“
How is Benjamin coping—or is he coping?
”
“
I
’
m sorry to tell you Benjamin is not.
”
“
Oh, Ba!
”
“
Yes, it
’
s a pity, but the Bureau wanted their own commissionaire in a green suit with gold braids, and as there are rattan blinds Benjy can
’
t even be kept on to open the front door.
”
“
Where is he, then? With Keefi in the kitchen?
”
“
You know Benjamin
’
s pride—and, besides, Keef
i
isn
’
t in the kitchen any more.
”
“
Not Keefi in the kitchen stoking the old stove
?
”
“
The old stove is an hygienic electric range, and it
’
s attended to by a cook in a tall white cap. Your dad wanted to retain Benjy and Keefi to work around the hotel, but they both went beach.
”
Barry turned to Margaret.
“
That
’
s our island equivalent of the Australian going walkabout,
”
he explained.
“
Has Vanda taken the tourists up to Lopi yet?
”
“
The tourists haven
’
t wanted to go, much to her relief. They seem quite contented to dance on the terrace at night and lounge on the beach by day.—And a funny thing about Lopi—
”
“
Yes?
”
But once more Ba shrugged and left it at that.
“
How is Mummy reacting to all this?
”
asked Jessa, respecting his dismissing shrug.
“
Well, one of the tourists has given her a new blue hair-do and another has persuaded her into a pair of those things that Benjamin wore when they had the Island Commissioner to lunch.
”
“
A foundation garment, but that
’
s nothing novel.
Mummy always wore foundations.
”
“
These are brand-new and make her look streamlined, just as the new Jessamine will be.
”
Ba sighed dolefully.
“
I liked the old Mrs. B. the best.
”
y
Jessa sighed after him.
“
I think I do, too. And Dad?
”
“
Don
’
t see much of him, he
’
s always ironing out the complaints of the waitresses or the maids.
”
“
The waitresses, maids—but Mary
...
Looney
...
Billy
’
s Annie
...
?
”
Ba said laconically,
“
When the new staff arrived, they, too, went beach.
”
“
A nice thing,
”
rebelled Jessa.
Barry took out the buns and lemonade and distributed them.
“
With
your
increase in salary I expected a cafe tea at least,
”
grumbled Jessa. She was unhappy over the news of home and had to grumble at someone. Progress might be a good thing, she thought, but she didn
’
t like the sound of the new Jessamine at all.
Ba took no notice of her complaints, he merely beamed as Margaret bit into a fat, varnished bun as appreciatively as he had bitten, her eyes, like his, on the harbour foreshore.
“
You
like it like this, don
’
t you, Meggy?
”
Margaret said,
“
Yes.
”
As they walked back across the Domain to their bus, Barry asked about their next break.
“
I can
’
t take you gratis,
”
he said regretfully,
“
but I can wangle a slice off your fares.
”
Margaret said she felt she should go home this time, and if she would agree to it for Jessamine to go with her. It was very quiet, of course, she added apologetically, and a long way off—over twelve hours if you went by train.
“
Where is this place?
”
demanded Barry.
“
North-west, a town called Biggabilla. We have a farm that runs down to a dried-up river bed.
”
“
No fish, then,
”
grinned Ba.
“
Only opals,
”
Margaret said.
Barry stopped just where he was.
“
Opals?
”
he echoed.
“
Enough for me to re-equip
Matthew Flinders 3?
Carry a staff?
The girls looked at him, bewildered.
“
What are you wanting to do,
”
demanded Jessa,
“
compete against the Bureau? Start a rival run of your own?
”
“
Compete, my foot. Look, kids, I have a feeling that this island boom is not going to last. Don
’
t ask me why. It
’
s just a feeling between yours truly and Lopi.
”
“
How does Lopi come into it?
”
demanded Jessa.
“
The goddess looks displeased, somehow. No extra steam
and not
a
m
u
mble out of her, but somehow I feel
—”
“
I know,
”
said Margaret eagerly,
“
you feel it might all fold up one day, and the island be back on the same old footing.
