Strange Recompense Read Free Page A

but—before that, I have no memory at all.”
    “What you feel now may pass as soon as you have had a good rest,” he explained. “These are the essential things at present: I am a doctor, and I shall look after you.”
    Her eyes clung to his for a moment longer, and then, slowly, they closed and a small sigh of utter exhaustion escaped her lips. Noel Melford turned round to where his sister waited.
    “Best leave her where she is,” he advised as they went from the room together. “She’ll mend more quickly that way.”
    “What do you think, Noel?” Ruth asked. Now that they could speak more freely she was beginning to realize that she had committed them both to considerable responsibility. “Do you think she’s likely to get her memory back and—how soon shall we have to tell the police about her?”
    “Right away, I think.” He took out a cigarette and lit it, blowing the smoke thoughtfully above his head. “Her people may be trying to trace her, and if there’s been an accident anywhere the police may be looking for her even now. It’s a grim business, this amnesia, difficult to fight at the best of times,” he observed, “and generally full of all sorts of complications. How old would you say that child was?”
    Ruth considered.
    “Older than she looks in the present circumstances, I should think,” she decided. “About twenty-three or four. Does age help?”
    “Everything helps. Approximate age may help to establish possible reasons for the amnesia, although there are no hard and fast rules. In the morning I shall see what I can do with the one clue we have found—the name on the handkerchief. Anna, wasn’t it? If it is really her own name, which is very likely, then the rest may be easy.” He moved restlessly about the kitchen, following in her wake as she prepared a meal, as if he sought some sort of assurance from her presence. “We could have done without this.”
    Ruth turned to put an affectionate hand on his arm.
    “I’m sorry, Noel,” she apologized. “I’ve thrust this on you without a great deal of thought, I’m afraid, when you were busy enough in the ordinary way—too busy, I sometimes think.” Her eyes pleaded with him to understand. “But I had to bring her home, Noel. There was something about her—not actually pathetic—that’s not the right word—but—in need of help.’ She turned away, not quite sure why she should suddenly feel that she was pleading with him on her own account. “I had to bring her,” she repeated .
    “Of course you had to bring her!” He put a firm hand under her arm. “Your motherly instinct will out, old l ady! Don’t worry too much about it,” he went on to advise. “We’ve handled amnesia before. I’ll give Tranby a ring in the morning and get him to come over and have a look at your protégé e and if she’s all right by then we can send her on her way rejoicing.”
    He had spoken lightly for her benefit, but Ruth knew that he had never taken any of his cases lightly, that the girl she had brought to Glynmareth would remain their responsibility until he had established her identity beyond the shadow of a doubt and freed her from her present bondage.
    “Hullo, there, Ruth! I’ve brought along the necessary help. Fancy you turning the villa into a rival establishment!”
    The gay voice drifted in from the garden and Ruth turned to the open door.
    “It’s Sara!” she smiled “We’re in here, my dear—consulting in the kitchen!”
    A tall young woman in the uniform of a nursing sister appeared in the doorway, her immaculate white coat and cap dazzling bright in the sunshine as she paused for a moment to consider brother and sister with a satisfied smile. Sara Enman experienced the old thrill of warmth and achievement as she looked into Noel Melford’s eyes, although, as yet, she could not lay claim to his affections with any real authority. His eyes were a little remote today, she mused, telling herself that she understood