‘I’m not ungrateful,’ Garth protested, stung a little by her carefully controlled tone, ‘you know that. It’s just that Tansy’s right in one thing ... it does make me look a fool, being waited on like this, fed, dressed, helped with everything...’
‘But you really would be a fool if you didn’t allow yourself to be helped,’ Julie told him practically. ‘This is only temporary. To use your hands before they’re well again might result in never being able to use them again in the way which means most to you ... for your work. Try to be patient,’ she pleaded. ‘It won’t be for much longer, I’m sure of that.’
‘I’ll try,’ Garth promised, ‘only Tansy doesn’t really understand. I suppose it’s because she isn’t used to seeing people unable to do things for themselves. She thinks I could do a great deal more if I tried ... and I’m really doing my best to do as you and Mr. Greensmith tell me,’ he added, suddenly sounding to Julie like a small boy, pleading for understanding. All her indignation rose suddenly against the other girl. Garth would, perhaps, not have been so badly hurt himself had he not tried to shield her, and her only way of saying ‘thank you’ was to try and interfere with the work of those who were doing their best to repair the damage.
‘You continue as you are doing,’ she advised, ‘and remember that I take my orders from Mr. Greensmith, you, if you are good, take yours from me, and we’re working together to restore your hands to their usefulness as quickly as ever we can. Now’—she stood back and smiled at him—‘let’s go down to breakfast. Everything always looks better after a meal.’
‘You don’t think I could manage with a ... what is it? A pusher and a spoon or whatever it is babies have when they’re learning to eat?’ he asked, hesitating at the door.
Julie laughed. ‘I’m perfectly sure you would find them a nuisance,’ she told him. ‘Just content yourself by thinking that before you know it you’ll be using your knife and fork, and never mind what the present situation looks like!’ she ended tartly.
Garth need not have worried about his appearance at the breakfast table so far as Tansy was concerned. Looking slightly disapproving herself, Edna reported, ‘Miss Maitland says she never gets up before lunch and could she please be left undisturbed until then?’
‘I suppose that’s what she is accustomed to,’ Mrs. Andy’s gentle voice sounded a trifle edgy, ‘and so we must indulge her, but she did have an early night last night, although perhaps,’ she ended charitably, ‘as she is used to such different hours maybe she found it difficult to get to sleep. Call her half an hour before you sound the gong for luncheon, Edna. That should allow her ample time to bath and dress.’
Apparently half an hour was not long enough for Tansy. Garth and Julie had spent the morning in the garden working on his notes, but when Edna came to summon them to lunch there was no sign of Tansy in the dining-room. Lunch was waiting half an hour before, her lips tightened by her efforts towards self-control, Mrs. Andy asked Edna to go upstairs and tell their guest they were not going to wait any longer. Tansy was down closely on Edna’s heels. She had taken great pains with her appearance, but nobody seemed the slightest bit impressed, and when she offered to help Garth with his meal she found herself abruptly dismissed as he commented:
‘Julie is used to doing it ... if you don’t mind I’d rather she carried on. Somehow I don’t spill things when she does it for me.’
Tansy’s face flushed to the roots of her hair, and it was plain that she and all of them had a vivid memory of her first attempt to help him on the previous evening, when soup had been spilled down the front of his shirt.
He ate little lunch, and Julie did not attempt to press him. The tension in the atmosphere seemed almost tangible, and she knew Mrs. Andy was watching Tansy’s every move, just as Tansy was watching Julie and Garth. The only person who ate his lunch normally and appeared to carry on as though everything was in order was Andrew Crossman, but only later was Julie to learn there was little his keen grey eyes missed.
Once the meal was ended Garth looked helplessly in Julie’s direction as though seeking guidance. It was obvious that now they would not be able to spend the afternoon in filling in the details he wanted written down concerning the recreation-room on the development site.
‘May I bring my radio into the garden, Garth?’ Tansy’s voice cut in on his thoughts. ‘It’s just a little bit dull sitting there with nothing to see but the garden and nothing to listen to but all those birds.’
