Hospital corridors Read online

  Would romance be part of her new life? Madeline had left England behind for at least a year to nurse in a great Montreal hospital. But she found that, after all, she would not be among strangers. One of her patients would be Mrs. Sanders, whom she had nursed before and who was usually visited by her good-looking and attentive son. And Madeline might even get an opportunity to work with the handsome, illustrious Dr. Nat Lanyon the very man Madeline's own stepsister had recently jilted!

  "Are you giving me a warning, Doctor?" Madeline glanced at the famous surgeon uneasily, wondering how they had come to discuss her private affairs and especially Morton Sanders. "Not really," Dr. Lanyon admitted with his slight smile. "But you know that any girl who attracts Morton Sanders automatically becomes the target for his mother's insanely possessive jealousy. And though he is, of course, a handsome, charming creature who can look after himself very well, I doubt that he'd trouble to look after the girl." "I think that's unfair!" Madeline protested. "Perhaps.. But it's my definition of danger," he replied. "Personally, I feel major surgery would be safer by comparison. Always supposing, of course, that I performed the operation myself...."

  OTHER "Harlequin "Romances by MARY BURCHELL 1382TO JOURNEY TOGETHER 1405THE CURTAIN RISES 1431THE OTHER L1NDING GIRL 1455GIRL WITH A CHALLENGE 1474MY SISTER CELIA 1508CHILD OF MUSIC 1543BUT NOT FOR ME 1567DO NOT GO, MY LOVE 1587-MUSIC OF THE HEART 1632ONE MAN'S HEART 1655IT'S RUMOURED IN THE VILLAGE 1704EXCEPT MY LOVE 1733CALL AND I'LL COME 1767UNBIDDEN MELODY 1792PAY ME TOMORROW 1811STRANGERS MAY MARRY 1834SONG CYCLE 1871THE BRAVE IN HEART 1890TELL ME MY FORTUNE 1919JUSTA NICE GIRL 1936REMEMBERED SERENADE 1947THE GIRL IN THE BLUE DRESS 1964UNDER THE STARS OF PARIS 2043ELUSIVE HARMONY 2061HONEY 2290BARGAIN WIFE Many of these titles are available at your local bookseller. For a free catalogue listing all available Harlequin Romances. send your name and address to: HARLEQUIN READER SERVICE, M.P.O. Box 707, Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14302 Canadian address: Stratford, Ontario, Canada N5A 6W2 Hospital Corridors by MARYBURCHELL VarleqidnVooks TORONTO LONDON NEW YORK AMSTERDAM SYDNEY.HAMBURG-PARIS-STOCKHOLM Original hardcover edition published in 1955 by Mills & Boon Limited ISBN 0-373-00409-5 Harlequin edition published January 1958 Second printing March 1958 Third printing August 1958 Fourth printing October 1958 Fifth printing March 1959 Sixth printing November 1959 Seventh printing June 1962 Eighth printing January 1973 Ninth printing February 1974 Tenth printing May 1977 Eleventh'printing January 1980 Copyright 1955 by Mary Burchel). Philippine copyright 1980.

