Seaside Hospital

by Pauline Ash

  “It isn’t only that everyone’s talking about you and Randall Carson. It isn’t only because you’ve always pretended to hate him, and then with my own eyes I saw you looking as if, well, as if you were silly over him—and that can’t happen in five minutes. Still, I might have thought you’d think that was too private and personal to talk about. It’s the other thing that stuck in my throat and hurt like anything.”

  “What other thing?” Lisa asked blankly.

  “The true reason why you were locked out that night,” Mary said, her face flaming and her eyes stormy.

  Lisa thought back quickly, and remembered that she had diverted the conversation from the dangerous direction of her sister Jacky’s theft of the clip to the fact that Derek had asked her to go back.

  “You said Derek had asked you to go back to him,” Mary reminded her, just as the memory came into her mind. “Now I know that wasn’t true, now that I’ve seen you with Randall Carson. You could have told me to mind my own business. You don’t have to cook up a thumping big lie for my benefit.”

  “Oh, Mary,” Lisa said helplessly. She sat down on Mary’s bed suddenly, because her legs felt they would not hold her up. “Oh, what a mess it all is. Believe me, my dear, it was true. Derek did ask me to go back that night. He did make me late returning—he told me the clock on the dashboard was fast, but it wasn’t. But since then I’ve found I can’t trust him any more than I ever did, and it was a mistake to think we could ever be anything to each other again. Besides, there is Randall Carson, as you say—much good may it do me.”

  Mary calmed down. Lisa hated herself for deliberately leaving out all mention of her sister Jacky’s part in that evening’s affair, but sheer loyalty forbade her mentioning it, and the rest was true, as far as it went. Mary accepted it, because she did not like quarrelling with Lisa.

  “Oh well, it that’s the case, I apologize,” she said. “I felt awfully hurt—it was a bit of a shock to see our Randall Carson looking like that, absolutely head over ears and everything, and then when you both turned around, I saw it was you with him! I hadn’t expected it.”

  “Neither had I,” Lisa said quietly, “and I think you’re as mistaken about his emotions that evening as I was. He’s just about as friendly to me now as he ever was—and that’s taken me down a peg or two, for getting ideas about him. Don’t look so surprised—it’s true. Ellard spoke to me in that hotel, and Randall Carson was furious.”

  Mary’s face cleared, and she laughed. “I bet he was! Don’t be a chump, Lisa—he must be crazy about you. He couldn’t look like that otherwise. Anyway, do you expect him to look pleased at being interrupted by anyone like Ellard?”

  “That’s what I thought at first, and what I don’t mind admitting I’d still like to think,” Lisa said quietly, blinking fiercely to keep back the tears. “But the fact is, I’ve seen him since with Thalia Frenton, in his car, and believe me, there’s no mistaking where his real feelings lie. Or hers, come to that!”

  And so Mary and Lisa were friends again, much to the relief of both of them. But life at the hospital was still far from easy. Gossip was rife about Lisa and Randall. Lisa did her best to quell it, but everyone insisted on looking mysterious and hinting at secret romances, to her great discomfort. During the next day she saw Randall openly taking Thalia about in his car, and she waited uneasily for the moment he would hear the gossip himself. Everyone knew that Randall Carson considered himself and his affairs above the gossip level. She knew he would be furious.

  She tried again the next day to make more inquiries, but without success. It was not possible, either, to contact Jacky, and that night, just before she went off duty, the blow fell, for Randall Carson took her to task about the gossip.

  She had gone out onto the iron-railed balcony to bring in some screens, and stopped to let the cool evening breeze fan her hot face for a minute. The sky was pearly and studded with stars.

  “I’d like a word with you, Nurse,” Randall Carson said stiffly, from behind her.

  She swung around and faced him. His eyes were cold. “There seems to be gossip about us. I didn’t think you were the sort of person to spread it all over the hospital just because I took you out for an evening.”

  She knew that he would not have said that if he had not been bitterly angry, but she was angry and worried, too.

  “What makes you think I did, sir?” she flashed.

