Some Must Watch by Ethel Lina White (top 10 motivational books TXT) đ
- Author: Ethel Lina White
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merely to do a job, and he supposed, that sheâlike all the other
girlsâwould go at the end of the month, if she lasted as long.
The novelty of his attention stimulated her confidence.
âDo you mean the will?â she asked boldly.
He nodded.
âWill sheâor wonât she?â
âWe talked about it,â said Helen, inflated with her own importance. âI
advised her not to keep putting it off.â Newton gave a shout of
excitement. âAunt Blanche. Come here.â,
Miss Warren was wafted by some terrestrial wind out of the drawingroom,
in obedience to her nephewâs call. For some inexplicable reason, the
shambling short-sighted youth seemed to sway the affection of his own
womankind, even if he failed to hold his wife.
âWhat is it?â she asked.
âEpic news,â Newton told her. âMiss Capel has worked faster in five
minutes than the rest of us in five years. Sheâs got Gran to talk about
her will.â
âNot exactly that,â explained Helen. âBut she said she couldnât die,
because she had a job to doâan unpleasant job, which everyone puts off.â
âGood enough,â nodded Newton. âWell, Miss Capel, I only hope you will go
on with the good work, if sheâs wakeful, tonight.â
Even Miss Warren seemed impressed by the fresh development, for she
looked, more or less directly, at Helen.
âExtraordinary,â she murmured. âYou seem to have more influence over
her than anyone else.â
Helen walked away, conscious that she had been betrayed by her impulse
to play to the gallery. Now that the family had a direct personal
interest in her relations with Lady Warren, she could only expect their
opposition, if she appealed to them against the verdict of the blue
room.
But she continued to hold her head high, as though sustained by popular
support on her way to execution, even while she shrank from her first
glimpse of the scaffold. In her last minute, she would be alone.
When she reached the kitchen, she was instantly aware that Mrs. Oates
was in no mood for gossip, while Oates kept out of his wifeâs way, in a
significant manner. Regardless of Helenâs finery, Mrs. Oates pointed to
a steaming basin, on the table.
âJust blanch these for the tipsy-cake,â she said. âIâm behind with my
dinner. And Oates keeps dodging under my feet, until I donât know if Iâm
up in the air, or down a coal-mine.â
In a chastened mood, Helen sat down and gingerly popped almonds out of
their shrivelled brown skins. She had accepted the fact of the doctorâs
absence so completely that she ignored the sound of a bell ringing in
the basement hall.
It was Mrs. Oates who glanced at the indicator.
âFront door,â she snapped. âThatâll be the doctor.â
Helen sprang to her feet and rushed to the door.
âIâll let him in,â she cried.
âThank you, miss,â said Oates gratefully. âI havenât my trousers on.â
âDisgraceful,â laughed Helen, who knew he referred to the fact that he
put on his best trousers and a linen jacket, in order to carry in the
dinner.
Again hope soared, as she flew up the stairs and opened the front door,
letting in a sheet of torrential rain, driven before the gale, as well
as the doctor.
He was strongly-built, and inclined to be stocky, with short blunt
clean-shaven features. Helen beamed her wel come, while heâin
turnâlooked at her with approval.
âIs this Gala Night?â he asked.
His gaze held none of the uncomfortable suction of the nurseâs eyes, so
that Helen rejoiced in her new evening frock. But Dr. Parry was more
concerned by the hollows in her neck than struck by the whiteness of her
skin.
âOdd that you are not better developed,â he frowned, âwith all the
housework you do,â
âIâve not been doing any lately,â explained Helen.
âI see,â muttered Dr. Parry, as he wondered why voluntary starvation, in
the case of a slimming patient should fail to affect him, since the
result was the same.
âLike milk?â he asked. âBut, of course, you donât.â
âDonât I? Iâd be a peril, if I worked in a dairy.â
âYou ought to drink a lot. Iâll speak to Mrs. Oates.â
The doctor drew off his leather motoring coat and flung it on the chair.
âDirty weather,â he said. âIt made me late. The roads are like broth.
How is Lady Warren tonight?â
âJust the same; she wants me to sleep with her.â
âWell, if I know anything about you, youâll enjoy doing that,â grinned
the doctor. âSomething new.â
âBut Iâm dreading it,â wailed Helen. âIâm
just hanging on you to tell them Iâm notânot competent.â
âJim-jams? Has the house got you, too? Are you finding it too lonely
here?â
âOh, no, itâs not just nerves. Iâve got a reason for being afraid.â
Contrary to her former experience, Helen held the doc torâs attention,
while she told him the story of the revolver.
âItâs a rum yarn,â he said. âBut Iâd believe anything of that old
surprise-packet. Iâll see if I can find out where sheâs hidden it.â
âAnd youâll say Iâm not to sleep with her?â insisted Helen.
But things were not so simple as that, for Dr. Parry rubbed his chin
doubtfully.
âI canât promise. I must see the nurse first. She may really need a good
night, if sheâs come straight off duty⊠Iâd better be going up.â
He swung open the doors leading to the hall. As they crossed it, he
spoke to her in an undertone.
âBuck up, old lady. It wonât be loaded. In any case; her eye will be
out, after all these years.â
âShe hit the nurse,â Helen reminded him.