  Australian copyright 1980. All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilizationof this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical orother means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography,photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,is forbidden without the permission of the publisher. All the characters in thisbook have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have norelation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are noteven distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, andall the incidents are pure invention. The Harlequin trademark, consisting of the word HARLEQUIN and theportrayal of a Harlequin; is registered in the United States Patent Office and inthe Canada Trade Marks Office. Printed in Canada

  CHAPTER ONE

  "WELL, THERE it is!" The man standing beside Madeline at the ship's rail turned his head to look at her and, for a moment, she felt as though his curiously brilliant- glance took in every detail of her smooth dark hair and the warm pallor of her oval face. "Quebecthe only walled city in the whole continent of North America." "The only one?" Madeline gazed, fascinated, at the towering cliffs which dwarfed even the great ship that had brought them all those miles across the Atlantic. "Isn't that rather remarkable?" , i. ..i. "It must seem so to anyone who comes from the otherside," he agreed. "I suppose in that one sentence you have the explanation of why Canadians and Americans find it so hard to understand the hates and fears which divide Europe.""Ye-es?" She looked a little enquiring."Think of the city walls or gates in the north of England, in the south of England, in France; Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italyall monuments to a time when people hated and feared each other, with good reasonand imagine that in the whole continent of North America only one city ever thought it necessary to put up semi-permanent fortifications against a possible enemy! And then they were not used," he added with a laugh. "It's a different mentalitya different world."She glanced at him a little shyly and wished she could remember her history better. Then she looked back at the cliffs, dark against the late evening sky but edged still witn the last faint gold of the sun that had already set. "Is that' a castle perched on the very top?" she enquired. ' "Not a real castle. It is the Chateau Frontenac, one of the most famous and certainly one of the most romantically situated hotels in the world." "It doesn't look as though anyone could ever get up there," Madeline said. ,,1.1,"I guess that's the way it seemed to Wolfe, when helooked up there for the first time, long before either the Chateau or the fortification were built," the man replied with a grim little smile. Passionate desire for information about this new country then got the better of her. "I'm ashamed that I don't remember more," she admitted. "It's something to do with the conquest of Canada in the eighteenth century, isn't it?" He nodded, apparently not minding her ignorance but, rather, liking the chance to tell the story. "It was during the Seven Years' War, when England and France were in conflict, not only in Europe but in their recently established colonies. General Wolfe's instructions were simply to take Quebec from the French. He landed in that cove over there, below the cliff." He pointed with a hand which, Madeline noticed even then, was both strong and sensitive. "No one believed that any army could scale the Heights of Abraham, and the French felt so safe that they hardly even kept watch." "Please go on." Madeline turned to gaze in fascination at the spot where history had been, not written, but lived, "Wolfe brought his men up that impossible cliff by night. And when morning dawned the British army was drawn up in battle array on the Plains of Abraham. The battle took place and, in the moment of victory, Wolfe was killed. So was Montcalm, the defeated general." The man paused, then he said quietly, almost gently: "There is a common monument to them both " "To them both?" . "Yes. If you like, it symbolizes Canada. For at the end of that conflict there was drawn up one of the most generous treaties ever given by a victorious nation to adefeated one. From the moment it was signed the defeated French had equal rights with the .victorious British There is, you know," he said reflectively, "a great deal of nonsense talked about the way the British Empire was built Well, this part of it was built on a treaty drawn up nearly two hundred years ago which is a model to the world to this day. And typical of it all is the monument to the two opposing generals with a Latin inscription which saysFate gave them a common death, history a common fame and posterity a common monument.' " '^t's wonderful " the girl said softly. "It'sCanada " the man retorted a little whimsically. Then he gave her the slight, almost curt nod which she was beginning to recognize as characteristic and left her. Madeline stood looking after him as he threaded his way among the other people on deck, and she wished she knew who he was. In the very few leisure hours which had been at her disposal during this voyage she had, she supposed, seen more of him than of any other casual contact. And yet she had no idea of his identity. But then he had no idea of hers either. Perhaps he did not wish to, she thought, and somehow the possibility piqued her a little. Though what there was for him to know, she admitted to herself the next moment with some humor, was not of overwhelming interest. She was just Nurse Madeline Gill, travelling to Montreal to work in the big Dominion Hospital there, and the sole reason for her presence in the first class was that she was in charge of the very rich, very beautiful, very tir