‘Bring it by all means,’ Garth said a little stiffly, ‘that is, if Julie doesn’t mind.’
‘I thought,’ Andrew put in unexpectedly, ‘that as Miss Maitland—Tansy,’ he smiled as the girl made a quick, instinctive protest at the formality, ‘is here today, Julie might prefer a little drive into the village with me? I have a few things to attend to, and she has had no free time since she came here.’ He looked questioningly at her. ‘I don’t know what arrangements have been made regarding your free time, my dear,’ he went on, but it seems extremely unfair to me that you should go on and on without any break or change. You don’t do that in the hospital, do you?’
‘Matron is always fair about these special cases,’ Julie answered promptly, ‘but,’ guessing there was something more behind her host’s remarks, ‘I should love to go into the village, if I might telephone Matron first and make sure it’s all right.’
‘I’ll do that for you, dear, while you run up and change,’ Mrs. Andy put in. She knew her husband too well not to guess he had a reason for his suggestion, and she had always known she could trust his judgement. ‘I’m perfectly certain it will be all right so far as Matron is concerned.’
Obediently Julie ran upstairs to change her dress, laughing a little at her own excitement at such a small event. Surely a drive into the tiny nearby village with her elderly host was not such a great occasion in her life? But Julie was honest enough to realize she was excited because she was wondering what effect an afternoon of undiluted attention from Tansy and her radio would have on her patient.
Unless I’m much mistaken, she thought as she gave herself a final glance in the mirror, he’ll be more than content to return to routine by the time the afternoon is ended ... and that will be all the better so far as his recovery is concerned!
She enjoyed the drive through the winding lane which led to the village. Andrew did not take the limousine or Bailey, but himself drove the estate car, Julie-seated contentedly at his side.
‘I’m calling on the vet,’ Andrew announced. ‘He was up at the house yesterday, and I’m not quite satisfied with the reaction of the spaniel to the treatment. I telephoned this morning and he said he’d call in on his rounds, but if I was down in the village I could pick up the special tablets he’d left and try one on the dog before he calls. Then I want to call in on the vicar and leave him a few pamphlets, then pop round to the schoolmaster’s house and leave these prizes for his children’s gala. Will you mind all this, my dear?’
‘I shall enjoy it,’ Julie assured him, ‘and if there’s anything I can do to help, running up paths with things and so on, just say the word.’
In agreeable companionship they made their rounds, Andrew driving slowly and pointing out items of interest as they passed. He showed her the site of the old Butter Cross, the place where, years ago, the stocks had once stood, and the hill on the crest of which there had been a gallows.
He showed her the wood, a pretty picture in spring, he told her, with bluebells, violets and primroses, but a place avoided by the villagers at night because a ghost was supposed to haunt it, the ghost of a girl who had been drowned in the pond at its centre because people believed her to be a witch.
‘Thank goodness there aren’t any beliefs like that nowadays.’ Julie shuddered. ‘I would have hated to live then ... people were so superstitious, so blind in their beliefs. Anyone the least bit different from anyone else must have had a dreadful time.’
‘To each generation its own crop of threats,’ Andrew remarked crypt
ically. ‘Now we have space men and transistor radios!’ He laughed, but Julie felt the remark had meant something, and when, a few minutes later, he stopped the car in a little by-lane and offered his cigarette case she mentally braced herself for she knew not what, but something she felt instinctively which had been the purpose of this drive.