”
“
Exactly—but my air buggy could never go back on the same old footing,
”
admitted Ba.
“
The authorities would have something to say after the service the Bureau has been putting on. Prior to this I, and
Matthew Flinders,
could get away with anything so long as we were both passed airworthy, but if what I feel eventuates—this end of the Crescent Island boom, I mean—I
’
d have to satisfy with more than mere airworthiness. I
’
d have to carry a co-pilot-cum-navigator and a hostess who had had some experience as a nurse.
”
“
I,
”
said Margaret unexpectedly,
“
am a nurse.
”
Ba said levelly,
“
Applying for the position?
”
Margaret answered just as levelly,
“
Perhaps.
”
Jessa stood regarding the pair of them, feeling faintly puzzled.
“
If you don
’
t mind,
”
she said feelingly to them both presently, as it appeared that they were going to look at each other indefinitely,
“
I have to go on duty in half an hour.
”
“
Of course,
”
said Margaret, but she said it oddly, even absently.
They all resumed walking.
“
About those opals—anyone ever get any?
”
queried Ba. Margaret nodded.
“
But you have to be lucky. The odds are against you.
”
She paused, then,
“
Would you like to try your hand, Barry? There
’
s plenty of room on the farm. When will you be off?
”
They went into a huddle as to dates and breaks.
Barry emerged triumphant.
“
I
’
d have three days up there. I
’
d like to see your home, Meg.
”
Jessa made no comment. She was remembering how someone else had wanted to see a home
.
It had been
Professor Gink, and the home he had wanted to see had been hers.
The Professor saying he wanted to visit Crescent Island, Ba saying he wanted to visit Biggabilla
...
But all this was wrong, quite wrong, frowned Jessa. The Professor should be going to Biggabilla, not Ba.
Oh, the best-laid plans, she shrugged.
She decided, fate being an unreliable jade, to make a definite forward move to her Cause.
“
Why can
’
t we make it a foursome?
”
she suggested boldly.
“
You once mentioned the new infant welfare centre Biggabilla is putting up, Meg, so why can
’
t you
“
“
You don
’
t mean ask the
Professor
?
”
Margaret
’
s voice was horrified, hushed and reverent at the same time.
“
It
’
s rather a small undertaking for a big man like that. I
’
d never dare.
”
Then
I
’
ll
ask him,
”
promised Jessa—and could promptly have kicked herself. How could she approach a mighty figure like the Professor with a request as humble as an infant welfare centre in a tiny hamlet in the North-west? And particularly, she remembered sadly, when he had discarded a doodled blotter almost as though it included
Nurse Jess
in it; had started a fresh sheet
Margaret was giving her a maddening look as though she understood something, and of course there was nothing to be understood, or at least for Margaret
’
s understanding. There was only Jessa
’
s own intrigue, that intrigue that was to bring Meg and Professor Gin
k
together for the betterment of a Cause, and Margaret could never anticipate
that.
All Barry was anticipating meanwhile was opals. Bags of opals, fortunes.
“
I don
’
t know about bags, but I do know about fortunes,
”
smiled Margaret,
“
they are very rarely made up there.
”
“
A little fortune will do,
”
beamed Ba happily. There was simply no discouraging him. All at once he began whistling blithely as he walked.
“
Ba
’
s a mystery,
”
commented Jessa after they had parted ways with the pilot.
“
One minute down on the ground, the next up in the clouds.
”
“
That
’
s his job,
”
reminded Margaret softly... very softly.
Jessa pondered over that soft tone a moment, then shrugged it away as not worth consideration.
“
Yes, but look how desolate he was just now, then how he brightened up suddenly.
”
She frowned over the recollection, then grinned.
“
It must have been the opals, of course.
”
And Margaret said,
“
Yes, of course.
”
CHAPTER X
BUT it was to be some time before they all went together to Biggabilla.
Never an idle place, almost overnight, or so it seemed, Belinda became a positive hub of feverish activity.