esome Mrs. Sanders. It had not really been Madeline's intention that she should burden herself with the care of an exacting patient on this voyage. Mrs. Sanders had been one of the bright ideas of her half-sister, Clarissa, and Clarissa's bright ideas tended to be based on impulse, tinged with self-interest and paid for by someone other than herself Perfectly well aware of this though she was, in an ' amused, tolerant way, Madeline was yet fond of her halfsister, who had great personal charm. She was, however, even fonder of her stepmother, for it had been a blessed day when Madeline's father, left a widower when she herself was less than two years old, had married the charming, rather frivolous-seeming Enid Haldane. Most people in Professor Gill's somewhat academic circle had regarded the marriage with disfavor. But, m point of fact, the second Mrs. Gill concealed beneath a light-hearted exterior a warm heart and infinite resource.She had brought into the confused and dejected household of the widowed Professor not only order, but an atmosphere of sweet-tempered inconsequence in which love and laughter had flourished. Moreover, from the day she entered the house, she had taken Madeline to her heart, and never by word, look or deed had she implied that her stepdaughter was any less dear to her than her ownClarissa, who was bom a year later.The two girls got on well but never achieved realintimacy of heart and spirit. They differed both in looks and disposition, and when they grew up Clarissa gravitatedinevitably to London, where she became secretary toMorton Sanders, who was one of the most successful novelists and playwrights of the day. Madeline meanwhileremained in the Yorkshire town in which she had been bom and took her nurse's training in the big hospital there.As she stood now on the deck of the great transatlanticliner, watching the last of the evening light glimmer on slow-moving waters of the mighty St. Lawrence, Madelinerather thoughtfully reviewed the events which had broughther all these thousands of miles to a new life and a new First there had been her father's death and her stepmother's consequent desire to move away from the townwhich now held too many sad memories for her. "I thought I might move to London," she said doubtfully to Madeline. "I should be near Clarissa then, and youmight transfer to one of the big hospitals there."But Madeline did not care for the plan. She had recently completed her training, and she thought that, if shedid make a change, she wanted it to be something moreexciting than merely a transfer to another spell of much thesame routine, institutional life she had known during thelast four or five years.It was Clarissa who, at home for her father's funeral therefore present at more family discussions than usual, made an entirely unexpected contribution."Why don't we all emigrate?" she said, when consulted."We could go tooh, let's sayCanada."The other two looked taken aback. "Why Canada?" Madeline enquired, knowing thatthere was usually some personal consideration behind eventhe wildest of Clarissa's impulses. "Well" For a moment her half-sister hesitated. Then she apparently made up her mind to be more informative than she usually was about her own affairs. "Ihaven't told either of you yetI haven't really quite made up my own mindbut I'm probably going to marry aCanadian doctor, and I thought" 10 "Clarissa!" Both Enid and Madeline were astonished, dismayed and delighted, in the way one is when happynews and imminent separation crowd upon one another. "Who is he, darling? What is his name?" Enid looked half fearfully, half tenderly at her lovely child. "He is a surgeon, Mummievery brilliant, everyonetells me. His name is NatNathaniel Lanyon. He has been over here for a few months to do some lectures or something, and will be here a few months longer. I met him about six weeks ago.""Oh, darling! Is that time enough to have made upyour mind?" her mother exclaimed anxiously. "Not quite. But," Clarissa laughed, "he's made uphis. He is tremendously attractive in a ratherratherarrogant sort of way. I suppose you'll think he is a bit old for me but""How old?" Enid asked quickly. "Thirty-two." "That's young for a brilliant surgeon," Madeline put in."Anyway," Clarissa went on. "I thought Madelinemight like to have a year or so nursing in a Canadianhospital. Nat says they have quite a number of Englishgirls who go over there. You do an extra years trainingand then become a Canadian registered nurse, and can stayon or not, as you please. I thought it would be wonderfulto have you both there, and then I shouldn't feel homesick." Even then, Madeline had been hard put to it not tolaugh. Clarissa's naive assumption that everyone wouldalter their lives to suit her arrangements was quite characteristic. At the same time, there was something a littletouching in the fact that she wanted them both with her.Impulsive though the decision had seemed at first, she hadevidently given it some thoughtat any rate so far asfitting everything into her own plan was concerned. "I don't think I should like to make such a drastic change, darling," Enid said slowly. "I am older than bothof you and my roots are here." She sighed for the rootsthat had already been pulled up. "And though I mightcome out and visit you later, I should have to think a long while before I decided to emigrate." 