‘I’m not at all happy about this romance of Garth’s,’ Andrew said suddenly, puffing clouds of smoke from the pipe he had lighted in preference to a cigarette. ‘They’re poles apart ... not a bit the same and yet not different in a way that will make life interesting. Take this afternoon, as an instance. I’m sure Garth would have been perfectly content to have reclined in the garden, listening to the song of the birds, which he loves, but instead he has to listen to that awful foreign programme, jazz music and such, I heard as we came down the drive. Tansy’s a bright little girl, and she likes the bright things of life, bright lights, gay music, attention—limelight, if you like—the lot. Garth has never been that way. Even as a little boy he preferred to sit and draw—or sit and dream—to the usual kind of bouncy, noisy games all our other nephews seemed to indulge in when they were small. They’ve grown up like that, too. Gay, adventurous ... not that Garth is a sissy,’ he used the word a little self-consciously, and Julie repressed a smile, ‘but he likes an ordered, even way of life. One of the others is a foreign correspondent for a big newspaper, another is an airline pilot. You see what I mean, don’t you?’ he queried anxiously.
‘Yes.’ Julie did see what he meant, and she quite understood his anxiety. ‘But ... if they love one another...’ she ventured.
At her side the elderly gentleman gave what would, in anyone else, be classed only as a snort of indignation.
‘That’s the idea of this afternoon,’ he said quickly. ‘Let him remember what it was like before the accident ... noise, parties, late nights ... he complained, about a week before, to me in the office that he couldn’t stand the pace. I didn’t say anything to Lavinia, but I know she isn’t happy about them either. If they love one another,’ he went on magnanimously, ‘then there’s no more to be said and the sooner they’re married the better. But if a mistake has been made by either or both of them, then the sooner it’s discovered and rectified the better. What I would like you to do, my dear, is to give me an honest report of how Garth is this evening. Heaven knows, all we want, Lavinia and I, is for the boy to be happy, but we feel there is something wrong, and if we can help to put it right it’s our duty to do so.’
‘But I couldn’t sort of ... spy on my patient!’ Julie protested, her colour rising at her unavoidable choice of words, but Andrew merely chuckled and started the car up again.
‘It’s not spying, my dear,’ he said kindly, ‘it’s observing ... for the benefit of your patient. Don’t tell me anything if you’d rather not. I admire you for that. I’ve a feeling we shall see—each of us for ourselves the effect of an afternoon of Miss Tansy and her radio, and then we can judge whether or not we should let Garth proceed, undeterred, to a lifetime of the same thing or not!’
CHAPTER VII
When they returned to Woodlands it did not take Julie more than a minute or two to discover that Andrew was right and it was perfectly obvious to all present—with the exception, perhaps, of Tansy herself—that Garth was feeling far from well. There were lines of strain about his mouth and eyes, and all the colour had gone from his face. When Tansy put her hand out to reach his cup he frowned impatiently, gesturing with his bandaged hands.
‘Julie’s back now,’ he said almost curtly. ‘She’s used to this sort of thing ... let her do it.’
Tansy drew back her hand, her face clouding a little like a child about to cry, but she made an effort and turned brightly to Julie, determined not to be left out of things.
‘We had a lovely afternoon,’ she commented. ‘This place is wonderful for radio reception. I got two stations I’ve never been able to get before. One of them played the Top Ten, and there was a band I’ve been wanting to hear for ages...”
‘Good.’ Julie smiled at her. ‘And were there any new songs too?’
She didn’t really care, but Garth had frowned again as Tansy mentioned the two new stations and she desperately wanted to avoid anything like a scene, both for his sake and that of her hostess. Once launched into her favourite subject, however, Tansy chattered happily on and did not appear to notice that Garth had withdrawn into himself while Julie, Andrew and his wife listened with polite if feigned interest to something which did not interest any of them in the least.
Dinner was accompanied by much of the same type of discussion. With an effort Mrs. Andy brought the conversation round to the school gala to be held in the village the following weekend, but Tansy’s sole contribution to this was the offer of her radio to ‘liven things up a little’, and she showed not the slightest interest in the fact that certain special prizes were to be awarded that day and that Mrs. Andy was to present them.
With difficulty their hostess held a semblance of conversation together throughout the meal, but when they rose to take their coffee in the drawing-room it came as both a relief and a surprise to Julie to hear Garth announce that he was tired out and would like to be excused and retire to bed.
‘By all means, dear boy,’ Mrs. Andy said promptly. ‘You mustn’t overdo things and put yourself back at all...’
