Miss Mary Martha Crawford (16 page)

anything else, but for that stiff-necked young madam to take it

upon-herself to disobey his order, and his orders last night had been firm and to the effect that the child was not to be touched in any way until he saw her again. If those rags were stuck into the flesh he'd have to give her another whiff of chloroform. And he'd make that one stand by and watch. ;

More than that, he'd make her take those rags off.

When the door opened he did not turn his head to wards it but he was aware that she was advancing up the room some way ahead of her

sister.

Not until she stopped at the bottom of the couch did he turn his head slowly and look at her. : He pointed downwards, then said, "What orders did I leave with you last night?"

"You didn't leave any orders with me."

"I stressed emphatically that the child hadn't to be touched until I saw her today." His voice was low but his words were like grit being pressed through his teeth.

"You did not give me any such order. You may have given it to Dill,.

the maid, but you did not speak to me about what you wanted done."

She had been about to say Dilly, as the old one was called, but she had substituted the maid. The upstart!

"That is mere prevarication; you knew what I wished. Now you'll have the pleasure of stripping those bandages off and taking more flesh away with them. It will be a very painful experience for you but more so

for the patient, for they usually scream."

Martha's hand moved to her throat. Again she felt the choking

sensation of anger that never seemed to be far from her nowadays. Her eyes dropped for a* moment to the white linen strips she had put round the tortured limbs early this morning. They no longer looked white,

not even olive coloured with the melted butter, but brown, a dirty

brown. She felt sick. She said now, "They won't have stuck... I... I put plenty of butter on."

"Try one. Go on." He napped his hands downwards.

"Try one." His voice was still quiet, ominously so.

She remained still and stiff, staring at him. He was a horrible man; he looked ugly, coarse, common. He had no right to be a doctor, there was no semblance of a gentleman about him, neither in looks, manner, speech, nor in any other way.

"Go on, I'm waiting to prove your theory, oiled bandages don't stick, strips of soiled linen..."

"They weren't soiled, they were clean." She was up in arms now,

"Perfectly clean."

"Clean? Lying in musty drawers. Handled by one and another of you.

Clean! Let me tell you, miss, that no linen is clean unless it has

been sterilized. What you stuck round that raw flesh was yards of

germ-filled material. But, of course, you've never heard of germs. I can't blame you for that. Well, now is the time for you to learn about them. Go and wash your hands in carbolic if you've got any, if you

haven't I can supply it. "

He now turned his head towards Nancy where she was standing staring at him as if he were the devil himself and although his voice was still low when he said to her, "Bring me a dish of water," she reacted as if he had barked at her.

She went scurrying from the room in a manner not unlike that which had been Peg's usual mode of walk. And it would seem that she had found

the water outside the door, so soon did she return. And it could have been that time had really stood still during her absence because she saw that Martha Mary had not moved.

She watched the doctor pour some liquid into the water, swill it round, then without looking at Martha Mary motion his head towards her,

saying, "Wash your hands, and be quick about it." There was a brief silence in the room before Martha parted her lips and'in a low voice that nevertheless trembled with indignation said, You have no right to come into this house and speak to me in that way. "

"What!" He turned his head to the side, his nostrils widening as if he were sniffing. Then in a voice that had lost most of its

aggressiveness, but which to her conveyed more insult, he said, "Don't be silly, young woman. Come off your high horse and make yourself

useful. I'm going to give her a whiff ii3 of chloroform. It won't

last long. Now you take one leg and I'll take the other, and start

unrolling those bandages."

"I we... I can't."

"You put them on, didn't you?"

"I.. r. I don't want to hurt her."

He straightened his back for a moment, and again he was staring at her; then quite gently he said now, "She won't feel anything. If you do what I tell you she won't feel a thing. Wash your hands." He nodded towards the dish.

"Go on."

As if she were now mesmerized she washed her hands in the carbolic

water, and when she looked around for something to dry them on he said,

"Don't dry them, don't touch anything. Just those bandages.... Now."

A minute passed, two, three, she made the effort, some of the bandages had stuck, others hadn't. Then came the moment when she knew for

certain she was on the point of collapse.

When she was pushed roughly aside, not by his elbows but by a thrust of his hip, she could not call up any feeling of indignation to her aid, but stood like a chastened child gripping the back of the couch and

watching his hands moving with swift skill until the two raw pieces of flesh around the ankles and the calves were once again exposed.

When he had finished he gathered, the bandages up in his hands and

stared at them for a moment; then looking at her, he said, "Why didn't you continue your good work on her arms? They're in a worse condition than her legs. Hadn't you any more linen left?"

He now thrust his hands into the bowl again, then raised his eyes to where Nancy was standing, still looking at him as if she were viewing the devil. She was a pretty girl, with a sweet face, not a bit like

that of her elder sister, and he should imagine her disposition was

different too. He wanted to say to her, "It's all right. Get that look off your face, I'm not going to eat you," but what he said was"

and quietly, " Throw these away, please, and bring me some fresh water.

"

Fresh. Here was another problem. The water would be all right if it

was from a well, but he had seen no sign of one in the yard. If it was pumped up from the river into which the sewage flowed, well what

then?

As Nancy went out Dilly entered bearing a tray on which there was a

bowl and a plate of thick slices of new bread. Laying it on the side table, she said to him, "I thought perhaps you could do with this doctor, an' there's tea if you want it."

He was bending over the couch again, but he turned his face towards

her, then looked at the tray and said, "That's very kind of you. Soup, is it?"

"Aye, soup."

"That will do me fine now, but I'd be glad of a cup of tea before I go; I may be here an hour or so."

"I'll see to it, doctor." She nodded to him, turned about and walked out of the room.