11 "Well, if you even came for a long visit that would be wonderful!" Clarissa began to rearrange her plans. "Madeline and I would""Darling Clarissa, I haven't said I am coming either," Madeline had interrupted with a smile. "I too find the idea of emigration a bit sudden." "But a year in a hospital there isn't exactly emigration! You might consider that, surely?" exclaimed Clarissa impatiently. "You don't want to stay at All Souls for the rest of your life, for heaven's sake!"No, she did not, Madeline knew. She had been looking round rather vaguely for some sort of change which would promise new experience, new surroundings, newadventure, she supposed was the word that came to mind. This proposal of Clarissa's, crazy though it had sounded at first, did indeed suggest all these. "I'll think about it," she promised. "There is no tremendous hurry, I take it?" "Well" Clarissa looked only half satisfied and gave no special reassurance on that head. She liked to decide (and even to act sometimes) in a tremendous hurry. During the next few weeks, Madeline made her enquiries, studied literature from travel agencies and waited to hear news of Clarissa's engagement. The more she considered this idea of a year in a Canadian hospital, the more she liked it. From all accounts, the conditions were good, and about the thrilling interest of the journey itself there was no question. "SEE CANADA!" suggested one of the travel leaflets beguilingly, and Madeline turned the pages on a series of admirable color photographs. Mountain and lakeland, plain and city were depicted there. And, though it was possible that in real life the blue of an unknown Lake Louise was perhaps not quite so magical, the towering glacier in the background was breathtaking. And if autumn did not really come down with quite such golden glory on the Laurentian Mountains, at least Madeline began to think that she wanted to go and see it for herself. Clarissa, who wrote seldom, wrote just then and urged her to start negotiations with one of the hospitals in Montreal, as it was there that she expected to live. And, after some correspondence, and with much fewer com12 plications than she had expected, Madeline arranged to be entered as a student nurse at the Dominion Hospital there. Enid was enthusiastic over the new arrangements. She herself had finally decided to live for a while with a favorite bachelor brother somewhere on the South Coast, and she was delighted that Madeline, as well as Clarissa, had decided on a future which would not require her to keep her own home going. "Not that I shan't miss you both, darling," she told Madeline. "But I am so glad for you to have such wonderful experiences to look forward to. And then, provided my bank balance will allow of it, I shall certainly come out and visit you. If I like it there, we might even Well, we'll see." At this point Clarissa wrote to say she had just married the nicest man in the worldwho turned out to be, not Nat Lanyon, but a certain Gerald Maine, of whom neither Enid nor Madeline had ever heard. It's all terribly sudden, I know (she wrote). But when you meet Gerald you will understand. I'm afraid poor Nat has taken my defection badly. But, as I told him, it's so much better I should find out now, rather than later. It isn't as though we were absolutely engaged. Anyway, there was no question of anyone else. I have known Gerald for quite a time, but it was only in the last weeks that we found out how we felt about each other. We are having a honeymoon in Paris. I am sorry, darlings, that there was no big and glamorous weddingbut
maybe that wouldn't have done anyway, so soon after Daddy's funeral. As it was, Gerald had to go to Paris on business, so it seemed absurd not to take the chance of making that our honeymoon. You do understand, don't you? Of course they understood. They were considerably taken aback, they were anxious over the suddenness of her choice, they felt guilty on her behalf so far as the unfortunate Nat Lanyon was concerned. But they understood all right for this, alas, was the way Clarissa had always managed her own life and those of other people. "I feel dreadfully sorry for that other poor boy " Enid said. "He's not a boy, Enid, which makes it worse " Madeline pointed out. "He is if Clarissa's original description is to be believed a successful and distinguished man who has 13 probably received a bad blow to his pride as well as his affections." "Oh dear! But people do get over these things " Enid said hopefully. "And anyway I can't help a certain relief to think you won't either of you be going so far away after all. I was delighted for your sakes before but if you don't have to go" "But I am going " Madeline stated firmly. "Without Clarissaor anyone else?" "Certainly. I've made all my arrangements, I've been looking forward to this trip for weeks and I've no intention of altering my plans now." "But the whole plan was based on the idea of Clarissa being therewith a home of her own " En^d protested. "Really, I can't help that." Madeline sounded a little impatient for once. "I want to go to Canada now purely from my own point of view and I'm certainly not going to arrange and