Tender Nurse Read Online Free PDF Page B

with a man like our Martin! In any case, how do you know that it was he who reported you?”
    Andrea looked at her in surprise. “Who else could it have been? There was no one else there.”
    “It may have been Sister Fisher.”
    “If that is so, then he must have told her about the incident himself. It would be just like him, he’s so full of his own importance.”
    Virginia smiled tolerantly. “Well, he is rather important,” she pointed out.
    “In his own particular sphere perhaps, yes, but that doesn’t give him the right to be so abominably conceited in other matters. He evidently imagines that all the nurses are falling over themselves to be dated by him if he thinks that one of us will stoop to inventing a thing like that.”
    Virginia eyed her quizzically. “You are in a state about him aren’t you?”
    Andrea plumped up a pillow for her back. “Well, I’m certainly not lining up in the queue to be asked out.”
    Virginia threw back her head and laughed.
    Andrea looked at her in mild surprise. “I mean that, Virginia. He has obviously taken so many of the nurses out at one time and another that it was taken for granted I had been out with him too.”
    “My dear girl,” said Virginia, still laughing, “wherever did you get the idea—that he had taken so many of the nurses out?”
    “Well, hasn’t he? That’s the impression I’ve been given.”
    “No. It’s just wishful thinking on their part—and they are falling over themselves to be dated by him. But Martin has never been known to date a nurse yet.”
    “He hasn’t?”
    “No, he has not . They’d be only too flattered if he did. The very fact that his position makes him rather unapproachable adds to his attraction. Besides that, he’s young, good looking and he can be very charming on occasions.”
    Andrea suddenly remembered how he had ordered a stool to be brought for her, and how wonderful he had been to the patients.
    “He may be all you say he is,” she conceded, “but quite apart from that, it infuriates me to see the way everyone kow-tows to him.”
    “Well, you can hardly blame him for that, can you?”
    “But he allows it.”
    “My dear, he probably isn’t even aware of it.” She looked thoughtfully at her friend. “You seem rather prejudiced against our Martin if you don’t mind my saying so.”
    Andrea reddened. “Oh, let’s talk about something else, Virginia.”
    Virginia gave her a sidelong glance. She liked this somewhat quick-tempered girl. She admired the untiring way in which she gave herself to her patients; nothing was too much trouble for her. Her sympathy was warm and ready, even with the difficult ones, revealing a particularly loving and generous nature. There must be some reason for her prejudice against Martin Graham.
    “All right,” she said good humoredly. “Tell me about this friend of yours — the one whose car broke down when this other ‘odious’ person gave you a lift.”
    Andrea longed to tell Virginia about the incident on the ward as well as the one in the car — her attitude toward the surgeon would not then seem so unreasonable — but a strange reticence prevented her.
    “Oh, Godfrey is all right,” she answered lamely.
    Virginia’s eyes widened. “Only ‘all right’?”
    “Well, he’s rather a dear, really.”
    “You’re not engaged then?”
    “Oh no——”
    “Nor in love?”
    “I hardly know.”
    “Well, my dear, if you don’t know, the answer is definitely in the negative surely?”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Virginia. I do love Godfrey in a way, and I know he loves me. He has asked me to marry him, but——”
    “But you didn’t want to commit yourself, eh?”
    “That sounds a little heartless. It’s not that, Virginia. Somehow I wanted to begin my nursing career free, if you know what I mean. If I’d embarked on my training already engaged, it would have made my nursing seem such a transient thing — something to be got over as quickly as possible