She hadn't looked towards Martha; it was as if she hadn't seen her

standing with her hands still gripping the back of the couch, but she had seen her, and she thought to herself laconically, He's the last

straw for her.

It must have been ten minutes later when he sat down by the head of the couch and looked to where Martha still stood as if transfixed. She had the same look on her face that he had seen on weak-stomach-students who had just witnessed a gory operation. But suddenly he found himself

looking at her differently, as if at a new patient. Her face had no

vestige of colour in it; even her eyes appeared colourless. He

couldn't make out if they were green, grey, or hazel, only that they were lying too far back in her head for health.

Her lips too looked bloodless. They were full lips; she had a large

mouth. The only colour about her was her hair. It was brown, a deep

brown like the back of a new chestnut shell, but without its shine.

There was a lack of health in her and this was emphasized by her

thinness; she was almost without shape. But there was one thing he

knew for sure she didn't lack, and that was temper, and it was evident at this

"5 moment, for she was staring back at him as if she loathed him.

Likely she loathed all men; when women weren't married before they were twenty their emotions took one of two roads: along one all males were put into a single category and were evaded. And it was his opinion

that this was one of the main reasons the nunneries got an influx of applicants from women approaching thirty. The other, which was more

usual from his experience, was to barefacedly set out to trap men.

There seemed to be no happy medium with them; but then women had no

power of reasoning, it was all extremes He spoke now, saying lightly,

"It costs the same to sit." He even gave her a faint smile.

Whether she would have replied, he didn't know, for the door opened and Dilly came bustling in as quickly as her bulk allowed. She did not

speak to him but went straight to Martha's side and said softly, "She's goin' at it hammer and tongs. You'd better come." Now it was as if neither of them recognized his presence for Martha, looking at Dilly, said slowly, "I will presently... in a minute."

"Well, have it your way." The old woman turned and went out of the room as she had come in, and Harry asked himself while dunking his

bread in the soup, what all that was about. " He also told himself that if this child here wasn't so ill he'd let out a bawl that would blow that stupid girl from the end of the couch to which she appeared glued.

His attention was now drawn to Peg. The chloroform was wearing off and she was beginning to moan. When she opened her eyes he stroked her

brow and said, "There now.:

There now. "

She blinked up at him, then closed her eyes again, screwing them up

tight.

He reached out and, taking a glass from the table in which there was some liquid, he put it to her lips, saying, Drink this; drink it all up and go to sleep; you'll be all right. "

As Peg gulped at the liquid she looked up at him again through dazed pain-filled eyes, and he said, '"There now.

There now, off you go; go to sleep, my dear, go to sleep. " When he straightened his back, Martha had gone from the foot of the couch and was now standing by the fireplace, her back to him and her shoulders hunched as if she were crying, or in pain herself. Such was her

attitude that he was forced to ask, " Are you all right? " She turned slowly towards him and, each word distinct and weighed down with some form of emotion, which at the moment he couldn't place except in one way, and then it would be ridiculous to think she was spewing hate at him, she said, " Yes, I-am-quite-all-right-doctor-thank you. "

Perhaps it was her manner, the hard aggressiveness and his desire to probe why it should be turned so forcibly against himself that made him take a step towards her and say, "I would like to talk to you, but...

but not here, about the treatment." He motioned his head towards the couch.

"It is so important if she is to live that my directions be followed to the letter. Is there anywhere we could talk?"

"Yes, there are fourteen other rooms in the house but I don't see why anything you have to say can't be said now, and here!"

She had spoken in a hissing whisper and he literally gaped at her. By God! she was going too far this one, and no matter for what reason she was doing it if it weren't for disturbing the slumber of that little thing behind him he'd give her the length of his tongue this minute and so loudly that it would deafen her.

He had to make an effort to collect himself before he could say, "Very well then, I'll have my say here and now. And listen carefully. You

will not disturb anything in the room such as taking the ashes out;

you will raise no dust whatever, pick up no rugs. You understand me?

"

"I understand you perfectly."

"Then with regard to what she eats. Her strength must be kept up, so feed her broth, chicken broth or beef broth, in small quantities every hour or so. Administer the medicine as I will direct for the next two days. I am telling you this in case the snow lies and the roads are

blocked. Moreover, if she

dirties the bed, which she is likely to do, don't attempt to clean her up until she has had her medicine. "

He noticed now that with these last instructions she veiled her eyes.

Dear, dear, how sensitive we were; like all her breed she refused to recognize the un pleasantries of nature. How was it, he thought, that refinement and a little education tended to blinker such as this one, while those who were denied these social blessings accepted nature

naturally.

He turned abruptly from her, not to resume his seat beside the couch but to stand looking down at Peg for a moment. There was little more he could do for the poor creature; it all depended now on the strength of her constitution. If she had come from a sturdy stock, even taking into account her smallness, she might stand a chance. He went to the table and closed his bag with a snap.

He did not give her any farewell but marched out of the room and into the hall. As he pulled on his coat the younger sister came from a dim corner and, hurrying forward, opened the front door for him. He pulled his coat collar high up around his ears and stood for a moment looking at her. She was a real pretty girl. How old was she? Sixteen

perhaps. How old was that other one in there? By the sound of her she could be forty, but he guessed she was in her early twenties, perhaps twenty-three, twenty-four. He was a little surprised now when this

young one spoke to him. The look of fear had gone from her face, her expression now was soft, even pleading, as she said, "Martha Mary's very troubled. She... she didn't mean to be rude, she ... she never

is, but you see our ... father died recently and ... and she's had to see to everything. She is really very worried, and very tired; she's never off her feet."