rearrange my life according to Clarissa's rather unpredictable decisions. I'm sorry she won't be there but / am going." And so disregarding the measure of nervousness and anxiety now imparted to the plan, Madeline determinedy went ahead with her arrangements. Less than a fortnight before she was due to leave Clarissa returned from her honeymoon and accompanied by the husband she had preferred to the distinguished Nat Lanyon she came north to visit her mother and stepsister. Secretly Madeline had not much liked Gerald Maine whom she thought altogether too casual, though witty and evidently prepared to make himself charming. But Clarissa seemed very well satisfied with her choice and that after all Madeline told herself was the important thing where Gerald was concerned. "I was astonished when you wroteand toldme you were going on with your Canadian project " Clarissa said. "But I suppose it's a case of almost anything for a change after those dreary years at All Souls." Madeline said drily that was not quite how she had looked at it. That in fact she loved her work, that, broadly speaking she had greatly enjoyed her years at All Souls but that the Canadian trip once she had made the deU cision seemed to her to promise some wonderful experiences. "Yeswell, of course," agreed Clarissa, who had not attended to much more than the first third of this. "But I was just going to tell youthe most extraordinary piece of luck happened! By the way your boat is the Empress of Dunedin sailing on Friday week isn't it?" she said in sudden parenthesis. "Yes." "Then .it's the most amazing and fortunate thing! You will never guess what I've managed to do for you darling. I have more or less arranged for you to travel first class with all your expenses paid." "But " said Madeline controlling a desire to scream at Clarissa's pleasantly arbitrary way of riding roughshod over other people's affairs "I have already arranged to go Tourist and have paid my fare." "Then you can unpay it" Clarissa assured her. "I mean it can be refunded or whatever they do in these cases. There is no point in spending money unnecessarily. Besides first class is not to be sneezed-at. I went in to see Morton Sanders when I got back from my honeymoon, more or less to see how my successor was getting on. And then I found that he was going to Montreal on family business. He is half Canadian you know. He and his mother will be travelling on the same boat as you and she had nerve trouble or something and needs a nurse to look after her on the voyage. I thought of you at once. It's perfect isn't it?""No " Madeline retorted with energy "I don't know that it is. I meant to have a glorious week's holiday on the voyage." "But, my dear, it's not as though she is really ill " protested Clarissa airily which immediately made Madeline reflect that the not-really-ill patient is usually the one who gives all the trouble. "It's a wonderful opportunity." Madeline looked unconvinced. "How far have you committed me?" she enquired. "I said I was nearly sure you would be on the same boat and that you were a nurse. Personally I think it's providential." 15 Madeline smiled a little dryly. "If she were really ill of course I would be prepared to help " she said. "But someone who is vaguely described as a nerve case can be almost anything from a spoiled woman to a raving lunatic." "She's not a raving lunatic " Clarissa asserted, with such comforting conviction that Madeline laughed. "Well that's something," Madeline conceded with humor. And then, as a new thought struck her, she turned quickly to her stepmother. "Why, of course, if my passage were paid, I could leave over the one I have already booked. It could be deferred until later in the year and then you could use it! That would make it possible for you to come and visit me." Enid exclaimed with delight, while Clarissa said complacently, "I knew you'd see the advantages if you thought it over. Here is Morton Sanders' phone number. You'd better have a long-distance call and arrange to see him sometime." Madeline had already planned to go to London for a couple of days during that week, in order to visit the shipping office and make her final arrangements. So, later that evening, she telephoned to Clarissa's one-time employer in order to arrange a meeting. It was a gay, faintly mocking voice which replied to her. A voice which curiously excited her interest, though she could not quite have said why. "I shall be immensely relieved if you can arrange to travel with us, Miss Gill," Morton Sanders said frankly. "My mother isn't seriously ill, in the sense of being incapacitated all the time. She has some sort of neurological trouble which results in violent headaches and a tendency to nervous collapse. But if you are with us I shall feel much less worried on her account." In some odd way, the interesting voice banished any doubts Madeline had entertained about the proposed arrangement, and she found herself saying how glad she was that Clarissa had made the suggestion that she could help. She arranged a time for her call at the Sanders' London flat, and came away from the telephone thoughtful and in some way intrigued. 