House of Doors Read Online Free PDF Page B

time I slept properly, and I haven’t eaten since  . . . oh, sometime yesterday. I should have thought to bring something, sandwiches, something. But I haven’t been thinking any too clearly in recent days, it’s all been such a rush to get here. Spending the night on Darlington station must just have been the last straw. I didn’t try to sleep, I’m afraid. And then the motor made me feel sick, a little, and stepping out – well, I came over all dizzy,’ and the rest you know.
    That should do.
    â€˜Hmm. Nothing to do with young Tolchard’s looks, then?’
    â€˜Oh.’ In honesty, it hadn’t even occurred to her – but of course he would think that. Wonder about it, at least. ‘Good lord, sir, no. If a damaged face could make me pass out, I wouldn’t have worked through the Blitz. I’ve seen worse than Flying Officer Tolchard. And no one so well patched up, either  . . .’
    He snorted. ‘Flattery cuts no ice with me, young woman,’ but she thought he was pleased none the less. Pleased that he needn’t send her back, at least, as unfit for his purposes.
    â€˜Of course not, sir – but I look forward to watching you at work. Assisting in theatre, if I’m allowed to.’ And then, determinedly bright and sitting up, ‘Is this your office?’
    â€˜Not mine, no. M’colleague’s, Major Dorian. Trick cyclist. You met him. He’s not here today, but this was the best place to bring you. Otherwise it was treat you where you lay. Couldn’t take you into one of the wards, let the men see their new ward sister flat on her back. Bad enough that those boys who fetched you saw you go. I’ve sworn them to secrecy and they’ll keep their word, it won’t be all over the hospital, but even so  . . .’
    â€˜It will, you know.’
    â€˜Beg pardon?’
    â€˜It will be all over the hospital. By now, most likely. By lights-out, most certainly.’
    â€˜No, no. They gave their word.’
    â€˜And they’ll keep it, I know – but even so. Did you carry me in here yourself?’
    â€˜Yes, I did. That Tolchard boy fetched me at a run, and  . . .’
    â€˜And then you sent him off to, where, to the kitchens to fetch a glass of water or a cup of hot sweet tea, while you carried me however far this is from the back door? So the kitchen staff know that something’s afoot, and so does any nurse who saw us in the corridor, and any orderly who was plying a mop in the vicinity. And this is a hospital , which is worse than boarding school for simple gossip. No one has literally anything better to do here than talk about other people.’
    He blinked, slowly, as he thought about it. Then he said, ‘Well, I didn’t see an orderly. That means nothing. You’re quite right, of course. There may have been faces in doorways, and scurrying footsteps. You’ll just have to deal with it, as best you can. Come!’
    That last was not to Ruth. Rather it was bellowed at the door, in response to a hammered tattoo.
    It was, of course, Flying Officer Tolchard. With reinforcements, because he couldn’t both knock and carry.
    In this same house, in another world – before the war, that was – his drafted assistant would have been a housemaid, no doubt, or a kitchen maid. Perhaps the chance would come again. In the meantime, in this world, she wore another kind of uniform and would no doubt have saluted if she hadn’t had both hands full of tray.
    â€˜I did ask for brandy, sir,’ Tolchard was explaining, a little incoherently, trying to justify himself and his companion.
    â€˜I sent you for water,’ the colonel observed, quite mildly.
    â€˜Yes, sir. I, ah, amended your suggestion.’ Of course he did: young man with a reputation and no experience, dismissing water out of hand, wanting to do better by her. Fainting females required