Nurse Saxon's Patient Read Free Page B

day comes. I understand there will have to be wax baths, all sorts of massage and treatment for many weeks and perhaps months. Think about it when you ’ ve talked with Mr. Greensmith, and remember that anything which will add to your own or to your patient ’ s comfort and well-being will be arranged for you. Just one more thing ,’ she added as Julie, feeling herself dismissed, prepared to leave. ‘ I can ’ t interfere in a young man ’ s choice of a future wife ’ —for a moment the rose-pink lips set in a disapproving line— ‘ but if you ’ re able to have a talk with that dramatic-looking girl who claims she is Garth ’ s fiancée , please make it clear to her that I have no time for hysterics and such nonsense as that. She will be welcome as a visitor to Woodlands, but only when Mr. Greensmith says so, and not then if she upsets Garth in the slightest. Garth Holroyd is a brilliant young man with a wonderful future ahead of him. This town needs people like him, and his future must not be spoiled before it has even begun. You understand? ’
    ‘ I think so, Mrs. Crossman, ’ Julie said cautiously.
    ‘ I ’ m sure you do. ’ The elder woman smiled. ‘ You ’ re far too sensible not to understand what I ’ m trying to say, ’ she went on crisply. ‘ I could only wish—for his own sake—that Garth had chosen someone like yourself to share his life !’

 
    CHAPTER II
    The next five days passed so slowly that it seemed to Julie she had spent a lifetime at the bedside of Garth Holroyd, and yet the young man showed no signs of returning to a knowledge of the world around him.
    Tansy Maitland, the girl who had been with him in his little car on the night of the accident, had, reluctantly, gone back to her own small flat after being assured repeatedly that she would be called the moment there was anything at all to report.
    ‘ I ’ m sorry if I ’ ve been a nuisance, Nurse, ’ she confessed to Julie, ‘ but I ’ m very anxious ...’
    ‘ We understand, ’ Julie sympathized. ‘ It isn ’ t the same for us, I know, but please believe me when I say we are all ... anxious, too. Once he is able to recognize people, to talk to you, even a little, it won ’ t be so very frightening, I assure you. ’
    ‘ Will he know what happened? ’ Tansy asked again. ‘ I don ’ t mean about the trailer. I mean ... will he, for instance, know what we were talking about when the thing hit us? ’
    She looked so upset, so genuinely distressed, that Julie was determined to reassure her, whether she spoke the exact truth or not.
    ‘ I should imagine so, ’ she said gently. ‘ It ’ s hard to tell in cases of concussion. Sometimes there is a temporary loss of memory, acute depression and so on, but that we shan ’ t know until he regains consciousness. Anyhow, as soon as Mr. Holroyd is conscious, I ’ ll personally see to it that you ’ re the first person to be notified. I can do no more than that. ’
    ‘ Thank you, Nurse. I was right, you are kind. You don ’ t treat me as if I ’ m a spoiled child the way all the others seem to do. You have my address? ’ she ended, asking the question for at least the tenth time.
    Julie nodded. ‘ I have it, ’ she assured the other girl. ‘ Don ’ t forget, if you have a sudden call from your agent o r whoever it is, leave word where you can be contacted. ’
    ‘ It would have to be something important to get me away from here right now, ’ Tansy commented. Julie smiled and turned away, but she had only gone halfway down the corridor when Tansy came running after her.
    ‘ Nurse, ’ she began, her tone curiously agitated as it had been when Julie first encountered her, ‘ what about Garth ’ s car ? Where is it, and how badly is it damaged ?’
    ‘ I don ’ t know quite where it is, ’ Julie told her truthfully, ‘ but I should imagine it ’ s in Bell ’ s garage. The police took it away after the accident. They and the insurance companies—that is