Nurse Kelsey Abroad (16 page)

It was late when she at last slipped into bed, and later still when, dry-eyed and weary from staring into the darkness and striving to decide what was the best thing to do, she at length fell asleep.

She was wakened, as usual, by Amy Dawlish’s tap on her door, but for the first time since she had come to Seonyata Jane felt she could not immediately spring out of bed, she was so utterly weary. With an effort she forced herself to rise and bathe and dress in something more than her usual time, and when she was ready for duty she found she had neither the heart nor the inclination to make herself the cup of tea and slice of toast which had become her morning ritual.

“This won’t do!” she admonished herself firmly. “I’ll make my tea and toast, then I’ll go right down to Dr. Jim. Whatever he says or thinks, at least he’ll know what’s the best thing to do. He might well be able to get a warning to this Professor Leczinska, whoever he is, however well guarded the laboratory might be. I’m sure they’d allow communication between St. George’s and the lab, which,” she reflected sadly, “is precisely what Kevin is banking on, I suppose.”

It was more awful to reflect about in the cold light of day than it had been in the hours of darkness, when there was no light by which she could see her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were shadowed from lack of sleep, and she looked as worried as she felt.

“I don’t think Dr. Jim’ll find me very attractive this morning,” she thought grimly as she settled her cap on her head, “but that’s not important right now!”

She made herself eat her breakfast, finish her tea, then was just picking up her cloak when the sound she recognised came to her ears and, for no good reason at all, brought the chill of fear back to her heart. Karl Brotnovitch’s unmistakable tread was sounding on the corridor, coming nearer and nearer until it halted, as she had known it would, outside her door. .

She was trembling as she opened it, and without a word held the door wide open for him, conscious of the elderly caretaker’s head somewhere down the stairs. She was becoming as suspicious as everyone else, she told herself fiercely. She seemed to sense when that man was around, even if she could not see him, and yet he had never said anything else to her other than “good morning, Nurse” or “good evening, Nurse” all the time she had lived there.

“I may come in?” Karl asked as he stopped in the door. For a wild moment Jane considered saying, “No, I don’t want you”, but she knew that would be both futile and ungracious. She nodded instead, and picked up her cloak.

“I shall be late on duty, Inspector,” she said quietly. “What is it I can do for you?”

“Nothing, at the moment, Nurse,” Karl replied in his deep, clipped tones. “It is simply that I have come to repeat my warning to you, since you do not appear to be able to take heed of my words.”

“I don’t understand,” Jane said, her heart beating faster as his cold gaze held her own. “What have I done ... or not done?” She tried to make her tone sound light, but Karl’s expression did not change.

“I warned you about Dr. Dean,” he said gravely. “I warned you about the undesirable company you might find here, in Seonyata. It seems you do not heed warnings, Nurse. And you are too beautiful a young lady to be allowed to run into danger because of the foolishness of your heart.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Jane insisted, frightened.

Karl smiled, but the effect was not in the least reassuring. His eyes surveyed her from head to foot, and in his customary meticulous tone he continued
:

“My sergeant tells me Dr. Dean was seen leaving your flat, but not by the customary exit, at an early hour of this morning. What you do with your private life, Nurse Kelsey, is no concern of mine or of the department’s. What does concern us is the safety of Dalasalavia and its people, and I am not in the least reassured that Dr. Dean means us well. No!” he held up a stern hand as she would have spoken. “Listen,” he ordered.

“Dr. Dean is known to have many friends amongst the community known as the New Thought Club. They are young,” he smiled, and for a moment Jane found herself wondering if he had ever known for himself what youth really meant.

“Most of them do not mean any harm
,”
he went on pontifically. “They are foolish in that they do not see that what is being done is being accomplished for their ultimate benefit, but they are impatient and would like to move things along a little faster. To that end they do not always behave wisely in what they would do’ in the name of progress, and, I am afraid, Dr. Dean is one of them, or at any rate one who aids and abets them, encourages them in all their wild ideas.”

“Well?” Jane felt foolish, but she did not know quite what she was being accused of, if of anything, and she did not intend to give Kevin away, not to this man. Dr. Jim would know how to deal with him, she reflected. Dr. Jim, she' felt certain, would convince the younger man of the stupidity of the course he was pursuing, and make him see wisdom.

