by Peggy Gaddis
Scott stared, and then whistled.
“They tell me that there are places in Africa where news travels with the speed of light and without any known means of communication, but from what I’ve discovered Hamilton goes Africa one better. I told you about the office, of course.”
Kate laughed and led the way into the living room.
“Oh, it’s really quite simple. Aunt Jane went to the hospital this afternoon to call on one of our tenants’ children. And Alice Mowbray was boasting her head off that she had ‘snagged’ you as a tenant for her apartment. But you are not far wrong about the way news travels here. Hamilton is no place to try to keep a secret!”
“I’ll remember that and conduct myself most circumspectly,” Scott promised, impressed.
The laughter went out of Kate’s eyes and she said quietly, “You will have to, won’t you? In a town the size of Hamilton, doctors have to be like Caesar’s wife, above reproach. That’s why I’m wondering — ” She broke off, hesitated, and turned to walk away from him toward a table where a great blue vase was filled with pink and blue and white Canterbury bells. And while her fingers fumbled with the flowers, unnecessarily rearranging them, she spoke over her shoulder. “I’m just wondering if perhaps you wouldn’t be very smart to cancel our date for the movies tonight.”
Scott stared at her, his brows drawn together in bewilderment. “That’s about the silliest thing I ever heard an allegedly sensible girl say,” he said at last, roughly. “If I have to allow my prospective patients to censor the list of my friends, then I’ll adopt some other profession. And besides, don’t you think you are over-emphasizing the town’s feeling toward the Ryans?”
Kate smiled faintly. “You’ve had forty-eight hours to hear them talk. What do you think?” she asked coolly.
“I think that there’s been a lot of misunderstanding all the way around,” said Scott curtly. “I had dinner with the Parhams last night.”
“Yes, I know,” said Kate softly, and smiled at his startled look.
“Chloe Parham is very anxious to meet you,” said Scott sharply. “She is afraid that if she and her friends come to call, you will snub them; that they will bore you, and seem provincial to you.”
Kate’s eyes were wide and resentful. “What a perfectly silly thing to think,” she said hotly.
“Well, I don’t know. You think Hamilton hates Yankees — ”
“What do you think?”
“I’m from New England, never been South before in my life, and couldn’t want to be treated with more warmth and friendliness and hospitality.”
“You are a man, young, attractive, and eligible.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake — ”
For a moment they all but glared at each other, until suddenly Kate laughed. “Oh, Scott, we’re quarreling. Nothing could be sillier.”
Scott laughed in genuine relief. “Nothing could,” he agreed, and went eagerly on. “Just to prove to you that Chloe and her friends want to welcome you, they’ve asked me to bring you to a party tonight. Chloe thought it would give you an excellent chance to meet them all. Would you like it?”
Kate hesitated for a long moment, considering.
“It might be fun, at that. We’ll decide later. It’s a very good movie,” she was saying when Jane came in, greeting Scott with her usual brisk good humor. A moment later Tim appeared, happy and booming and bluffly glad to see Scott.
When dinner was over, Kate said lightly, “If we’re going to make the nine o’clock show, Scott, maybe we’d better get started.”
“I’d like to show you over the place, Scott. Matter of fact, I’ve got a little business proposition I’d like to make you,” said Tim while they waited for Kate to go upstairs for the light wrap she would need. “I’m employing rather a lot of people. I thought perhaps it might not be a bad idea to set up a sort of clinic, maybe one or two mornings a week, if you could give it the time, or think it wouldn’t make you too unpopular with your Hamilton friends.”
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Scott was honestly impressed and genuinely interested.
Tim beamed at him.
“I thought I could get a nurse who would live here on the place,” he said eagerly, “and who could assist you on your clinic days.”
“Wonderful!”
Jane said hesitantly, “Wait a minute, Tim. Maybe it wouldn’t be wise for Scott to label himself in Hamilton eyes as a black man’s doctor, which is exactly what they would call him.”
Scott stared at her, honestly dumbfounded. “Surely you don’t think a doctor practices his profession according to race, creed, or color. Good grief, all humanity is entitled to a doctor’s best efforts,” he protested, incensed.
