LITMIR.BIZ

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      She nodded as she spooned fish on to the light diet’s plates. He asked: ‘When are you off?’

      Tabitha added potato puree to the fish and said vaguely: ‘Oh, this evening—Staff Nurse Rogers will be here…’ She was interrupted by a subdued crash from the ward. ‘Go and see what that is, Nurse Williams,’ she said calmly, ‘and take a peep at Mr Bow on your way.’ She raised her eyes to the man waiting patiently at the door. ‘Staff will be on until nine o’clock—if you want anyone after that there’s Night Nurse…and Night Sister, of course.’ She was interrupted once more by Nurse Williams bearing a horrid mess of stew and broken plate on a tray.

      ‘Mr Bow’s fine, Sister. This is Mr Prosser’s and he’s very sorry. It slipped.’

      Tabitha ladled stew, wondering why Mr van Beek still stood watching. ‘Do you want something, sir?’ she enquired politely, half her mind on dinners.

      He gave her a pleasant smile. ‘Yes, Sister, but it can wait.’ He was gone, leaving her to fret over the prunes and custard as to what exactly it was that he wanted, and whether it was something she hadn’t got on the ward. Perhaps Sue would know; he might have said something to her. She would ask her at dinner.

      Sue, although willing enough, was unhelpful. ‘I’ve no idea,’ she said. ‘He used the usual instruments; he’s fussy, but nice about it, and all orthopaedic surgeons are anyway. I tried to find out something about him, but he was closer than an oyster. He’s a dear, though—a bit quiet; a pity, because he’s got a lovely gravelly voice, hasn’t he? Are you on or off?’

      ‘On—I changed with Rogers because Mr Raynard wanted me to go to theatre—my morning was ruined!’

      ‘Never mind, Tabby, it’s your weekend.’

      ‘So it is,’ Tabitha replied gloomily.

      The afternoon went in a flash. It was tea time before she had the opportunity to have a word with Mr Bow, who had made a surprisingly quick recovery from his anaesthetic and had asked for tea. She gave it to him, sip by sip, while they decided what to do.

      ‘I’ll have Podger,’ said Tabitha, ‘he’s no trouble. It’s your room I’m worried about. Do you want to keep it on?’

      She could have bitten her tongue out the moment she had said it, because he answered with faint despair: ‘Where else can I go?’

      Before she could make a satisfactory answer, Mr van Beek spoke from behind her.

      ‘I hope you’ll give me the pleasure of staying with me when you leave hospital, Knotty. We have several years to talk over, have we not? Besides, I need to pick your brains concerning several ideas which have been simmering…. Why not give up your room? I can easily arrange to have your furniture stored.’

      Mr Bow looked bewildered. ‘But, my dear boy, I don’t even know where you live.’

      ‘Near enough,’ said the dear boy cryptically, ‘and when the time comes we can collect Podger.’

      Mr Bow smiled. ‘It sounds delightful.’

      ‘Good—we’ll fix things for you, if you’ll leave it all to us. Now I’m going to ask Sister to get someone to settle you so that she can give you something for that niggling pain.’

      He lifted a languid hand in salute and crossed the ward to Mr Raynard’s cubicle, and presently Tabitha heard him laughing there. He had a pleasant laugh, almost a chuckle. She sighed without reason, smiled at Mr Bow and went to find a nurse so that she could accompany Mr van Beek on his ward round. Afterwards, he went back to Mr Raynard again and Tabitha left them talking because it was time for her to go off duty and Rogers had to have the report. It didn’t take long, for Rogers had only been away for the afternoon hours; Tabitha gave her the keys, put on her cuffs, took off her apron, and with it tucked under one arm, wished everyone a good evening and started off down the corridor. She was a quarter of the way down its length when the ward door flapped open and shut behind her and Mr van Beek’s voice brought her to a halt. She turned round to face him and asked ‘Now what?’ in a resigned voice so that he smiled and said:

      ‘Nothing—at least nothing to do with the ward. I was wondering—’ he sounded diffident, ‘if you’re going to see about Mr Bow’s rent and so forth, if I might come with you. Perhaps the landlady…?’ He paused delicately and Tabitha thought that he must have possessed himself of quite a lot of inside information about Mr Bow’s circumstances. It would indeed be helpful if he were to parley with the landlady. She said thoughtfully:

      ‘Yes, I think it might be easier if you were to see her. I was going now, on my way home—I could give you a lift.’

      ‘Your car? Can you leave it here—we’ll use mine. Are you on duty early tomorrow?’

      ‘No, not until eleven. I suppose I could catch a bus.’

      ‘Right, that’s settled.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Twenty minutes’ time, then—the staff car park.’ He went back into the ward without waiting for her to answer.

      Tabitha went to the changing room and changed into the pale blue jersey dress she had worn to work that morning, wishing at the same time that she had worn something more eye-catching. Not that she had any hope of Mr van Beek’s grey eyes resting on her for more than a few moments. How wonderful it would have been, she thought, if he had asked her out, not just to show him where Mr Bow lived, but because she was lovely to look at and amusing. She uttered an impatient sigh, tugged the pins impatiently from her hair and re-did it even tighter than usual, taking a perverse satisfaction in adding to the mediocrity of her appearance.

      CHAPTER TWO

      THE SENIOR medical staff had a car park of their own on the right of the hospital forecourt. It was almost empty at this time of day, for the normal day’s rounds were done and the theatres had finished at four o’clock and it was still too early for any possible extra visits to ill patients. There were only three cars in it, two of which Tabitha instantly recognized; the souped-up Mini Mr Jenkins, the gynae consultant, affected, and the elderly, beautifully kept Austin saloon the radiologist had bought some fifteen years previously and had never found necessary to change. The third car was a Bentley T convertible of a pleasing and unobtrusive shade of grey, in whose driving seat Mr van Beek was lounging. As Tabitha approached he got out, ushered her in to sit beside him and enquired in a friendly voice where Mr Bow lived.

      ‘About five minutes’ drive,’ said Tabitha, and felt regret that it wasn’t five hours. ‘The quickest way is to turn left into the High Street, down Thomas Street and turn right at the bottom of the hill.’

      He let in the clutch. ‘Are you in a hurry?’ he enquired mildly.

      Tabitha blinked her thick short eyelashes. ‘No,’ she said in a practical voice, ‘but I should think you would be—you must have had a hard day and I don’t expect you want to waste your evening.’ She gave him a brief enquiring look and wondered why he looked amused.

      ‘No, I don’t intend to,’ he agreed gravely. ‘Is this where we turn right?’

      They were almost there; Tabitha wished she were Sue, who would have known how to turn even such a short encounter as this to good advantage. She said a little abruptly: ‘It’s this row of houses—the fourth from the end,’ and even as she spoke he was bringing the car to a gentle halt. They were standing on the doorstep waiting for someone to answer their ring when Tabitha asked: ‘What are we going to say?’

      Mr van Beek looked down at her earnest face and said lazily:

      ‘If you wouldn’t mind just mentioning who I am…’ The door opened and the woman she had seen the previous evening stood in front of them. There was a cigarette dangling from her lip and her hair was caught up in orderly rows of curlers under a pink net. Without removing the cigarette, she said: ‘Hullo, you again,’ and gave Tabitha an unwilling smile which widened when she looked at Mr van Beek.

      ‘Good evening,’

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