Love for the Matron by Elizabeth Houghton Read Free Book Online

thing that you a ll ow to enter your life!”
    Elizabeth looked towards the corner where Susan and Robin were having an argument in fierce undertones.
    “Yes, to the first, and as to the second, we have different ideas about that. I thought you ’ d gone abroad.”
    Stuart filled the tiny liqueur glass with the ruby liquid and brought it over to her. “Still trying to get rid of me ? For your information I did go abroad, but on my uncle ’ s death I came back. There were a lot of details about the estate that I had to deal with, and as the bulk of his property was in and around Shenston I came here. Naturally enough I stayed in his house, and when the time came to depart I no longer wanted to, so you ’ ll still find me at the Gate House ... They say there are ghosts, but either they are the peaceful kind or else they have respect for an odd devil like myself ... I don ’ t know ... And don ’ t laugh, but I find I ’ m contented here, oddly enough.”
    Elizabeth gazed at him thoughtfully, trying to realign the new Stuart with what she remembered of the old, and the result was strangely unsettling. She had never been in love ... not really ... with the other Stuart Nichols, but he had always managed to disturb her. Now he was exciting her compassion as well, and she was woman enough to realize that could be even more dangerous. She was almost relieved when William Gregory eventually came back.
    “Sorry to have had to leave you. Some of my more elderly patients seem to like a reassuring word about this time ... just to make sure I think they ’ ll get through to morning.”
    “What ’ s the biggest difference between being a doctor in Shenston and one in London or Birmingham or Edinburgh, William?” Stuart asked lazily.
    William looked at him thoughtfully. “I suppose Miss Graham could give us a more recent impression since she ’ s the newest recruit from London Town, but I ’ ll try to answer your question. I think that in the smaller centres people have more time to be complete persons ... they haven ’ t quite lost the art of being neighborly. In a community like this there ’ s a large influx of farmers for the weekly markets ... they retire when they ’ ve made their pile or hand over their farms to their sons ... and possibly there ’ s a more highly developed sense of civic responsibility because of the threat of flooding that hangs over us each year. It leaves a togetherness that one s aw during the war because a common danger and discomfort is being shared. One can be remote about Mrs. Jones losing her chickens or Farmer Evans watching his stock being swept away as long as it comes no closer than the headlines of your morning paper, but once those chickens or cows or sheep may be washed up on your own doorsteps you lose your detachment . A nd mud left by the floods is just as messy and smelly whether it ruins Mrs. Smith ’ s strip of matting or your own irreplaceable Oriental rug.
    “Of course when these people are your patients as well you get it twice over, but don ’ t forget it ’ s two-way this time. Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones tell you about what the flood did to their belongings, but they also remember to inquire about the damage done to yours and inform you very respectfully that so and so is very good for removing the stains. It keeps you grateful and at the same time nicely humble.” He turned towards Elizabeth. “Don ’ t you think that in the big city hospitals a consultant can very easily get exaggerated ideas of his own importance ? ”
    Elizabeth laughed. “I think it ’ s the system rather than the man. With medical students at his heels listening to every word that he utters, with Ward Sisters fluttering to greet him, patients hushed and tidied within an inch of their lives, and frightened nurses getting in the way or dropping things, how can any consultant avoid getting puffed up unless he ’ s so absorbed in his profession, so dedicated, that like the absentminded