‘But he hasn’t done anything,’ Tansy protested. ‘He hasn’t been working, as he’s been doing with Julie for days with all those piles of notes and things. He’s just been relaxing, listening to the music.’
‘I can’t take any more tonight, Tansy, really,’ Garth put in unexpectedly, glowering at the television in the corner with its sound muted, its picture of a cabaret scene. ‘You stay and listen to that,’ he gestured with his chin towards the picture, ‘and come up when you’re ready. I must go ...’ he added in a small, desperate rush.
‘I’ll help you,’ Tansy began, but he brushed her aside, first stooping to press a light kiss on her cheek.
‘Not tonight, thank you, dear,’ he protested. ‘It’ll be much quicker if Julie does it. She knows how best to help quickly and without hurting...’ and while part of her mind rejoiced that he should accept her ministrations the other side of Julie ached for the other girl, who stood on one side looking as suddenly and unexpectedly forlorn as she had done that first day at the hospital.
‘That wasn’t kind,’ she told Garth as in his room she began to help him with his preparations for bed. He glanced up at her from where he had seated himself on the low bedside chair, a frown creasing his forehead.
‘I can’t help it,’ he almost snapped. ‘I don’t feel kind. I feel worn out. All that noise, all that chatter ... I must have been a very different sort of person before this happened if that was the sort of thing I went in for! Maybe it’ll be different when I get the use of my hands again, when what Mr. Greensmith calls the effects of shock have worn off, I don’t know. I only know that right now I just can’t take it, and I can’t stay up any longer watching the inane antics of those figures on the screen.’
‘What you need,’ Julie pressed an expert finger on his pulse, ‘is rest and quiet, and I’m going to give you one of these little white tablets Mr. Greensmith left for you in the event of just such an occasion as this. Take this’—she poured out a glass of water and held it for him to drink—‘and you’ll sleep so well you’ll feel a very different person in the morning.’
He took the tablet obediently, pulling a face, then smiling at her.
‘How you’ve the patience,’ he said abruptly, ‘I really don’t know. First I’m wanting my hands free, then I’m not satisfied when everyone’s doing all they can to look after me, get me better and keep me amused and cared for ... I’m an ungrateful brute...’
‘Just a tired young man,’ Julie corrected him in her most professional manner. ‘Lie down now, and you’ll feel more yourself in the morning. Mustn’t spoil things now, you were doing so well...’
‘
I was,’ he murmured, so low that she could scarcely hear him, ‘until Friday ... and I will again...’
‘Of course you will.’ Julie paused at the door of his room. ‘If you need anything ring the bell,’ she said. ‘I shall hear. Goodnight.’ But as she went down to rejoin the others for a little while she wondered if things really would work out right for him after all. Try as she would she could not see Garth Holroyd ever breaking off his engagement without some terrible quarrel again or something happening to bring matters to a head, and Tansy had made it clear that, so far as she was concerned, their engagement was a fact and a fact she intended it to remain.
Ian was right, I’m afraid, Julie thought as she watched the screen with unseeing eyes, she wants to be Mrs. Garth Holroyd, wife of the successful young architect, not just because he’s Garth ... And in her heart she wept a little for all three of them, wondering how they could each endure the hours that must be passed before Sunday evening arrived and Tansy returned to her world of music and records, of noise and excitement, and Garth could relapse once more into his creative dreams of the new development site which meant so much to him.
Garth certainly seemed more himself when he awoke on Sunday morning, surprising them all by saying that he would like to accompany his uncle and aunt to morning service in the village church. Tansy, of course, was not up when they left, but Julie did not take any persuading to accompany the little party. She enjoyed the simple service, listening to Andrew as he read the lessons, the young-faced vicar as he gave his sermon and joining heartily in the singing of the familiar hymns. By the time they returned to the house she felt at peace with the world, and even Tansy’s radio, heralding her approach downstairs, could not disturb the new peace she had found with herself.
Nurse Saxon's Patient Page 7
