Nurse Trudie is Engaged Read Free

at the extension— ”
    Her words were interrupted by the sharp shrilling of the telephone on her desk, and with a murmured “ Excuse me ” she picked up the instrument. A moment or so. later she looked across at Philip.
    “ You ’ re wanted, ” she said crisply, handing the instrument to him. “ It ’ s urgent. A man has been injured loading heavy machinery over at Grainers. The ambulance men state severe internal injuries. ”
    Philip was on his feet, ready for action arid eager to help. He paused briefly.
    “ Nurse Hislop told me she was to go on off duty this afternoon, ” he said quietly. “ Do you think she could come to the operating room first? ”
    “ I have no doubt it can be arranged, ” Matron said primly, wondering as she began to dial briskly whether it was just Nurse Hislop ’ s work or her undoubtedly attractive and lovely face that lay behind the request. But Philip gave her no clue. With a brief “ Thanks, ” he was out of her office and on his way to change. Once she had made certain Trudie Hislop would be available Matron sat back for a few moments and allowed herself the luxury of a brief daydream.
    “ They ’ re a medical family, ” she was thinking of the Hislops, “ and old Doctor Stephen is a dear. It would help compensate Trudie, too, for Garth ’ s death— ” Then someone tapped on her door, and there was no time for further speculation.
    Trudie was ready and waiting as Philip scrubbed up and prepared to operate. She had been startled by this unexpected summons, startled and more than pleased, because it was Philip who had requested her presence. Watching him as he waited for the anesthetic to take effect on the patient, Trudie thought how the others would envy her. Yet, she chided herself, they all knew how stupid and utterly foolish it would be to build anything out of this.
    The operation was a long and complicated one, and Trudie watched, as she always did, fascinated by the skill of the surgeon, the sure, deft movements of his hands. At last it was all over and he could straighten his aching shoulders, turning for her to help him off with his coat.
    “ Thank you again, Nurse, ” he said, smiling down at her. “ I think we have finished for the day now. I hope you ’ re not too disappointed at missing some of your off duty? ”
    “ Not at all, ” Trudie assured him gravely, then she smiled suddenly. “ I won ’ t miss any of it, ” she told him. “ Matron added an extra day in compensation. ”
    “ I ’ m glad, ” Philip said sincerely; then he turned away and she was free to go.
    Upstairs in the room she shared with Nurse Anderson, Trudie was preparing to leave, quietly thinking over the miracle of Philip ’ s sending for her, the wonder of working with him twice in one day. She was in no mood for chatter, but Mary Anderson was by no means sensitive to atmosphere and as soon as Trudie appeared, she wanted to know all about it.
    “ I ’ ve never known him to ask for a particular nurse before, ” Mary said wonderingly. “ You must have made an impression this morning. What did you do? You couldn ’ t have fainted. Clarice Cole tried that, and all he did was order them to carry her out to recover. ”
    “ I didn ’ t do anything ... except my duty to the best of my ability. ” Trudie felt her words sounded prim and self-conscious, but Mary was too inquisitive to be critical.
    “ Duty! ” she scoffed. “ That ’ s an outmoded word, even in a place like this. We ’ re all doing a job. We just happen to be nurses. But you could say anyone doing their own job ‘ to the best of their ability, ’ whether it ’ s typing, teaching, or anything else is doing their duty. No, ” she shook her curly head, “ I ’ m not standing for that as an explanation as to why he singled you out, Hislop, and that ’ s a fact. There must have been something more. ”
    “ There wasn ’ t, ” Trudie said honestly. “ I just tried to think what instrument he ’ d be