Nurse Saxon's Patient (21 page)

I wish I hadn
’
t said that about Tansy must love him or she wouldn
’
t want to hang on to him, she thought, watching both men from her side of the table. Garth
’
s sure to feel a cad, unless Tansy releases
him
, and I don
’
t see her doing that. Not now.

But Roger was here, and somehow everything always seemed much better when he was around. They had shared all their troubles and trials since their parents had died, discussed everything, from the selling of their old home to Roger
’
s gamble with fame and fortune when he had taken his first year in
Me
xico, but always she had left the final decision on any matter to Roger. That was what
she
really wanted to do now, subconsciously. She could not make up her mind whether it would be running away to ask Matron to take her off the case, at least until Garth had regained his freedom, or whether she should stay, fighting her own longing for him, striving to be as aloof and as impersonal as she should be in her capacity as his nurse, when everything he said or did mattered more to her than anything else in the world.

When they finally rose to take coffee in the other room
Mrs.
Andy smiled at Julie.

‘
Now,
’
she said briskly,
‘
you and Roger take yours into
Mr.
Crossman
’
s study. You
’
ll be quite undisturbed there, and you can have a long, cosy chat together, as I
’
m sure you
’
re dying to do and can
’
t possibly have when one or the other of us is monopolizing Roger all the time. Make the most of it,
’
she ended mischievously.
‘
I have thousands of questions still I want to ask him
!’

Julie thanked her gratefully. Not for the first time she marvelled at this elderly lady who seemed to understand the needs of others, both physical and mental, almost better than they understood them themselves.

‘
Thank you,
’
she said quietly.
‘
If you need me, if you forget any of the movements or anything, please call me,
’
and on being assured that
Mrs.
Andy would not hesitate to do so she led her brother into the snug little room where Andrew Crossman attended to the business of the estate.

Comfortably settled, Roger drew out his pipe and lit up. He could see Andrew
’
s pipe racks and ashtrays about the room so there was no necessity to ask if it would be permitted, and he always felt so much more capable of dealing with problems with his pipe going well.

‘
Now, pet,
’
he began as Julie did not speak,
‘
let
’
s have it. I can tell there
’
s something amiss, and I
’
m sure the old lady has guessed, but she seems sort of pleased about it as well. All very mysterious, if you ask me. Let
’
s do as it says in
Alice,
begin at the beginning and go on to the end.
’

‘
The beginning,
’
Julie said soberly,
‘
was last New Year
’
s Eve at the Hospital Ball. Do you remember I told you about the young man I
’
d met who was wild with enthusiasm about designing homes and not houses? The young man who was entering for the Development Site competition
...’

‘
Who asked you to go out with him and you refused, because of your exams, and then spent every waking moment when you weren
’
t working on those same exams wishing you knew who he was and where he lived and all the rest of it?
’
Roger
’
s eyes twinkled.
‘
The young
man
Ian Greensmith was glowering at all evening, or so I heard?
’

‘
Yes,
’
Julie smiled.
‘
I must have been a bore about him at the time,
’
she recalled.
‘
Sorry
!’

‘
That
’
s all right,
’
Roger said magnanimously.
‘
I was glad to see you interested in someone
...
really interested, I mean, not just flattered because you
’
d attracted the attention of an admirer,
’
he ended teasingly.
‘
Go on, love. What about this young man?
’

‘
It was Garth,
’
Julie said simply.
‘
The night you went to Mexico he was injured—but I
’
ve told you all about that, all about why I
’
m here, because he
’
s
Mrs.
Andy
’
s godson and nephew, and that he
’
d won the competition.
’

‘
You
’
ve told me everything about him and about the case, I think,
’
Roger drew slowly on his pipe,
‘
except that he was the man you met at New Year and that you love him.
’

‘
I
...’
The colour rushed into Julie
’
s cheeks, but there was no point in denying the truth to Roger. He knew her too well.

‘
I could read between the lines of your letters, love,
’
he said next.
‘
They didn
’
t put it in so many words. You told me he had a blank spot in his memory, that he couldn
’
t remember his
fiancé
e, but the way in which you wrote about him told me the rest. What
’
s happened?
’
he demanded.
‘
Has his memory returned and he longs to enfold his
fiancé
e to his bosom, have an early wedding and all the rest of it
?’
His tone was light and the words teasing, but he was watching her keenly.
’

‘
He has regained the blank spot,
’
Julie said slowly.
‘
It cleared up today, but I
’
ve known all the time—so has Ian—what had caused it. They—Garth and Tansy, the girl who is his
fiancé
e—had quarrelled. She
’
d flung his engagement ring into the glove compartment after she
’
d offered it back to him and he
’
d told her to sell it and buy herself a fur coat. When the accident happened they were not really engaged any more. They
’
d quarrelled a great deal, known for some time they were unsuited, but Tansy asked Ian to get the ring back for her and she
’
s gone on pretending everything was all right between them, letting Garth think so, even after she realized he felt there was something wrong. She wanted them to be married and Garth to accompany her on a tour of the States as a sort of holiday-recuperation period-cum-honeymoon, but he won
’
t do it.
’

‘
Does she know he
’
s recovered his memory?
’
Roger asked quietly.
‘
Or has she yet to be given the news
?’