  “Who else? You were the only one who knew about it.”

  “What makes you so sure of that, sir?”

  He hesitated then, and before he could say any more, she put in swiftly, “After all, it was a very public place where we were dancing and dining, as well as a popular one. I know of at least three people who saw us and recognized us. Perhaps there were others who saw us, that we don’t know about, and you know what the hospital is like, for gossip. Besides, what does it matter?”

  “Perhaps it doesn’t matter to you to be gossiped about,” he said frigidly, “but it matters to me.”

  “I quite understand,” she said, on a quieter note, “and I’m doing my best to convince everyone that you were just being kind in taking me out for one solitary evening. Don’t worry about Miss Frenton—she won’t mind any gossip. She’s used to being in the public eye.”

  “Miss Frenton?” he frowned. “What’s it have to do with her?”

  Lisa reddened. “Well, I couldn’t help—I mean, I’ve seen you both together, and I assumed that was why you didn’t want your name coupled with mine, as you’re friendly with her.”

  “Good heavens!” he said, in exasperation. “What a place this is for jumping to conclusions. Just because I give the girl a lift in my car once or twice, it’s assumed that I’m going to marry her. Well, I’m not! The poor girl’s interested in someone else, and for heaven’s sake don’t let that bit of information get around, or she’ll never forgive me. Her mother mustn’t know about it, or it’ll all be nipped in the bud!”

  “Oh! So she is keen on Paul Winters, after all!” Lisa gasped, and then her lovely smile broke out. “I always hoped she would come to care for him.”

  “Do you know him, then?” Randall Carson asked.

  “Oh yes. He’s a kind, gentle person, just right for Thalia,” Lisa said warmly. “I met him when I used to be friends with—” and she broke off, biting her lip.

  “With young Frenton,” Randall finished coldly.

  Lisa looked at him in stupefaction. As soon as any of her friends were mentioned or seen, he became unfriendly!

  “If you must know,” she said desperately, “we were thinking of becoming engaged at one time, and then he broke it off. He thought it was best at the time, and I agree with him now, but there it is. People do get engaged, even when they’re hospital nurses!”

  To her surprise he was grinning broadly now. “You little spitfire,” he murmured. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was like that. So you’ve had your troubles, too. I suppose that was all going on while I was pitching into you about your work? I wish I’d known.”

  “It doesn’t matter. What difference could it make?”

  “A lot,” he said quickly. “I too know what it’s like to be unhappy,” and to her surprise, he started to tell her about the dead Catherine Varnell.

  “She was the sort of person who fills one’s life. Whether one was angry with her or not, one had no thought for anything else. She blotted everything out. Fancy you thinking I was interested in Thalia Frenton—nice as she is!” he mused.

  While he was talking about it, Sister appeared. “Oh, there you are, Dr. Carson. I wish you’d come—”

  He went at once, and Lisa gathered up her things, feeling crestfallen and bewildered. What a strange man he was. First angry and suspicious, and then in a mood to give confidences about the woman he had lost. But his words, she considered, had been in the nature of a warning. Surely they could have meant only one thing—that not even the wealthy Thalia Frenton could take the place in his affections that the other girl had onc
e occupied? In fact, no one could!

  The next day Lisa decided she would have to do something about Jacky. Yet she was so certain in her heart that she could not make her sister talk that instead of going straight to the Coronet Theatre, she went along the promenade until she arrived at the place where the little boy had been playing with his parents.

  Here the pavement was very broad, and jutted out into an oval shape far out toward the beach. A shelter, with glass partitions, warded off the wind. Altogether it was an excellent place for parents to talk something over, while a little boy safely played, she thought. Behind them, a long way behind, was the crowded, noisy road. What had made the little boy wander so far away without his parents noticing him? And how was it that they had made no attempt to find him? A chill thought struck Lisa. Supposing they were dead? Or ill? But no, that couldn’t be possible, for they must have been all right that day when he wandered away from them. Why hadn’t they made an attempt to find him, then?