16 "He sounds nice," she said carelessly to Clarissa. "Nice?" Clarissa considered the choice of word and laughed. "I don't know that he'd consider that a compliment himself. Buthe definitely has something." Madeline naturally asked what. ' "It's rather difficult to say. You'll see what I mean when you meet him. He has all the charm of success, of courseand a sort of mocking gaiety which is provocative. I don't think," Clarissa said, with a sudden and unusual insight, "that he believes in anyone or anything but himself." "That doesn't sound at all attractive to me!" Madeline exclaimed rather indignantly."It is. Especially to women," Clarissa assured her equably. "I suppose each one hopes to make him believe in her, as the great exception. He's a good deal run after, and his Mamma just tears herself to pieces between pride in him and jealousy of all the other women." Madeline's misgivings returned at this point a hundredfold but it was too late to draw back now. And so she went to London a few days later, and met Morton Sanders for the first time.Less than two weeks ago. It was hard to believe thatnow Madeline ran her hand thoughtfully up and down the deck rail and tried to decide whether she was glad or sorry that he had come into her life. He had made an instantaneous impression, that moming in the elegant drawing-room of his London home. Quite extraordinarily handsome by any standards, he was tall and well-built, with lively intelligent eyes and a wellcut mouth that would have been sensual but for the firm way he set his lips. , .To Madeline he had been charming, almost cordial, mhis mannerbut she had immediately known what Clarissa had meant about the provocative nature of his attraction. He had spoken of his mother with a sort of cool affection, and she had, with some difficulty, reminded herself that it was Mrs. Sanders, not Morton Sanders, who would be her concern during the voyage. - Before Madeline had been taken to meet her patient, the doctor had come in and, sending Morton Sanders up17 stairs to announce their arrival, had contrived to have a few words alone with her. "It's not altogether an easy case, Nurse," he had said with candor, "but there will be little
professional work involved. There is certainly some deep neurological disturbance, and the headaches are genuine enough. But, in addition, she is a very attractive, self-centred woman who has been spoiled. If she takes a fancy to you, you'll have no trouble at all. Otherwise Well, it's only for a week," he finished philosophically. "One of those difficult borderline cases where it's hard to tell how much is true sickness and how much self-indulgence." "Just the sort of thing I should have chosen to avoid on my lovely trip," thought Madeline ruefully. But there was nothing she could do about it now. That first meeting with Mrs. Sanders had been quite reassuring. Undoubtedly delicate-looking, very beautiful, and singularly soft-voiced, she had inspired Madeline with pity rather than misgiving. And everything had promised well when her cool, beautiful fingers had closed round Madeline's hand and she had said rather pathetically, "I'm so glad you are coming with us. I have been dreading this journey." s It did occur to Madeline that no one was forcing her to take the journey. But she spoke reassuringly and in her most friendly manner, and after some discussion it was arranged that they should meet at the boat, since Morton Sanders and his mother would be coming from London and Madeline from her Yorkshire home. That meeting on the boat! Madeline smiled ruefully now when she recalled it, but she had felt hot with annoyance and embarrassment at the time. She herself had arrived first, still aching a little from the good-byes which had had to be said, but unutterably thrilled at finding herself actually aboard a transatlantic liner, treading at last the white, scrubbed decks of the ship that was to carry her to the new world. The suite reserved for her employers and herself was far more luxurious than anything she had imagined curiously reminiscent of an elegant country house, with chintz curtains fluttering at the windows and the furniture 18 both intrinsically beautiful and admirably designed to save space.She was enchanted with it all, and when Mrs. Sanders arrived on the arm of a sympathetic stewardess, Morton being elsewhere engaged on something to do with the luggage, Madeline hurried forward with an eager smile. But there was no answering smile on Mrs. Sanders' face Her dark eyes looked as beautiful as ever, but surprise and then unmistakable vexation clouded their depths. "But, Nurse," she said, her voice soft, but her displeasure obvious, "you are not in uniform!" "Whywhy, no, Mrs. Sanders." Madeline was taken aback by this greeting. "I wasn't expecting to wear uniform on the journey. I am not entitled to wear my All Souls uniform now I have left, you know. And until I reach Montreal I" "That is not of any interest to me!" The beautiful voice was suddenly very cold. "Your expenses are being paid in order that you should act as nurse to me on this journey. I expect you to look like a nurse." Madeline bit her lip to control the anger which rose in her at this form of address. But a glance of humorous sympathy from the stewardessas well as the warning note of hysteria which she detected in her employer's voiceprompted her to reply peaceably, "I can't have my Dominion uniforms until I arrive, Mrs Sanders. But I have some white overalls with me-" "And caps, I hope." "And caps," agreed Madeline, remembering thankfully that she had kept some of her All Souls caps, for sentiment's sake as much as anything. "Very well. Wear them, please," Mrs. Sanders said, and went on to her own cabin, leaving Madeline feeling like