Victoria and the Nightingale Read Free Page A

first—”
    “You were quite right.” The doctor ignored the rest of them and moved forward to the side of the chair that contained Victoria and bent over her. He smiled at her reassuringly as he picked up her wrist and felt her pulse. “You’ve had a nasty shock,” he said. And then, over his shoulder, “I’d be glad if you would all leave the room while I make my examination ... all, that is, except Mrs. Grainge, whom I shall probably need.”
    The butler looked mildly scandalized at the very idea of Sir Peter being requested to leave his own library, but Wycherley took the young woman with whom he had entered the room by the arm and propelled her toward the door.
    “Out, sweetheart,” he said. “We’re not needed here.”
    She protested immediately, looking up at him with great dark eyes. She was a graceful slip of a thing in scarlet brocade, and not only was she attractive, but the depth and color of her dress emphasized her peculiarly exotic type of loveliness.
    “But, Peter,” she argued, “you can’t have your house turned into a kind of hospital just because there’s been an accident. We’re having a celebration, remember? And there’s the local hospital. . . .”
    “Probably they’re full up,” he replied, still urging her purposefully toward the door. “And Dr. Brown wants us out of here.”
    “But what about all the guests? You’re not going to break up the party?”
    “It’ll soon be breakfast time,” he said, fairly whisking her into the hall, “and it’s high time the party was broken up in any case.”
    As soon as they were outside, and the room was cleared, the doctor gave his undivided attention to Victoria. He pronounced, at last, that apart from a few abrasions and some rather bad bruises she appeared to have sustained little damage—which was, of course, remarkable; and at the moment she was suffering from shock. He could tell by her dilated eyes, and by the quality of her pallor, that she was suffering from rather serious shock, and his prescription was bed immediately, and on the following day he would look in and give her a rather more detailed examination just to make absolutely certain there were no bones broken, or anything of that sort.
    He gave her an anti-tetanus injection, which made her feel slightly worse than she had before, and then he took the housekeeper aside and issued a few instructions. Victoria, who realized she was putting these people to an enormous amount of trouble, and perhaps it wasn’t necessary if she could be fixed up with a hotel room, or the local hospital would take her in for the remainder of the night, interrupted the discussion to protest feebly that she was perfectly all right now, and she didn’t think she ought to remain. But the doctor crossed over to her again and smiled at her understandingly.
    “Don’t be silly,” he said. “You’re not putting anyone to undue trouble, and this house is so full of rooms that are only infrequently used. Isn’t that so, Mrs. Grainge?” He appealed to the housekeeper.
    She was a motherly woman with a Scottish accent, and she answered at once.
    “That’s right, love.” She laid a hand on Victoria’s shoulder. “And Sir Peter’s a very kind gentleman and you mustn’t take any notice of what Miss Islesworth said because she’s only become engaged to Sir Peter, and tonight they were having a bit of a celebration ... an engagement party I suppose you’d call it.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry.” Victoria was sorry, and she looked faintly appalled.
    Mrs. Grainge patted her gently on the shoulder.
    “It’s not your fault, love. Accidents will happen, and the little lad upstairs is the one to be sympathized with if his father was badly injured in the crash. Let’s hope there’ll be some good news of him tomorrow.” She looked rather more curiously at Victoria. “Is the gentleman a relative of yours, my dear?”
    Victoria answered briefly, “My employer.”
    “I see.”
    The doctor looked