Anne Douglas by The Handkerchief Tree Read Free Book Online Page A

That was what mattered.
    Opening her eyes, staring at the whitewashed ceiling, Shona drew a long, heartfelt sigh. If only it were not so hard! To look into the future and to know, whether it contained a job or not, that it would not include Mark Lindsay.
    ‘Here we are!’ cried a voice at her bedside, and she opened her eyes to see Matron’s assistant, Nurse Lawson, bearing a bottle of something dark, a spoon and a small white pill box. ‘Now I’ve got all you need here, Shona. Sit up, then, you’re the last to have it; the others have all had theirs.’
    ‘I must have been asleep,’ Shona said, slowly sitting up.
    ‘And still dressed and in your shoes!’ Nurse Lawson clicked her tongue. ‘Shona, what were you thinking about?’
    Better not say, thought Shona.

Twelve
    As Dr Mark had prophesied, Shona did feel better after the weekend’s rest and within a few days had quite recovered her health, if not her spirits. Though she concealed this pretty well, Cassie still asked her if she was feeling ‘a wee bit low?’ Miss Bryce had announced that she would soon be interviewing all leavers about their prospects. Maybe Shona was worrying about what she’d say?
    ‘No, why should I be worrying?’ Shona retorted.
    ‘Well, I bet you’re going to get into an argument with her, about going into service, eh?’ Cassie gave a small shrug. ‘If you do, she’s sure to win, ’cos you’ve nothing else in mind, have you?’
    ‘I’m going to state my views,’ Shona said loftily. ‘I’ve got the right to do that.’
    ‘Oh, dear, sounds like trouble.’
    ‘There’ll be no trouble, Cassie. I’ll be as polite as can be.’
    ‘At least your birthday’s after mine, so she’ll see me before you. I’ll tell you how I get on.’
    ‘Cassie, I know how you’ll get on, unless you do what I’m going to do and tell her you want something different from service.’
    ‘No, thanks!’ cried Cassie. ‘It wouldn’t be true, anyway. I’ll be happy if she finds me a nice place where I can feel at home.’
    Sighing, Shona said no more, but was glad to find that the thought of making her point with Miss Bryce had, oddly enough, cheered her up. Maybe it was true, what folk said: that if something occupied your mind, it stopped you brooding on other things. Who would have thought that Miss Bryce could exclude Mark Lindsay from her mind, then? The truth was that her birthday was coming ever closer and with it the reality of leaving Edina Lodge. The future that she’d thought so much about would actually be upon her, and she’d have to have something worked out. Much would depend, of course, on what Miss Bryce said, and whether she would come up with any suggestions.
    ‘Roll on our interviews,’ she said to Cassie firmly. ‘Let’s know what we’re doing, eh?’
    ‘Can’t wait,’ Cassie answered fervently.
    In late May Miss Bryce began her interviews, Cassie being one of the first to be called. As soon as Shona saw her later that day, when they were in the kitchen at teatime, ready to carry in sausages and mash, she knew at once that Cassie was happy.
    ‘Oh, Shona,’ she whispered, her blue eyes shining, ‘it’s so lovely! Miss Bryce has a list of places willing to take us orphans as maids, and when I told her I wanted to work with a big staff and get to know folk, she picked out just the place!’
    ‘That right?’ asked Shona, wrapping a cloth round a hot dish of mashed potato. ‘So where is this wonderful place?’
    ‘The Hermitage. That’s past Morningside, you ken, where there’s the Hermitage Burn, and then you get to the Braid Hills golf course. Miss Bryce showed me on the map.’
    ‘Very grand, then. You got the sausages?’
    ‘Aye, it’s grand, all right, the people are very well to do.’ Cassie, her face flushed from the heat of the kitchen and her own excitement, was following Shona into the dining room bearing a huge platter of sausages, one of several to be placed on the top table, now used for