Seaside Hospital (6 page)

“Better watch the weather, the next time you go on the water,” he said in clipped tones, and having helped her out, he drove off without stopping to see if she was even inside the door.

“Never mind the weather,” Lisa muttered as she dragged herself up to her room. “I’ll take good care to find out who is likely to be coming too, next time!”

Derek Frenton had developed the habit of taking Jacky to her lodgings every night after the show. Jacky liked that. Everyone soon came to recognize the high-powered silver roadster, and the good
looking young man driving it. The night after the storm he took her to supper with him, intending to break it to her that his father had delivered an ultimatum to him. It was difficult to broach a subject with Jacky, especially if she was in a bubbling, happy mood.

“Isn’t it all such fun, Derek? Don’t you think so?”

“Yes, rattling good fun,” he agreed, and she was quick to notice that some of his usual enthusiasm was lacking.

“Oh, I think it’s marvelous to be young and on top of the world and your career and everything. Do you realize, Derek darling, I shall probably have my name up in big lights in London after this season? Derek, will you be proud to know me then?”

“Oh, jolly proud,” he agreed. “Listen, Jacky, I—”

“Derek, will your parents be proud to have a new member of the family whose name is up in lights over a London theater?”

“Well, actually, old girl, that was what I wanted to talk to you
about,” Derek said unhappily and poured out more champagne. “They’re a bit peculiar, you know. Not keen on stage people.”

Jacky’s face set a little, then she turned on the brilliant smile again, so quickly that he hardly noticed the change. She would not let him see how anxious she was about her future, and how little faith she had in that pet dream of a London show and herself as the star in it.

“Do you mean they don’t like me?” she asked bluntly.

“Now would my mother ask you to open the garden party for her if she didn’t like you?” he countered, without much conviction.

“I don’t know,” she said, slowly, beginning to feel that the bright future with a rich young husband was beginning to slip away. “I can’t weigh up your mother. She’s very charming, and I know she adores nice clothes and furs and jewelry, but I don’t know how she feels about people. Look, Derek, why don’t we get engaged?” She grinned impudently as she said it, and he laughed uneasily. “Oh, have a heart, Jacky. Honestly, I couldn’t afford a ring at the present time. I only have what I get from the guv’nor, you know, and at present my father isn’t very pleased with me. I shall have to go easy.”

“Who said anything about an engagement ring?” she countered, pouting prettily. “I have an idea. Let’s run off and have a secret wedding. Let’s, it’d be fun! And then your people couldn’t say a thing about me, once the thing was done. I’d be their daughter-in
-
law, and they couldn’t undo it.”

Derek looked blankly at her, dismay showing plainly in his face. He began to think quickly. Did she really want to be married to him, or was she just interested in his family’s money? Determined to put it to the test, he said, “I say, do you really mean that? I didn’t think you were the sort of person who’d like to be hard up, Jacky.”

“Hard up? Who said anything about being hard up? Your people have pots of money!”

“Yes, but they’d jolly soon cut me off without a penny, and you’d have to keep us, old girl. I’ve never earned a bean in my life, and between ourselves, I’d hate to have to work.”

Jacky concentrated on her glass of champagne while she recovered from the shock. Then she put it down and screwed up her nose entrancingly at him.

“Silly old Derek, who said anything about you going to work? Just as if your people would want you to! Why, anyone can see they adore you, and they have so much money, they wouldn’t miss giving us a little.. Why, your mother’s jewelry alone must be worth a fortune.”

“Oh, don’t talk about Mother’s jewelry,” Derek said, repressing a shudder. “That’s a very tricky subject. We’ve only just had another family row about it that I’d rather forget.”

“Why?” Jacky asked warily.

“Well, Mother’s so careless about it. Dad gets absolutely furious. He’s the careful one, he’s had to work so hard for his wealth. Only recently my mother lost a valuable brooch, and we thought it had been stolen.”

“Well, had it?”

“I’m not sure, but it turned up again. Dad thought one of our foreign maids had taken it, but as it was found again, she was given another chance. But don’t talk about Mother’s jewelry to me, that’s all. I’d rather not remember that painful subject.”

Jacky cleverly let the subject of their own future—and the matter of the lost brooch—drop, but the way the Frentons had let the subject of that valuable loss be hushed up stayed in her mind. When the day of the garden party dawned, she could think of nothing else. By skilful questioning, and a pretended interest in the house, Jacky discovered just where his mother’s rooms were, and that she was in the habit of leaving her jewelry lying on the dressing table.

The day of the party was hot. The storm, which had certainly cleared the air at the time, brought the weather in hotter than ever, and with it a wave of street accidents that kept the staff of St. Mildred’s on their toes.

“Gosh, I shall be glad to get away from the sound of ambulance bells, won’t you, Lisa?” Mary asked.

“I wish I didn’t have to go to this do with those children,” Lisa sighed, “but they’re so thrilled, bless them, that I haven’t the heart to let them know I’d rather be with you at your home. You are going home, aren’t you, Mary?”

“Not without you,” Mary replied. “I’m going to the party after all. Jerry and Mike asked me specially when they found I didn’t have a date. Still, it can be fun with people like those boys.”

Mary went in a bright, new, printed silk dress, but Lisa put on a fresh brown check uniform, the distinctive garb of a St. Mildred’s second-year nurse, her pale hair almost completely hidden beneath her starched cap. All three children had discarded their calipers and were overjoyed with the thought of being able to get about again. The grounds of Penderby Towers looked inviting, with their smooth lawns, concrete paths, the great ornamental pond with lilies and goldfish and the marquees and sideshows and bunting.

