Stormspell Read Free Page A

bracing himself against the iron- bedpost, and as he looked around the room, she wished she had made her bed before leaving. But he had to rest, and this was the only place, and regaining her breath, she began to pull the covers straight beneath him.
    Celeste hovered in the doorway, and Ruth turned to her impatiently. The black woman seemed fascinated by their visitor, and Ruth didn't appreciate having to issue her instructions which ought not to have been needed.
    'Will you tell Daddy what's happened?' she suggested. her eyes flashing messages that Celeste either couldn't or wouldn't understand. 'Ask him if he'll come here, will you? And then make some tea—hot and strong, with plenty of sugar.'
    'Yes'm.' Unwillingly, Celeste complied, sauntering off down the hall with evident reluctance. It was not every day they had visitors and she would obviously have much preferred to stay and hear where he had come from.
    'She's intrigued.' the man declared, resting back against the pillows Ruth had newly shaken. There was a faintly humorous twist to his mouth as he spoke, but the evidence of the pain he was still suffering was there in the darkness of his eyes. 'I'm sorry to be such a nuisance to you. I'll get out of your way as fast as I can. But. for now—if I could just rest—'
    'Your arm needs stitching,' said Ruth, when he would have closed his eyes. 'That tourniquet has to come off. My father will know what to do.'
    The man's lids lifted heavily. 'Is your father a doctor?'
    'No.' Ruth hesitated. 'He—he was a university professor. But he knows about such things. He's attended to the village people. And when Celeste's cousin was bitten by a barracuda—'
    'That's enough.' The man licked his lips weakly. 'Could I have some water, do you suppose? I'm very thirsty.'
    'Of course.'
    With reluctance, she went to the door, but as she reached it her father appeared in the aperture, his lined face drawn into a puzzled frown.
    'Celeste told me—she said—'
    'That's right. Daddy.' Ruth gestured towards the bed behind her. 'This man's yacht capsized in the storm. I found him on the beach.'
    Professor Jason entered the room with his slow, somewhat breathless gait. Even the smallest exercise tired him these days, and it was all he could do to get about the bungalow, or sit on the verandah with his pipe and his books. Age. and illness, had emaciated his always spare frame, and he stooped slightly, as if his body was curving in on itself.
    Ruth placed a chair for her father beside the bed. near enough for him to examine the injured man's arm without effort, and then waited hesitantly for his verdict. Like Celeste, she found, she was curiously loath to leave him. and she felt a certain amount of responsibility for his being there.
    'I'm sorry for the intrusion, sir.' He was speaking now. addressing her father, giving the older man time to regain his breath. 'But it was one hell of a storm, and I vaguely recall the keel scraping over some rocks before we turned over.'
    Professor Jason frowned, reaching for his arm and examining the wound. 'You were alone?' he asked, voicing the question Ruth had been considering, and the man nodded.
    'I guess no one else was crazy enough to come with me.' he remarked, glancing mockingly at Ruth, and she felt again that curious stirring in the pit of her stomach.
    'Tell me. Mr—er—' Her father waited expectantly. and the man complied.
    'Howard.' he said, after a moment. 'Dominic Howard.' and her father inclined his head.
    'Tell me. Mr Howard.' he continued, 'have you had any anti-tetanus shots in the last six months?'
    The younger man frowned. 'Not that I can recall, sir. Is it important?'
    'It may be.' replied Professor Jason levelly. 'This is a deep wound. It can be dangerous. I think some kind of anti-toxin is necessary. I can stitch up the wound, but I think a doctor's diagnosis is warranted.'
    'That's okay.' Dominic Howard shifted on the bed. 'I'll have a doctor take a look at it as soon as I get back