“I think, if you reflect on all I have said to you since you first came to our country, Nurse, you will have no difficulty in realising what I am trying to say. I am telling you that Dr. Dean is under suspicion of activities subservient to the well-being of this land, and that, if you continue to associate with him, your name too will be added to the list of those my men watch all the time. That I do not wish to see, nor, do I think, would you wish it either. There is one way in which you are able to set yourself above such suspicion,” he said gravely. “Providing, of course, that Dr. Dean understands that his visits to you must be made at a proper time and in the proper manner! I assure you, dear Nurse Jane, that
I
have no doubt of your integrity in al
l
things, but incidents such as this one reported to me by my sergeant, must cease forthwith. To prevent your name being added to the list I suggest you allow me to help you.”

“In what way?” Jane asked, glancing at her watch and wondering how on earth she could explain this late arrival to Dr. Jim.

“By becoming my wife.” Karl clicked his heels and bowed, but Jane’s hands—as always since their first meeting—were securely hidden behind her back. “As Madam Brotnovitch you would be entirely above suspicion.”

CHAPTER 8

WHATEVER anyone had offered at that moment, Jane could not have spoken to have saved her life. She could only stare at Karl Brotnovitch as though she could not believe her ears, as indeed she felt she could not. Had it not all been so seri
ous she knew she would have colla
psed into helpless laughter. First Kevin had practically asked her to marry him, although not exactly in so many words. His theme had been a cosy home, a nest-egg and a future of peace and calm for two or more, themselves and his nameless “additions”
!

Now Karl Brotnovitch was standing there, obviously awaiting her answer.
His
proposal had nothing hidden, or had it? Whether it had or not it was no more welcome in the girl’s eyes than that of Kevin Dean had been, yet neither did he speak of love.

Karl wanted to marry her to “protect” her, but from what? Jane’s brain reeled as she tried to imagine some of the things which Karl obviously believed threatened her, but it was beyond all she could picture.

She knew he admired her and that he thought her colouring, especially her hair, beautiful, but nothing in his demeanour, his words or actions spoke of the love Jane knew was the right of every woman to expect from the man she marries.

The one man with whom she could ever dream of spending the rest of her life, the one man in the world she knew she would love to the end of her days, saw her as a nurse, as a good friend, a happy companion, and nothing more. It was tragedy and comedy mixed, and
there was no one with whom she could hope to share the joke.

Karl was still looking at her, obviously awaiting her answer, and Jane knew she could not keep him standing there much longer. She made a tremendous effort to control the emotions which threatened to take charge of her face and her laughter, and pulled herself together.

“I’m well aware of the honour you’ve done me, Inspector,” she said gravely, “indeed, I’m overwhelmed, and I don’t know how to answer you.”

“There is no necessity to answer immediately, Nurse Jane,” Karl said with formality. “I quite understand. There has been neither time nor opportunity for me to show you what a wonderful life we two may live here, together. I am soon due for promotion. That will mean a larger house in a better part of the city, as well as almost doubling my salary, which is not inconsiderable. There is much to consider. Perhaps it will mean your parents would wish for me to visit them, or have them brought here to see where you will live?”

“I haven’t said I’ll marry you yet!” Jane reminded him, suddenly resentful of the way in which he appeared to be already arranging her life and that of so many other people without even pausing to consider them or their feelings.

“That is correct,” Karl bowed again, his eyes suddenly gleaming, “but I have no doubt whatsoever that when you pause to consider what it must mean to you to have a name which will be above reproach, a name which people will respect because of the position your husband holds, and the difference between that respect and the knowledge that your name has been added to the list of those persons whom the State suspect and must have watched
...
”

“My name has always been above reproach,” Jane said sharply. “And that of my family. I’m sorry, Inspector, but if you hope to have the answer you wish obtained by means of threats I’m certain have no foundation in reality, then I must tell you that that’s not the way to succeed with me or any other girl with my background
!
” She had not meant to speak so harshly or so sharply, and the colour rose in her cheeks, dying them crimson. Karl bowed again, obviously moved by her evident distress and displeasure.

