one I was just about to suggest,” Jason said blandly. “Mr. Baylis, I wonder if you would be so kind as to go upstairs and ask Dr. Grainger if he would mind staying with Mr. Baylis while Nurse comes down here for a few minutes?”

  “Certainly,” Noel said with alacrity.

  “There’s no need to do that,” Victor said hurriedly. “I may have misunderstood...”

  But Noel was already on his way and returned a moment later with Kit.

  Briefly Jason explained what he wanted to know, though without repeating Victor’s statement. Quietly and almost word for word, Kit repeated the conversation she had had with Victor, and when she had finished, Jason nodded.

  “Now, let me get this quite clear, Nurse Cavendish,” he said deliberately. “On two occasions during this conversation you made it clear to Mr. Wrinch that if he wanted information about Mr. Baylis’s condition he should seek it either from Dr. Grainger or myself?”

  “Yes, sir,” Kit confirmed.

  “Why did you do that?” Jason asked.

  “Because I was taught not to give an opinion about a patient except when asked for it by my superior,” Kit explained.

  “Quite right,” Jason concurred.

  “What I don’t understand is why, since Nurse Cavendish was so obviously reluctant to accept any responsibility, she did not phone for an opinion herself,” Ruth said coldly.

  “What I don’t understand is why Victor is spending the weekend here,” Noel retorted. “And still less do I understand why in the world he should be such a fool as to have a copy of the accounts with him. No, I’m sorry, Ruth,” as she was obviously about to protest, “but this has got to be said. Victor knew perfectly well that father was likely to mention the accounts. It’s the time of year when they’re drawn up. He also knew that once father knew he had a copy here, he’d insist on seeing them. And finally we know, as a .family, something that the three people who are looking after father can’t know, namely that if he’s crossed, he digs his heels in and gets worked up! The fact of the matter is, Victor, you made a thorough botch of the situation, and as a result, father has suffered.”

  And then, to the amazement of both Kit and Jason, Ruth nodded.

  “I must say I rather agree with that, Victor,” she said critically. “At the very least, if you were not sure what to do, you could have said you didn’t have a copy here. That would have given us time...”

  Noel stood up.

  “Well, that seems to be that,” he remar
ked lazily. “I take it, Dr. Heathfield, that you’re completely satisfied with Nurse Cavendish’s explanation? You have, of course, noticed that Mr. Wrinch did not contradict any of her statements?”

  “Yes,” Jason replied. “I have observed that, and I’m satisfied that Nurse Cavendish acted quite properly.”

  “Doubtless Mr. Wrinch felt he was acting for the best,” Ruth said, “but I can’t help feeling he was most tactless. There is, however, this excuse for him. I do feel that my husband has been quite marvelous in the way he has set aside his business cares since his illness. I think perhaps it has put us all off our guard to some extent.”

  “Yes, you’re quite right. It has been amazing,” Noel observed thoughtfully. “But then he does know everything is in your very competent hands, doesn’t he, Ruth?”

  To three people there was an unmistakable current of irony underlying Noel’s question. All eyes turned to Ruth.

  She, however, appeared to accept what he had said at its face value. “Yes,” she replied, smiling wistfully yet proudly. “He trusts me absolutely. And I will not fail him.”

  “My own fault,” Mr. Baylis whispered to Kit the next morning. “I forgot all that Heathfield had said.” He sighed. “It isn’t easy for an old dog to learn new tricks. But I can see I shall have to.”

  “I’m afraid you will,” Kit said sympathetically. She was thankful her patient was taking it so well, for had he blamed someone else for his condition, he might have found it even more difficult to lie quietly. All the same, she blamed herself. She had known Victor in the past ... quite well enough to have guessed...

  Well, guessed what? Kit wrinkled up her forehead, unable to express the thought that lay somewhere at the back of her mind. But in general terms, she shouldn’t have left anything to chance. When Victor said it wasn’t worth bothering Jason or Dr. Grainger with his question, she could not make him change his mind. But she could have taken that step herself. And though she knew that it was useless to worry about that now, she knew she would always regret the omission. Nor was she made any less troubled by the fact that Jason insisted that for the time being it would be necessary to bring in another nurse.