âSheer fluke. Remember, sheâs an old woman. Donât bother to come up.â
âNo, Iâd better introduce you formally to the nurse,â insisted Helen,
who was anxious not to infringe professional etiquette.
But the glare in Nurse Barkerâs eye, when she opened the door, in answer
to Helenâs knock, told her that she had blundered again.
âIâve brought up Dr. Parry,â said Helen.
Nurse Barker inclined her head in a stately bow.
âHow long have you been here, doctor?â she asked.
âOh, five minutes or so,â he replied.
âIn future, doctor, will you, please, come straight to the bedroom?â
asked the nurse. âLady Warren has been worried, because you were late.â
âCertainly, nurse, if itâs like that,â said the doctor.
Helen turned away with a sinking heart. The woman seemed to dominate the
young doctor with her will even as she appeared to tower over himâan
optical illusion, due to the white overall.
Simoneâin all the glory of her sensational gownâswept past her in the
hall. Even in the midst of her own problem, Helen noticed that she was
literally drenched with emotion. Her eyes sparkled with tears, her lips
trembled, her hands were clenched.
She was in the grip of frustrate desire, which converted her into a
storm-centre of rage. She was angry with Newtonâbecause he was an
obstacle; angry with Stephenâbecause he was unresponsive; angry with
herselfâbecause she had lost her grip.
And all these complex passions were slowly merging on one person whom
she believed to be the other woman in the case. She was obsessed with
the idea that Stephen was turning her down for the sake of the
flaxen-haired barmaid at the Bull.
The help, in spite of her new frock, might have been invisible, for she
passed her without the slightest notice. And when Helen reached the
kitchen, Mrs. Oates also received her with silent gloom.
It seemed as though the mental atmosphere of the Summit was curdled with
acidity.
âYou wonât have to hold back dinner much longer,â said Helen in the hope
of cheering Mrs. Oates. âThe doctor will soon be gone.â
âItâs not that,â remarked Mrs. Oates glumly.
âThen whatâs the matter?â
âOates.â
âWhatâs he done?â
âNothing. But heâs always here, night and day, so that, a woman canât
never be alone. Donât you never get married, miss.â
Helen stared at her. She had always admired the goodnature with which
Mrs. Oates accepted her husbandâs laziness and supplemented his efforts.
Although he did not pull his weight, she always made a joke of it, while
a rough, but real, affection turned their partnership into very good
company.
âItâs for better, or worse,â said Helen tactfully, âand I can understand
Mr. Oates grabbing you; because he could see you were a âbetterâ. Now, I
canât see the man whoâd marry Nurse Barker⊠I wonder if she
drinks.â
âEh?â asked Mrs. Oates absently.
âWell,â shrugged Helen, âshe was probably right to insist on having the
brandy, even if Miss Warren does say that the oxygen is Lady Warrenâs
life.â
Mrs. Oates only stared at Helenâher brow puckered as though she were
grappling with a complicated sum in vulgar fractions. Presently,
however, she finished her calculations, and gave her own jolly laugh.
âWell, you donât often see me under the weather, do you?â she asked.
âAnd, talking of husbands, the best is bad, but Iâve got the bestâŠ
Now, my dear, just listen for the doctor. Directly he goes, I want to
slip upstairs with a bit of pudding for Nurse.â
Helen vaguely resented the attention as treachery to wards herself.
âTake her tipsy-cake, to go with her brandy,â she ad vised.
âNow, somebodyâs on her hind-legs.â Mrs. Oates laughed. âBut sheâs got to
go through the night on only a snack. She may look like a slab of stale
fish, but a nurseâs life is a hard one.â
Helen felt ashamed of her resentment, as she waited on the kitchen
stairs, which was her listening-in station. She was still puzzled by
Mrs. Oatesâ changes of mood, for she was not temperamental by nature.
For no explicable reason, she swayed to and fro, like a weathercock.
Whence came the mysterious wind which was blowing on her?
âThereâs something wrong about this house, tonight,â decided Helen.
Hearing Dr. Parryâs voice in the distance, she shouted to Mrs. Oates,
and dashed up into the hall. Directly he saw her, Dr. Parry came to meet
her. His face was red and he bristled with suppressed anger.
âMiss Capel,â he said, using the formal voice of a stranger, âif there
is any question of your sleeping with Lady Warren, tonight, understand,
I will not sanction it.â
Helen realized, at once, that Nurse Barker had overreached herself with
her high-handed methods. Although her heart sang at her release,
experience had taught her the advantage of appealing to the fount of
authority.
âYes, doctor,â she said meekly. âBut if Nurse Barker goes to Miss
Warren, sheâll get her own way.â
âIn that case,â he said, âIâll go straight to the Professor. No woman
shall bullyrag me. If thereâs any opposition to my orders, some
other doctor can take the case. I only hang on, because my own
motherâthe dearest soulâhad a tongue which would raise a blister on a
tortoiseâs back. For her sake, Iâve a bit of a weak spot for the old
b-blessing.â
Helen drew back when they reached the Professorâs study.
âCome in with me,â said the doctor.
In spite of her awe of the Professor, Helen obeyed eagerly. The
curiosity which would have propelled her to visit any strange and savage
beast in its lair, made her anxious to see her employer in his privacy.
She was struck by the resemblance to Miss Warrenâs room. Like
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