“
It
’
s the spring approaching,
”
said Sister Helen,
“
there
’
s always more babies in the spring—and especially, for some reason, prems. So anxious for their first greening of the year, I expect, they just won
’
t wait their allotted term.
”
She tested the temperature of a new arrival
’
s crib.
“
A fat lot of good it
’
ll do you,
”
she scolded the tiny inmate done up like an eskimo babe.
“
All you
’
ll see of blossomtime will be the roses your mother has embroidered on your vest. And where will it get you in the long run? You
’
ll be four months older than you should be, and when you
’
re thirty, young woman, you
’
ll be wishing it was t
’
other way
‘
bout.
”
She grinned and added shrewdly,
“
Only in years, not months.
”
Jessa had now become expert in dealing with the nervous parents who were so warmly encouraged to visit their babies as often, if perforce briefly, as they could.
There were no restricted hours for these visitors. They popped in whenever it suited them and were allowed to sit with their babies for ten minutes. As the tiny ones approached normal weight they were permitted to nurse them, give them a gentle cuddle, ruffle their silky hair if they had any, press a loving kiss. Handling was kept to a minimum with the very small prems, but Professor Gink, always anxious for the human element, passed blandly over science when it came to their slightly bigger brothers and sisters.
“
Of course the little darling doesn
’
t realize I
’
m here,
”
sighed one wistful young mother who had been out of hospital three weeks now, but who could not expe
ct
her son home for another month.
Jessa smiled encouragingly at her.
“
But he
does,
you know.
”
She peeped secretly at the baby
’
s tag and read
“
Charles Rhodes
”
and recognized the mite as the newcomer the nurses called Dusty.
“
Charles does know you
’
re here, Mrs. Rhodes,
”
she insisted.
“
What
’
s more he even knows you
’
re Mummy.
”
“
He does?
”
Mrs. Rhodes
’
s face lit up
beatifically
. Then it fell again.
“
You
’
re just saying that, Nurse.
”
“
I
’
m not saying it, our finest authority on premature babies has been saying it for years—the great Professor Gink.
”
As she assured it, Jessa felt rather than saw a third person in the small nursery. It was not night-time, so there was no light to cast a lanky shadow on a wall, yet she knew, without turning, that
he
was back... that
he
had come into the room.
“
Professor Gink,
”
Mrs. Rhodes was echoing reverently. She looked very impressed. She also looked a trifle impatiently on the tall untidy man in the baggy suit and large owl glasses who had followed after them into the annexe. Really, some parents had no sense of the proper dress for the proper occasion at all. You would have thought that at least he would have had a dust and a brush. And that shaggy hair
Just as well babies
were
unaware (in spite of what the great Professor Gink said) because no self-respecting child would be pleased to have a visit from a daddy like that.
Mrs. Rhodes looked down on her own immaculate suit (so nice and slim round the tummy again) and thought how well-turned-out Big Charles had looked when he had visited the hospital with her last Sunday.
She wondered which baby belonged to the lanky man, and as she gazed around the Professor looked appealingly at
Jessa and shook a warning head.
“
I was so thrilled when little Charles came to Belinda,
”
chattered Mrs. Rhodes,
“
because I knew then he would be under the very best man. Everybody,
simply everybody,
knows Professor Gink.
”
Her eye fell on a likely baby for the intruder in their midst, a thin, crumple-faced little mite swathed in thick bundlings of wool and in the middle of the thin crumple face a rather pink nose.
That
one, she thought, after a glance back to the Professor, that
’
s his child, the poor unfortunate little thing.
Jessa was wishing she
’
d go. She glanced across the clock and saw that Mrs. Rhodes
’
s time was up. When she saw her disappointed face after she
’
d told her so, she felt sorry.
“
Come any time,
”
she fold Mrs. Rhodes.
“
I
’
ll come tomorrow. Goodbye, Nurse; goodbye, my sweet darling, do what you
’
re told for Mummy and Professor Gink.
”
After she had gone one of those odd shy silences they had known before fell upon them.