Lisa saw, with a sick feeling in her stomach, that Randall Carson was there, with Thalia, her mother, and Derek. Lisa hoped that she could get away with the children as soon as Jacky—brilliant and sophisticated in a white full-skirted nylon dress and jacket and a saucy little sky-blue hat—successfully opened the party, but her hopes were soon dashed. Derek caught sight of the St. Mildred’s uniform, a
n
d broke away from his party to come over to her.

“Lisa! I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days! I must talk to you,” he said urgently.

“Not now, Derek,” Lisa urged. “I have to take these children to the sideshows—”

“I’ll come with you,” Derek said. But it was not to the coconut shies that he took them, but into a secluded little garden. “I’ve got to talk to you first, Lisa,” he said urgently. “Never mind the children. Look, I feel an awful heel—I don’t know how to say this, but—can’t we be back where we used to be?”

Lisa was almost speechless with surprise. “I don’t know how you can suggest such a thing, Derek, after that letter you sent me!” she said indignantly at last.

“I know—I feel awful about it now—but at the time I did think it was the best thing for both of us. The truth is, Lisa, I miss you so badly that if you’ll only come back to me, I’m prepared to take the risk of playing second fiddle to that career of yours! There, I can’t put it blunter than that, can I?”

“And what about my sister Jacky?” she said quietly.

He reddened. “Honestly, Lisa, there’s nothing in it. She just likes going around with me. I didn’t connect her with you at first—why should I? I didn’t even know you had a sister, let alone a sister on the stage. You never said!”

That was true, she reflected ruefully. She had been only too anxious not to mention Jacky and her wild ways.

“No, I never said anything about it,” she agreed, “but now you know, and frankly I think that Jacky’s more suited to you than I am. You talk about risks, but I can’t risk being hurt like that any more. Sorry, Derek, but I’d rather things were left as they are.”

Derek watched her leave the little garden with a quiet dignity. He was furious with himself. He had rushed things. He should have taken it easy. But, with Jacky around, there was so little time and opportunity. This had seemed the one chance he would have of getting Lisa back, and he had lost it.

Jacky felt frustrated. Having opened the party, the only way she could slip away unseen to the now almost deserted house was to murmur some excuse about powdering her nose.

Jacky was lucky. No one was about when she walked across to an invitingly open ground-floor french window with all the casualness of one of the family. She had her stage training to thank for that. It was not difficult, either, from Derek’s descriptions; to find his mother’s rooms.

As he had said, his mother was careless. Several pieces of
jewelry lay about the dressing table. Jacky, unable to help herself, stared in fascination at a clip shaped like a brilliant bird of paradise. Her hand closed over it and within seconds she was out of the room, down the stairs and out the way she had come, without being seen.

Only Lisa had seen her sister, with that special look on her face, going toward the house and Lisa’s heart sank. She must stop Jacky whatever happened, for that look—intent, a little furtive—meant that Jacky was gripped by the urge to steal something.

The children hampered Lisa. She could not go after Jacky with them clinging to her, so she found Mary, who promised to keep an eye on them. But by then Jacky was nowhere to be seen. Lisa hurried into the house, conspicuous in her hospital uniform. She was not so lucky as Jacky. A maid, about to answer the telephone, asked her if she was looking for someone. Defeated, she had to go out again.

She thought she saw Jacky among the crowds, but as she hurried after her, Lisa saw a group of people gathered about the big ornamental pond, and she found herself swept along by other sightseers toward it. From their remarks she gathered that some children had fallen in, and instinctively she felt that the trouble concerned herself.

“Here comes the nurse! The one that was with the children!” someone said.

Lisa’s heart started to bump as she pushed her way through to the edge of the water. The children! But she had left them in Mary’s care. She could hear children crying lustily, she soon saw that they indeed were her charges and that it was the girl who had fallen into the water.

Horrified, Lisa had eyes for nothing else but the scene before her, and so she had no idea that Derek was standing just behind her. All she was aware of was that the man who had pulled the child out of the water and who was staring so accusingly at her was Randall Carson.

His clothes were ruined and the little girl was dripping, white-faced and frightened.

“You’d better take your charge, Nurse,” he said coldly. “Bring her to my car. We’ll drive back to the hospital.”

Somehow Lisa herded the children to the car. All around her, people talked about the incident. Lady Frenton was shrill in her anger about the fish in the pond being disturbed, and the damaged stalks of the prize water lilies. Lisa could only think of the children’s spoiled day.

“What were you doing near the water?” she asked them.

“Wanted to get a fish,” the little girl sobbed.

“But I left you with Nurse Thorley.”

“She bought us some ices,” one of the boys said, “but we ate them quickly and then we couldn’t find her.”

Lisa was puzzled and upset. She could say no more, without getting Mary into trouble, for Randall Carson was climbing into the car, a blanket in his hands to wrap around the shivering little girl.

“What were you doing in the house, Nurse?” he barked.

“I was looking for someone,” she said, surprised.

“I see,” he said, his face dark with anger. His eyes were icy cold; it was a miserable party that was driven back to the hospital, leaving the gaiety of the garden party behind.

After the children had been attended to, Lisa was summoned to Sister’s office, to face kind Sister Rudolph, Randall Carson grim-faced behind her desk.

“That was a very unfortunate thing to have happened, Nurse,” Sister Rudolph said quietly.

“It was absolute negligence,” Randall Carson said. “Children just out of calipers—”

Sister raised her eyebrows, and looked thoughtfully at Mr. Carson, who was seldom unjust. True, there had been stories of his efficiency stiffening lately, and of his expecting the same high standard from others. The poor man was working himself to the bone, Sister decided, with compassion, remembering the old story
of his tragic loss. He ought to take the holiday due to him, she thought, or he’d be cracking up and becoming a patient himself.

“Tell me what happened in your own words, Nurse,” she invited, quietly.