  She stood looking all around trying to enact the scene that old Simeon had tried to describe, as he had seen it from the water, through his glass. At the back, beyond the road, were public cloakrooms. At the door of the Ladies’ the attendant was standing, watching her.

  On impulse, Lisa went over to her.

  It was cool inside. Rows of green sinks against a cream-tiled wall, looked inviting. As she plunged her hands into the cool water, Lisa said, glancing at the woman in the glass, “I wasn’t daydreaming. I was trying to imagine what it was like the day the little red-headed baby boy was run over.”

  The woman stiffened. “Oh, that poor kid! I’ve had it on my mind ever since, but what can I do?”

  “You remember him?” Lisa asked slowly.

  “Well, I won’t say I remember the kiddie himself, but it’s his mother I remember. I’ve stayed awake nights on account of it. If that girl hadn’t come in here after her, I don’t reckon it would have happened.”

  “Did you know her, then?” Lisa breathed.

  “No, no! Never saw her before nor since,” the woman said. “And I don’t know as I ought to be saying all this now, come to think of it. The police have been nosing around and I said I never remembered anything, so—”

  “You can tell me,” Lisa said persuasively. “You see, I’m on the side of the little boy. The only thing that matters to me is that we find his mummy, because he’s calling for her.”

  “Oh well, I can’t help you there, because I don’t know where she come from nor nothing. All I will say is, if that girl hadn’t come in after her—”

  “Which girl?” Lisa asked, with a catch in her throat.

  “The one who was sitting behind them, her ears a-flapping. Saw her myself each time I come to the door for a breath of fresh air. In she comes, after the boy’s mother, and picks up the ring and has a good look at it. I was busy at the time—”

  “The ring?” Lisa whispered, nameless horror clutching at her.

  “That’s right. The woman left it—the little boy was being a bit of a nuisance, so I suppose it was natural she should hurry out after him and forget her ring. Nice diamond ring it was, too. Then she remembers it and comes back. I come out of my office just as she comes in, and we both spot this other girl, a-slippin’ it into her pocket, sly-like. Of course, the minute she sees us both she ups and says she was going to the police with it. Smart talk wasn’t in it. When we tackles her about putting it in her pocket, she turns on the redhead and says how does she know it’s hers, and if you please, she turns round on me and says how does she know I wouldn’t have pocketed it myself if she’d turned it over to me instead of the police? Oh, I never liked the look of her from the first, I can tell you!”

  “What happened?”

  “Oh, she handed it over, after a bit of argument, to the redhead, but of course by then the poor woman was distracted, rushes out, and then there’s all this hullabaloo about the child being on the road.”

  “But what happened about the redheaded woman?” Lisa gasped. “Why didn’t she go to the ambulance with the little boy? She just vanished. That’s the whole point!”

  “No good asking me, miss. I had my cloakroom to look after. But I must say I feel better for getting it off my chest, for if I’ve said it once to myself I’ve said it a thousand times since then—if that girl hadn’t hung onto that ring and argued about who it belonged to, that child wouldn’t never have been run over.”

  Fear clutched Lisa’s throat. “Would you recognize her again?” she asked, half-afraid to voice the question.

  “I don’t know as I’d recognize her,” the woman said unwillingly, “seeing as she was wearing sunglasses at the time, but I’ve got my own ideas about who she is. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t that Jacqueline at the Coronet—minces along like that girl, and the same color hair.”

  “But that’s only guesswork. It won’t help us, I’m afraid,” Lisa sighed, but there was relief in her heart. So Jacky had had the sense to keep her dark glasses on! Would she never learn to keep those fingers of hers off other people’s property?

  Lisa went out into the sunshine again. How much further had she got? She was still no nearer to the mystery of why that woman had abandoned her child the minute he became involved in a street accident! And what had happened to the man old Simeon had referred to as a city type?

  Very reluctantly, Lisa set her steps toward the Coronet Theatre. At least she must try to make Jacky talk.

  It was too early for Jacky to be at the theater, so Lisa went and sat on the pier and watched some fishermen. Below the pier, Derek was standing in a small powerful motor boat, with a look of bliss on his face. He looked up and caught sight of her, and bounded up the steps.