“Then we will leave the matter until both of us have completed our duties for the day,” he said stiffly. “I am always to be—how does Dr. Jim say it—‘on call’—for there is no one as yet to take my place, no one of equal rank, that is. What time do your own duties terminate, Nurse Jane?”

“I
...
I’m not certain,” Jane hedged. “Couldn’t we leave it until tomorrow night?” she pleaded. She must have time to talk with Dr. Jim about this, to find out what was the best wav of dismissing the would-be amorous attentions of the Chief of Police without also causing more offence.

“That will be most agreeable,” Karl returned with the formality she knew now as a part of him. “I will present myself here, tomorrow evening, at around the hour of nine o’clock. That,” he confided almost boyishly, “is the time I usually take my coffee break, but,” his tone was once more serious, the “official” tone, “I shall still be on call and my driver will have to await my return outside in the event of any messages coming through which require my attention.”

“I understand,” Jane assured him, thinking abruptly what a dismal prospect it would be, even if she thought the world of Karl, to be married to a man whose every moment was spent, either in actual, physical fact or merely mentally, on duty.

“Then until tomorrow evening—and may your answer
be all I should wish for and your own common sense decree
!”

He bowed again, formally, and Jane bit back the hysterical laughter which threatened to overwhelm her. It might be wrong, she reflected, and undoubtedly it
was
wrong, but it struck he as unbearably funny that this man should ask her to marry him, obviously admire her, at least as much as he was capable of admiring any woman, and at the same time utter yet another warning as to the possible consequences of his dismissal!

She heard him clatter down the stairs and waited a few minutes to make certain the black police car had driven away from the flats, then, giving her reflection one last hasty scrutiny, hurried to report to Dr. Jim.

He looked up as she entered the office, a frown between his brows.

“You’re very late, Staff Nurse,” he reproved. “Are you not well?”

“I ... I had a visitor this morning,” Jane ventured.
“Karl Brotnovitch called, just as I was ready to come on duty.”

“What did
he
want?” The question was sharp, authoritative.

“He
...
came to advise me to marry him,” Jane said demurely, and was rewarded by the sudden up-shooting of Jim’s expressive eyebrows and the generally startled expression on his face.

“The devil he did!” Jim ejaculated, and immediately apologised. “Sorry if that sounded rude,” he gave a weak chuckle. “I didn’t mean you to imagine I don’t think the match
...
suitable, or to imply any criticism of Karl himself. It was just ... I didn’t know you knew him as well as that, or,” he add
ed with significance, “that you
found him quite favourable.”

“I don’t,” Jane admitted honestly. “I mean, I neither know him well or find him favourable as a ... as a
possible husband.” In spite of herself she could not repress a shiver as she imagined for a second what it must be like to see Karl Brotnovitch in that role. “I was as surprised as you are
!”
she ended truthfully.

“What did you say?” Jim queried, adding hastily: “Don’t tell me if you’d rather not! It’s none of my business, after all, and you’re old enough to please yourself in matters such as this
...
it’s just that I’d like to know whether or not I ought to be applying for
another
staff nurse quite so soon. I know the Chief of Police won’t wish his wife to be working at St. George’s!”

“He’s coming back for his answer tomorrow night,” Jane said, aware that the words “it’s none of my business” had struck with a force Jim would never imagine. “I
...
was too astonished to say anything this morning.”

“Then we’ll have a chat about it later, if you’d care to, of course.” Dr. Jim rose and briskly gathered his papers about him. “I’d like you to see someone specials the laddie I’ve just admitted to emergency. He’s a haemophiliac, and on a continuous blood transfusion. We shall have to ask for more blood, too,” he went on worriedly. “This bank is far from adequate
...
”

He went on to discuss the cases of the day as they progressed towards the theatre. Jane reflected how much more difficult was his work than that of a S.S.O. in any general hospital or infirmary at home. Here he had to be all things to all patients—and to the staff as well—and he bore all his duties with an air of really enjoying them, his sole object the relief of pain and illness, the continued struggle towards better health conditions for those he had come to serve.

There were four small operations to be performed that morning, none of them complicated, and Jane, sensing Kevin’s gaze fixed upon her, looked over her mask. He raised his eyebrows interrogatively, and although no word was spoken she knew he was asking whether or not she would consent to his—in her eyes—outrageous plan. Slowly but very definitely she shook her head, wanting to warn him that he had been watched when leaving her flat in the early hours of the morning, but there was too much to be done, too few people to cope, to allow for any private conversation.