a Victorian housemaid caught in undress, as she put it to herself. This, so far as Mrs. Sanders' attitude was concerned, had set'the keynote for the journey. Not, Madeline decided later, that she particularly wanted to establish any sense of inferiority in her young companion. It was just that she liked the picture of herself as fragile and suffering, 19 with a trained nurse in attendance. And for this purpose some sort of uniform was essential! Forewarned by what Clarissa had said of Mrs. Sanders' jealousy where any woman noticed by her son was concerned, Madeline maintained a scrupulously circumspect, even reserved, air towards him. He found this amusing,she rather thought, and not a little intriguing. And, though he avoided anything in his mother's presence which might lead to trouble, Madeline had an idea from the beginning that he intended to get to know her very much better when she was off duty and, so to speak, in her own identity. In practice, however, her off-duty hours proved few. And, in any case, a deep, inner instinct warned Madeline that, even when Mrs. Sanders was not there, it would be wiser to avoid any intimate contact with Morton Sanders. Though whether this was because of any possible trouble with his mother or because of his own rather dangerous attraction she was not sure. In point of fact, it was while she was attempting to avoid just such a meeting that she had first encountered the unknown man who intrigued and interested her. It was fairly late one evening, when Mrs. Sanders was settled for the night and Madeline, suddenly tired of her makeshift uniform, decided to change and go out on deck, if only to pretend to herself for half an hour that she was an ordinary passenger, free to enjoy herself, instead of a somewhat harassed nurse, without the time or opportunity to wear any of the lovely dresses she had planned to use on this voyage. She slipped into a grey chiffon dinner dress and, taking the beautiful red stole which had been Enid's extravagant parting gift to her, went out on deck. Overhead arched the starry night sky, on every side stretched the endless waters of the Atlantic, flecked with ever-moving wavecaps. Snatches of dance music came to her-from the ballroom, but distantly, so that they seemed little more than part of the magic of the night. For a while Madeline stood by the deck rail, watching groups and couples pass and repass, emerging from the shadows and disappearing into them once more. And though at first the scene fascinated her, presently a sense of 20 loneliness and isolation began to come upon her for, thanks to Mrs. Sanders' demands upon her, there was hardly a contact she had been able to make on board. She had no part in this scene at all.Suddenly, it seemed silly to have put on her beautiful dress and the challenging stoledressing up for an occasion which did not exist. And, even as she thought this, she saw Morton Sanders coming along the deck towards her. He had not seen her yet, and all at once she was passionately anxious that he should not see her thus. Standing there all alone, dressed up, as thoughalmost as though she were waiting for him, she thought, blushing hotly in the dark. She turned and hurried away, hardly caring where she went, so long as he did not catch up with her. She had no idea where she was going and almost immediately found herself at a dead end, except for a ladder which apparently led to an even higher deck. Without hesitation Madeline ran up this. But, as she reached the top, she caught her foot in a fold of her dress, stumbled and would have fallen if someone had not stepped from a patch of shadow and caught her by the arm. "You are in a hurry, aren't you?" said a man's voice with a hint of amusement in it. "Are you running away from someone?" "Oh, nono, not exactly," she stammered, too confused to think of anything light and self-possessed. "I just didn't wantto be seen.""Didn't you? But"he regarded her in the half-light with still amused but not unkindly eyes"if I may say so, you seem to me very well worth seeing." "Oh"she caught her breath on an embarrassed little laugh"thank you. I didn't mean quite that. I" Then the impossibility of explaining struck her and she finished rather lamely, "It was all a bit silly, really." "Then forget about it," he said easily. "Come and look at the stars and talk to me instead." She looked at him then with more attention and saw that, although he was not outstandingly tall and was rather slightly built, he had an air of easy and unmistakable authority which made his lightly spoken invitation a compliment. -I 'So she fell into step beside him and almost immediately he asked abruptly, "Why haven't I seen you before? Are you a particularly glamorous stowaway or something?" "Oh, no!" Madeline laughed and began to feel more at ease. "I'm" She hesitated, decided not to be too expansive about herself, and said, "I'm travelling with my employer and his mother. They keep me pretty busy." He glanced at her quizzically. "Then it seems a pity to waste your short hour of liberty hiding yourself on the top deck in that remarkably attractive dress. Why aren't you dancing in the ballroom down below?" he said, as a door opened somewhere and the murmur of dance music drifted up to them. "Mostly because I don't know anyone to dance with," Madeline confessed with a smile. "There hasn't been much chance to meet anyone and" "The