Then, just like the last silence, they broke it simultaneously with,
“
How is the Perfesser?
”
and then, embarrassed, became silent again.
Jessa recovered
first
. She waved her arm towards
“
Dusty
”
Rhodes and asked,
“
Why didn
’
t you want her to know?
”
He went ever pinker than the pink nose of the baby Mrs. Rhodes had
allotted
to him and stammered,
“
I don
’
t like to disappoint them; I know what they want and I know I don
’
t look right.
”
Before she knew it Jessa was saying,
“
You look right to me, Professor Gink.
”
“
Do I?
”
Only that she was consumed with embarrassment at her outburst Jess could have vowed there was eagerness in his tone.
The next moment she knew she must have dreamed it, for the Professor said banally,
“
They like a white uniform, a swinging stethoscope, a kindly but remote air like the doctors in books and films.
”
As banally Jessa suggested,
“
You could achieve all that.
”
“
I
’
m afraid not. I
’
m afraid my training never achieved me a very prepossessing manner. Of course
”
—with a whimsy
that touched at her heart—
“
I am not a prepossessing person. Just now, indeed
”
—he looked at her oddly—
“
I find myself more absorbed in possessing, Nurse Jess.
”
For some strange reason she could not look back at him. He bent over and checked on the temperature of
“
Dusty
”
Rhode
’
s cot.
Her silence must have disconcerted him, for he said clumsily,
“
Anyway, a bedside manner isn
’
t needed beside a humidicrib.
”
“
No,
”
she agreed, head still averted. I must make some remark, she was thinking desperately, something to tide over that awkwardness after he said,
“
I find myself more absorbed in possessing, Nurse Jess.
”
Possessing whom? Is it dear dedicated Margaret you are talking about, dear dedicated Professor Gink?
She turned round determinedly and began,
“
How is the
Per
—”
but again the Professor had started at the same
time as she had.
This time they laughed.
“
Congratulations on your examination results, Nurse,
”
said the Professor.
“
I was pleased when I learned.
”
“
But you knew, of course; you tested me.
”
“
That is only half the trial. Matron Martha watches you from day to day and makes notes.
”
“
But she couldn
’
t have made good notes on me, I
’
ve collected nothing but chid upon chid.
”
As he looked questioningly at her she recited, as she had to Margaret,
“
Come when you
’
re called, Do as you
’
re bid; Shut the door after you, Never be chid.
”
She said,
“
It
’
s a nursery rhyme, Professor Gink.
”
He was nodding gravely.
“
And you would still remember nursery rhymes,
”
he said.
“
You are not so far away from them yourself.
”
“
I
’
m twenty-two.
”
“
The age of wisdom
... or the age of love?
”
Jessamine knew she was blushing furiously.
“
I came rather down in the G.S. results,
”
she heard herself babbling,
“
so I
’
m not very wise. Margaret was always on top.
”
“
Then the age of love,
”
he persisted, ignoring Margaret.
“
Margaret,
”
she persisted in her turn doggedly,
“
has both.
”
There were steps along the corridor. One of the very new nurses came in. Jessa introduced her and had the satisfaction of seeing Nurse Gwen
’
s rather superior expression change to respect and awe.
“
I shall go and look at our foundling,
”
said Professor Gink.
The Perfesser was now on the closed-in verandah. He had graduated beyond three hot water bottles between two mattresses and there was no need to check the temperature of his crib.
“
Is he really
the
Gink?
”
whispered Nurse Gwen watching the lanky figure through the small window as he bent over Master X
’
s cot.
“
He
’
s not a bit like I imagined him. I sort of saw him in a white uniform with a swinging stethoscope
“
“
And with a kindly but remote air
“
“
Yes.
”
Nurse Gwen peered again.
“
All the same, he
’
s rather nice.
”
“
Yes,
”
said Jessa in her turn, and the odd little pain in her heart was so definite now she could have cried out at it.
“
Yes, he is.
”
The Professor came back.
“
He
’
s toughening up nicely. Started him on water baths yet?
”