  “Lisa! Just the one I want to see! Look what I’ve got—brand new. Isn’t she a beauty? Come and try her out!”

  “I can’t, Derek. Not in my uniform! I’ll get soaked,” Lisa laughed.

  Derek’s smile vanished. “For a girl who’s just made it up with her boyfriend, you’re not over-enthusiastic, are you?”

  “What on earth is that supposed to mean?”

  “Don’t laugh at me, Lisa! You’re a dark horse—first you’re seen dancing with Carson at the Gloucester and then you’re seen around with Lindon—I never knew you had so many blokes crazy about you!”

  “They’re just friends, Derek.”

  “Oh, I’m not complaining. I like a girl to be popular, but I like to have her to myself sometimes. Look, do come for a ride, Lisa. I promise you I won’t go fast enough to give you a ducking. Anyway, there are some oilskins in the locker. Come on, be a sport!”

  “All right, then, but you must get me back in time.”

  It was cool on the water, and when he pulled into a quiet cove around the headland, Lisa reflected that it was a nice little break after the heat of the town.

  “Lisa, let’s sit on these rocks,” Derek said, with a persuasiveness alien to his usual demanding nature. “I want to talk to you. I haven’t had you to myself since you came out to our place, and there are lots of things that are puzzling me. What’s Mother got against you?”

  “Oh, Derek, don’t be silly! You know she’s never liked me,” Lisa protested.

  “Yes, but she says you were in the house the day her beastly clip got taken, and that wretched maid Gwen says she spoke to you.”

  “Well, that’s true,” Lisa said quietly. “That was as far as I got—speaking to Gwen at the telephone. I was looking for someone, but I went out into the grounds again at once and found the person I was searching for.”

  “Who was it?” Derek asked quickly.

  “As a matter of fact, it was my sister Jacky. Why are you asking me all these questions, Derek?”

  “Maybe I’m not very quick on the uptake,” he said, rather unwillingly. “You asked me to get the clip back for you, with a lot of hush-hush about it, and I asked no questions. Since then Mother and Dad have been on the warpath about what happened to it, and they seem to think I had something to do with it! Now I fr
eely admit I’m a lazy hound who never did a day’s work in my life, but I’m blessed if I’m going to have it said that I pinch things! That’s not my line at all!”

  “Don’t be silly, Derek. Why should they think that?”

  “They think you’re shielding someone.”

  “Well, that doesn’t make that someone you, does it? Besides, I started to tell your father all about it, when your mother came in, and from what I managed to tell him, he knows perfectly well that I wasn’t shielding you.”

  “Who are you shielding, then?”

  “It’s none of your business, Derek.”

  He looked sulkily at her, and then suddenly he drew her into his arms and started kissing her madly.

  As soon as she overcame her surprise at the suddenness of his move, Lisa pushed him away furiously. “You said you wanted a little talk,” she reminded him. “While we’re on the subject, I’ve decided against coming back to you. Whatever we used to be, we’re poles apart now.”

  “But you promised, Lisa, if I took that clip back!” he protested.

  “And you promised not to mention my name to anyone, but you broke your promise and told your father it was I who gave it to you!” she flashed back at him as she climbed into the boat.

  He cast off, sending a shower of spray over them both. “I hadn’t any alternative. Dad made me, but surely it can’t matter who knows about it, if you did really pick it up in the grounds. Mother said you couldn’t have—she left it on her dressing table, and she’s never far wrong.”

  “If you don’t believe me, say so, but I never said I picked it up. I said I came by it and wanted to put it back.”

  They finished the trip in frigid silence, and Lisa went ashore with the coolest of goodbyes to him.

  When she arrived at the Coronet Theatre, the doorman told her to go up. She found Jacky in front of the mirror savagely applying makeup to her little elfin face. Lisa, who had been rehearsing what she would say to her sister, had three different openings ready, according to the way Jacky greeted her. She was used to Jacky’s moods, but the savage, bitter look her sister directed at her was a shock.