AS LONA DAY went up the main staircase she met Miss Silver coming down. She stopped for a moment to enquire after Mrs. Robbins, and expressed pleasure at hearing that she was lying down and had fallen asleep.
‘Judy is sitting with her.’
Lona Day said, ‘That is very kind. But then Judy is kind—isn’t she?’
She lingered for a moment as if she would have liked to go on talking, but receiving no encouragement from Miss Silver’s silence, she put up a hand to her head and said, ‘What a day! It feels like a year since this morning. I hope Miss Netta is having a little nap too—it will do her good. It is so sad that she and her sister are no help to one another. Well, I must go to my real charge, Captain Pilgrim. Those policemen will be coming up to see him any time now. He is being wonderful of course, but I can’t help feeling anxious about him.’
It was a pity that Frank Abbott could not have been there to hear his Miss Silver produce one of her moral maxims. She coughed slightly and remarked that anxiety produced an atmosphere sadly adverse to recovery. After which her beaded slippers took her firmly on her way.
Lona Day found her patient using the telephone extension in his room. She caught no words, but the tone of his voice was warm. As she came in, he said, ‘Yes—presently then. I’ll ring up when they’ve gone.’ He hung up the receiver and turned, to meet an affectionate accusing gaze.
‘You know you shouldn’t—you really shouldn’t.’
‘And why not? If you think it’s restful to sit still and do nothing with this sort of thing going on in the house, well, I should say there was a hole in your training. You know, I am not really an invalid now.’
He saw the tears come into her eyes.
‘It’s just that I’m—well, I expect it’s silly of me, but you’ve come on so far—I don’t want you to slip back. You mustn’t run before you can walk, you know.’
‘I haven’t run very far—have I?’ He leaned forward and looked at her. ‘Don’t think I’m ungrateful for all you’ve done for me, Lona, but I’ve got to walk. I don’t say anything about running yet, but you never know.’
The green eyes shining with tears met his.
‘You mean that you don’t want me any more?’
Jerome Pilgrim had been an invalid for three and a half years, but for nearly twenty years before that he had been a personable and attractive man. He could recognize an emotional danger signal. He said in a cool, friendly voice, ‘My dear Lona, you are much too good a nurse to mean what that implies. You don’t want me to remain an invalid in order to practise on me, do you? To lose a patient doesn’t necessarily mean to lose a friend.’
He heard her say under her breath, ‘They all say that.’ Then, more impulsively, ‘Oh, you know I didn’t mean it that way! You couldn’t really think so!’
He smiled.
‘I didn’t think so.’
‘You mustn’t ever. There isn’t anyone in the world who wants you to get well as much as I do. You know, at first I didn’t think you would. Only a nurse mustn’t let herself feel like that, and when you began to get better I was so thankful. And then you didn’t get on as fast as I hoped you would, but I kept on hoping.’
Jerome had an uncomfortable feeling that the temperature of this interview was remaining obstinately high. He made another effort to bring it down.
‘We have all a great deal to be thankful for. Do you know where the Superintendent is? I haven’t seen him yet, and I should like to do so. I think when he arrived you told him I was resting.’ He smiled again. ‘That sort of thing isn’t necessary, you know. I am quite ready to see him as soon as he finds it convenient.’
For a moment he wondered whether she was going to flare up. She coloured, met his eyes with something of a blaze in hers, and then suddenly turned round and went out of the room, leaving him to reflect wryly that women were incalculable creatures. What a moment to choose for a scene! As if there was not enough without that! He supposed that all their nerves were strung up and ready to jangle at a touch. Only Lesley was herself—calm, strong, lovable, and loving. The thought of her was like fresh air to a prisoner, cool water to a thirsty man. The few words he had had with her on the telephone were a link with all that was wholesome, normal, hopeful. And presently she would come over and they would have a quiet time together when all this police business had been got through.
He leaned back in his chair and gave himself up to thoughts of her and of their future.