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at Dar-es-Salaam. Women do not customarily travel on our trains alone! It’s true that Mrs. Wayne mentioned you to my mother as a nurse, but naturally she thought that all arrangements for your passage would have to be made, and that can be rather difficult at this time of year. We had no idea that you were on the point of arrival!’
    There was an agitated little silence.
    ‘ I — I thought it had all been agreed!’ Sara whispered. ‘There was no one at Dar-es-Salaam, it’s true, but I thought perhaps that was usual. I sent a telegram saying what train I was catching.’
    ‘It is not at all “usual”, Miss Wayne!’ For a moment she thought she saw a glimmer of humour in his eyes. He looked her up and down as though she was something that he was buying. ‘I suppose you are a nurse?’ he asked.
    ‘ Yes .’ she said. She wondered almost desperately why she didn’t tell him all about her qualifications, but somehow she could not.
    ‘Well, that’s one thing we can soon find out! You can s tart a month’s trial at the hospital tomorrow, but you must understand that if you’re not up to our standards here, no consideration for your uncle’s family will make me keep you on!’
    S ara’s head went up. ‘Our standards’ indeed!
    ‘I shouldn’t want to be kept on under those circumstances,’ she said proudly.
    He nodded curtly.
    ‘Good! I’ll see about your work permit.’
    He walked calmly out of the room without bothering to glance at her aunt. Sara looked at her a little nervously. She still wasn’t sure exactly what had gone wrong. Her aunt looked more pleased with herself than ever.
    ‘I knew he wouldn’t be really angry once he’d s een you!’ she said.

 
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    ‘Are you still frightfully angry?’ Felicity asked across the breakfast table.
    Sara smiled at her over the blue and white striped crockery.
    ‘Not angry exactly, but it does put me in rather a false position, doesn’t it? You see, I have the feeling that the job is being made for me, and much as I want to stay in Tanzania, I prefer to work for my livings really work!’
    Felicity blinked at her.
    ‘Oh, you will!’ she assured her. ‘Matt should have been born somewhere in the Southern States of America. I can just see him flicking his whip and watching all the slaves jump to it! Besides, he really did need another nurse. Of course, he might have got away with paying a local nurse less, but I don’t suppose he’ll really quibble so long as you’re efficient.’ She poured Sara out another cup of tea, her lips twitching with amusement. ‘Any other girl,’ she remarked, ‘would have been as mad as a hatter at being left to travel up by train, but you don’t seem to care about that part of it at all!’
    ‘Well, why should I?’ Sara demanded. ‘Back at home we still use them, so naturally I thought you would out here too!’
    ‘We do sometimes, but only if we have to. Would you like me to run you over to the hospital? I collected the jeep for you yesterday.’
    Sara’s heart sank a little.
    ‘A jeep?’ she repeated.
    ‘Yes. The genuine article, left-hand drive, the lot! It went right through the desert campaign in the war, and just occasionally shows her age, but when she is going, she goes like a bomb!’ Felicity pushed back her chair and stood up stretching. ‘By the way,’ she drawled, ‘did anyone tell you that you look very fetching in that uniform of yours?’
    Rather to her annoyance, Sara found herself blushing. There was a dry undertone to all Felicity’s remarks, as though she found the whole thing rather amusing. Sara wondered whether she really was as cynical as she made out, or whether it was just a pose she had found useful to adopt.
    They hurried out to the waiting jeep, which looked quite monstrous to Sara, sitting in the middle of the drive with its battered hood all cock-eyed.
    ‘Am I really expected to drive that?’ she asked a little hollowly.
    ‘Sure. Why not? You might have to