n come now," he said rather imperiously, and he took her hand, lightly but as though he did not expect her to draw it away. "Come and dance with me." Afterwards she was a little astonished to think how willingly she went with him, without even knowing his name. In retrospect, the way he had made the decision for her had seemed almost peremptory. And yet, at the time, that indefinable air of authority had had its effect. She had gone with himand she had enjoyed herself immensely, for the short time that was left before the dance music ceased. It had been, she reflected now, as the boat slowly nosed its way towards the dock, about the nicest thing which had happened on the whole voyage. It had not been repeated there had been no opportunity for thatand she had not seen him to speak to again until he had come to stand beside her as she took her first long look at Quebec. Madeline glanced at her watch and decided it was time to go to her cabin, slip on her white overall and cap once more, and see if Mrs. Sanders wanted anything before she settled for the night. Tomorrow, when they reached Montreal, they would be saying goodbye, and that, thought Madeline, would probably be the most welcome thing Mrs. Sanders would ever say to her. 22 That it would also mean saying goodbye to Morton Sanders was not such a welcome thought. But perhaps it was just as well that they had never come to know each other better. She had the curious conviction that people had sometimes very much regretted knowing him well. And, even as she thought this, and assured herself, not quite sincerely, that she was glad things had turned out this way, Morton Sanders came along the deck and stopped beside her, to look down at her with that curiously provocative smile. .,.,.. ...i "Well, it's beginning to look like journey s end, isn t it? We get into Montreal sometime tomorrow." . "Yes. Sometime in the afternoon, I hear." She wished that didn't sound quite so stiff and .formal, but could think of nothing to add to it. ,,--. He leant his arm on the rail, but he didn t talk about Quebec. He said, , . ,, "You know, Miss Gill, I've hardly seen anything of you on this voyage. " i. , "But of course you have!" she protested, the quick color coming into her cheeks. "Every day and" "No, no. You misunderstand me. I have seen plenty of Nurse Gillalways looking after my dear Mamma so tactfully and properly. But I've hardly seen anything of Madeline Gillwho is, I am sure, a much more interesting and intriguing person." "Weirshe laughed a little doubtfully"there hasn t been much opportunity to be anything but Nurse Gill on this voyage. Your mother really did need a good deal of attention, you know. Some of her trouble is temperamental, but by no means all of it. She's quite a sick person at times." "I know. That's partly why I've persuaded her to go : nto hospital when we get" to Montreal." He said that quite calmly and waited, with rather obvious enjoyment, for her reaction. "Into_hospital?" She tried to make her own voice sound as calm and matter-of-fact as his. "Yes. I understand that at the Dominion there is some special treatment for her sort of trouble." : There was a very slight pause. 23 "I didn't know that," Madeline said at last. "Then Mrs. Sanders is going to be a patient in the hospital where I'm nursing?" "Yes. In the private patients' pavilion. I shall come and see her there." "Yes, of course. That will be very nice for her." "I shall also come and see you," Morton Sanders stated smilingly. "But I shall be on duty, Mr. Sanders. I shall be Nurse Gillprobably no longer in charge of your mother, but very busy, nevertheless, with other patients." "Of course." He was still smiling at her. "But the difference will be that, at the Dominion, you will have regular off-duty hours. I hope you will keep some of those for me. And then perhaps we can get to know each other a little better." She wished her heart wouldn't pound in this perfectly ridiculous way about what was, after all, a very natural invitation from her sister's one-time employer. If it were worded a littleunusually, there was no need to attach any special significance to that. He did use a rather teasing, exaggerated style of address at times. "Thank you," she heard herself say very calmly. "I should like that." And then, "I really must go to your mother now." He made no attempt to detain her, but he strolled along the deck beside her and she could not help being very much aware of his smiling, half-mocking presence. Then, just before they reached the entrance to their suite, they passed Madeline's unknown friend, who gave a smile and a slight bow of recognition. It did not occur to her that he was acknowledging an acquaintanceship with her companion as well as herself until Morton Sanders said in a tone 'of amused surprise, "So in spite of the personal complications, you have already managed to establish friendly relations with the most unlikely one of the Dominion people?" She looked, surprised. "I don't understand! Is he attached to the Dominion staff?" She found she liked the idea immensely. Morton Sanders looked at her curiously. "My dear girl, don't you know who he is?" 24 Madeline shook her head. "No. Although I have spoken to him, and even danced with him, I don't know his name." "You don't?" Suddenly Morton Sanders seemed to find that immensely amusing in a slightly malicious way. "Why, that is Nat Lanyonone of the most brilliant surgeons attached to the Dominion. He was more or less engaged to your sister, wasn't he?"