Doctor's Orders by Eleanor Farnes Read Free Book Online Page A

the giants among mountains in the distance, lifting their snow-covered peaks into the blue of the sky. This evening, drifting cloud obscured much of the view, parting now and then to reveal glimpses of wonders yet unseen, and as the car stood before the hotel entrance, and the porter dealt with the luggage, a cloud passed slowly across the hotel itself, so that they stood in a mist, seeing everything dimly until it had passed. Diana was enchanted. It was easy for her to be delighted, for all of this was so new to her. She quickly saw that Anthea was far from being enchanted. Anthea shivered in the temporary mist of the cloud, drew her coat, round her and said petulantly:
    “Do we have to stand out here, in this wretched mist? Is this the air that is supposed to be so good for me? It’s enough to give me pneumonia.”
    “We’ll go in,” said Diana quickly. “In any case, it’s going already. You’re tired, and ought to be upstairs in your room.”
    Upstairs, in one of the best rooms the hotel could offer, Anthea looked round her in disgust.
    “It’s like a hostel,” she said crossly.
    Diana laughed, and Anthea looked at her suddenly, because Diana sounded so genuinely amused — and there were times, when Anthea forgot to be completely absorbed in herself when she suspected Diana of having an unplumbed personality, which might even make her, Anthea, feel small. She said: “What’s so funny?”
    “Anthea, my dear, it’s easy to see that you’ve never been in a hostel, if you think this is like one. This isn’t like the Splendide, it’s true—nothing terribly luxurious or overstuffed. But it’s absolutely charming, and chock full of character, and I, for one, wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
    “What is charming about it? It looks bare and bleak and Spartan to me.”
    “Well, almost every hotel room you go into looks exactly like every other one. You might be in the Splendide or the Bristol or the Monte Rosa or the Bellevue—there are crowds of them everywhere. But this is different. This hand-carved furniture, and the hand-woven curtains and covers, the handmade rugs, and the window boxes bright with flowers. This is like being in a private house as a guest.”
    “And not a really comfortable chair in the room.”
    “Oh, we’ll get you one. That will be simple. I’ll speak to the people about it, and have a comfortable chaise-longue brought up for you, so that, whenever you want to rest, you can do so by the windows and enjoy the marvellous view.”
    “You’ve got a funny idea of what I consider enjoyable,” grumbled Anthea.
    “Well, if you don’t enjoy it,” said Diana, with sudden asperity, “you ought to. And if you don’t appreciate your luck in having a father who can afford to give you everything of the best, and a specialist that lots of people would be only too glad to trust in, and somebody like me to take all the worries from your shoulders, then you ought to again. Why, my goodness, lots of girls in precisely your state of health have got to earn their living and race for their buses every morning, and do their chores every evening, and have nobody at all to think for them and worry about them; and they would think you exceptionally lucky. So count your blessings, Anthea, for a change.”
    “ Good lord,” said Anthea, looking at Diana with interest, “what made you fly off the handle? I can’t help it if my father happens to be wealthy, can I?”
    “No, but you don’t have to grumble about it either.”
    “O.K.,” said Anthea. “We’ll wait until you get bored to desperation, too, and then hear what you have to say.” But she did not grumble any more for that day. She did find that she was considerably more tired than she was used to feeling, but calmed her own quick anxiety by reminding herself of last night’s party and today’s journey; and agreed to Diana’s suggestion that she should have a dinner - tray in bed and get a good night’s rest.
    “All