Jane’s mind was in a ferment all day. She made mistakes such as she had never made even in her early days, and once or twice she saw Jim looking at her with a speculative air, but he made no comment. Not until, for the first time in her life, she omitted to remember the patient with a gastric ulcer who was on a two-hourly diet of citrated milk, olive oil and an atropine mixture.

“Really, Staff,” Jim said, but, for which she was truly thankful, for her ear alone, “a person in your position should be more careful
! Such an omission on the part o
f a first-year nurse in a busy medical ward at home might at least have some grounds, but
here,
where we all have to more than double duty in every way, and when so much depends on how far the people may rely upon us, it’s not really excusable at all. Either your evening out,” he looked more closely at her, “or the unexpected proposal of this morning must have interfered more than you are aware with your customary efficiency
!
That will not do, Nurse. I, the other staff, the patients all depend a great deal upon yourself. I think,” he went on in a more gentle and considerate tone, “it may be as well if you went off duty earlier today and took this opportunity of a long rest. One of the difficulties of our being so short of staff is that we none of us have as much free time as we would wish. Perhaps you will be back to normal, once
one
problem is out of your mind.”

There was something in the way in which he had said “one problem” which really hurt. It wasn’t because he was jealous, she knew. He had shown no interest whatsoever in herself until last evening, and even then, she remembered, after what had seemed to Jane to have been one of the most perfect evenings of the whole of her life, he had left her at the flat with nothing more than a friendly “good-night, Nurse.” She had felt he really did like her. She had sensed, in the way a woman does sense these things, that he had been proud to have her with him at the Brentlovs’ and later at Alexis Nimtvitch’s home. Only now did she admit to herself she had been pinning her hopes on other such visits and a furtherance of his interest—perhaps even his love—in and for herself as a consequence.

Now, abruptly, with the first reprimand he had ever administered to herself, he had dashed those hopes and dreams even before they had really been admitted to her own consciousness, and her heart sank. Had he ever shown any interest whatsoever in her as a person, she might have believed him to be jealous. As it was she dismissed the thought. The truth was, she reflected with an inward sigh for her lost dreams, he had been pleased enough by her company, proud, maybe, of the fact that the Brentlovs and Nimtvitch himself had found her company agreeable, but her late arrival on duty that morning, as well as her reason for being late, appeared to have combined to irritate him as she had never previously seen him irritated, not even when he had been expostulating about Kevin Dean.

She was scarcely aware she was still standing there, apparently giving him her full attention, until he spoke again, recalling her from her introspection.

“Have you no friends you could visit for an hour or two, Nurse?” he queried sharply, unaware himself of the tone of his voice. He only knew he could not bear to see her standing there like a child who feels itself in disgrace, and, busy as he was, he would have given a great deal to wipe that look of being emotionally stunned from her lovely face. “What about the old couple Nurse Palmer used to visit so often? I know she took you to meet them, and they’d be more than delighted by a visit from someone from St. George’s. Most of the young people will be at work or in the college,” he said, “and Karl, as we know, is on duty. I’ll get Larlez to run you over to see Granny and Grandpa for an hour or two. That’ll be doing something kind and useful as well as helping you to take your mind from your own problem for a time. Would you like that?”

Jane felt she would have agreed to go to the Congo if he’d suggested it at that moment. She wanted to be busy, she wanted someone or something which would demand her full attention for a time. Anything rather than to have to think about Kevin and what he proposed to do, or about Karl, and the way in which he had suggested he might protect herself!

“I’d like to go,” she told Jim now. “I feel I’ve neglected the old people, and they were such good friends of Nurse Palmer’s, or s
o
she told me.”

“Then that’s settled,” Jim said decisively, but he looked sharply at her as he spoke. There was something so defenceless about her at present, he thought. She did not in the least look like the usual exuberant Jane, bubbling
over with laughter, even at the
most difficult times, with her ever-present high spirits apparently reduced to their lowest ebb. He felt a sudden and overwhelming urge to protect her, even from herself, and his tone was considerably more friendly as he resumed.