‘
She doesn
’
t know,
’
Julie worried aloud,
‘
and I don
’
t think Garth will feel he can—jilt her, without a quarrel or anything now, and Tansy
’
s taking great care not to provoke him in any way.
’

‘
Why does she hang on to him?
’
was Roger
’
s next question.
‘
Surely it
’
s a question of her own pride? Is she
...
not pretty? Unlikely to attract anyone else? Is that it?
’

‘
She
’
s lovely,
’
Julie said sincerely.
‘
I know she
’
s had several boy-friends, but most of them were either musicians, singers, song-writers or people of that sort.
I
think,
’
she said on a sudden decision,
‘
she wants to sort of have her cake and eat it. She wants the glamour of her own kind of life, but a background of something more stable, more secure, in case she ever falls out of favour with the public or something. That
’
s the only reason I can think of for her insisting on an engagement that
’
s really a fake.
’

‘
And Garth?
’
Roger persisted.
‘
How does he feel about all this?
’

‘
He loves me.
’
Julie made the statement simply and sincerely, without a trace of coquetry in her voice.
‘
He told me so
...
this afternoon, just as soon as his memory returned. They haven
’
t a thing in common, neither work nor play. He was flattered when she set out deliberately to make him look at a girl instead of bricks and mortar, he says. I don
’
t know about Tansy. I only know that from the very beginning she was more worried about whether or not he would remember their quarrel than she was about anything else connected with the accident.
’

‘
Then it
’
s simple.
’
Roger struck a match and applied it to his pipe which he had allowed to go out as he listened.
‘
He has only to tell her that he remembers all the story, their quarrel, her offer to return his ring and what happened when he rejected the offer
...’

‘
Would
you
?
’
Julie queried softly.
‘
Could you, Roger, when at the hospital and all the time he
’
s been here she
’
s visited, written, phoned, acted the devoted
fiancé
e all the time? I don
’
t think you would. I don
’
t think you
could.
You
’
d be like Garth, unable to make a break without another quarrel, and Tansy isn
’
t going to risk that a second time.
’

There was silence between them for a little while until at last Julie spoke again.

‘
I like her,
’
she said sincerely.
‘
I like her a lot, but she isn
’
t right for Garth. That
’
s the awful part. I was th
inking
of asking Matron to take me off the case, give them a chance, let Garth make up his own mind, and if they
...
went ahead, I should pray for their happiness. But I know it wouldn
’
t work out. They
’
re like oil and water. They
’
ll never mix.
’

‘
Hmmmm.’
Roger knocked out his pipe as
Mrs.
Andy came in, followed by Edna with a supper-tray.
‘
Let
’
s sleep on it,
’
he suggested as he usually did when she faced him with any problem.
‘
We
’
ll see how things look in the morning, shall we? Don
’
t do or write anything hastily.
’

‘
I
’
d like you to look at Garth
’
s hand, Julie, please,
’
Mrs.
Andy suggested gently.
‘
I
’
m not sure, but it looked a little swollen to me after we
’
d finished. I hope I haven
’
t set him back at all.
’

‘
I don
’
t think you
’
ll have done that,
Mrs.
Crossman,
’
Julie smiled at her hostess,
‘
but I
’
ll take a look just the same and then you won
’
t worry. Excuse me a moment, Roger.
’

‘
There
’
s nothing wrong with Garth
’
s hand
,’
Mrs.
Andy remarked as the door closed behind the girl.
‘
I just wanted to see you alone for a moment. Garth has been telling me what happened this afternoon.
’
She spoke to Roger as though she had known him for years and could trust his judgement, as indeed she felt she could.
‘
I don
’
t know how much Julie has told you, but I expect she has confided in you somewhat. What I do know is that those two young people are made for each other—Julie and Garth, I mean—and that Garth has some quixotic notion of waiting until Tansy breaks off their engagement all over again before doing anything about it. Have
you
any theories?
’
she demanded suddenly
.
‘
Anything in either fact or imagination which may help?
’

‘
If I knew why—what
’
s-her-name?—Tansy, wanted to go on pretending everything is all right between herself and Garth I might have a clue,
’
Roger said slowly.
‘
Julie says she
’
s a lovely girl, attractive and so forth, it can
’
t be that she thinks if she doesn
’
t marry Garth she won
’
t find anyone else.
’

‘
I don
’
t imagine that would be difficult for her,
’
Mrs.
Andy said slowly.
‘
She
’
s a strange personality,
’
she went on reflectively.
‘
She thinks I don
’
t like her. I do, as a person, but not for Garth. They would never be right together, couldn
’
t even ever grow together as some people do. She is not Garth
’
s sort of person, and I think in her heart she knows that, but she
’
s by no means as hard or as
modern
as she would have people believe her to be. She
’
s lonely, I think,
’
she mused.
‘
And she
’
s searching for someone, something, but I
’
m not certain that she knows who or what she
’
s searching for. If
...
if she marries Garth and finds whoever or whatever it is afterwards there
’
ll be no happiness for any of them.
’

‘
She sounds an interesting person, anyhow,
’
Roger commented mildly.
‘
What is it exactly that she does? Julie said something about her being with a band, orchestra or something.
’

‘
She sings,
’
Mrs.
Andy told him.
‘
She has rather an attractive voice—if she would sing something worth while. I
’
m afraid I
’
m not a very
modern
person,
’
she said apologetically,
‘
although I do like a few of the
modern
songs, but not many. Tansy
’
s been all over the country, singing. She
’
s been abroad too, and made a number of records. She
’
s been to the Far East, the Middle East, France ... all over, and if she
thinks
she can combine that sort of thing with being
Mrs.
Garth Holroyd she
’
s very much mistaken, and Garth can
’
t change his life to suit hers.
’