Jane smiled at him faintly and lifted her angular shoulders in a shrug. “Oh, well, I thought maybe you’d better take time to think it over,” she said as she withdrew her opposition. “After all, you’re new down here. Maybe you’d better talk it over with Doctor Searcy.”
Kate came in then, a lightweight coat a shade darker than her dress swung over her shoulders cape fashion. She looked swiftly from one to the other as she said, “I’m ready, Scott.”
“We’ll go into this more fully, Mr. Ryan,” said Scott firmly.
“Sure, sure. Come out for the day on Sunday and we’ll go over the place and you can see what you think,” said Tim. And a little later, Kate and Scott were in his car driving toward town.
“I take it Dad mentioned to you his idea for a clinic for his employees,” she said quietly.
“It’s a wonderful idea, and I’m all for it,” said Scott flatly.
Kate nodded. “I thought you would be. Dad has discussed it with Jane and me. But — well, don’t make up your mind all in a hurry, Scott. After all, this means a great deal to you — your new life in Hamilton — and you don’t want to get off to a bad start by flying in the face of the town’s most cherished traditions.”
“There’s one small item that neither you nor Jane seemed to have considered,” Scott pointed out grimly. “I’m a doctor. The passport of a patient to my attention is not the color of his skin or his religion; it’s whether he is ill or suffering, in need of whatever skill and ability I may possess. I think your father’s got a great, a wonderful idea.”
“Of course,” said Kate, and her voice was carefully expressionless. “Doctor Searcy suggested he should import a black doctor.”
“Well, perhaps that might be a good idea.”
“So if you feel it would not be wise for you — ”
“I don’t care an awful lot for the suggestion that I must walk softly and hide my innermost feelings if I am to be a successful practitioner in Hamilton!”
“Oh, well, it’s early yet to decide. You and Dad can look things over Sunday; meanwhile, you can talk to Doctor Searcy and Doctor Blair and, of course, the Parhams.”
“Not the Parhams,” Scott stated flatly. “At least not Stuart Parham. I know in advance what he would say.”
Kate looked at him sharply.
“Am I to understand that you are not overly impressed with Mr. Parham? I do hope you are not allowing any feelings for the River’s Edge people to influence you in that decision?”
“Not in the least. It’s just that Parham is the type of man who could easily become an opinionated bigot. True, he was my host last night and has sponsored me in the town and I appreciate it. But I can’t imagine myself ever feeling for him anything of what I feel for your father.”
“Thanks,” said Kate softly, her smile warm and steady.
- 6 -
The car had to be parked around the corner halfway down the block from the theater. Scott and Kate walked back, talking lightly, suddenly feeling like warm friends. As they emerged into the brilliantly lit space beneath the theater marquee, a voice called gaily, “There they are.” And the next moment they were surrounded by a gay and laughing group.
Chloe laughed up at Scott, slipping her hand through his arm with a little possessive gesture.
>
“This is a stick-up, pal,” Chloe told them gaily, “you don’t want to waste a whole evening in a stuffy theater tonight. The picture will be on for three days and anyway, it won’t be nearly as much fun as Liss’s party.”
Scott said confusedly, “Oh, now, wait a minute.”
But Chloe was ignoring him, while still retaining her possessive grip on his arm, and addressing herself to Kate with warm sweetness. “Hello, Kate Ryan. I’ve been dying to meet you, but Mother insisted we should wait until you were formally settled in at River’s Edge before we came to call…. So you will come to Liss’s party, won’t you?”
Without waiting for their answer, she was tugging them toward the curb where, in a No Parking zone, an expensive station wagon was waiting.
There was a brisk spatter of introductions to the half-dozen who accompanied Chloe. Scott said firmly, “Now, see here, you folks; my car’s parked down the street. Kate and I will follow.”
“Oh, no you won’t. Remember I said this was a stick-up,” Chloe said, laughing. “Bill will look after Kate and see she’s delivered at Liss’s place. And I will see to it that you don’t run out on us.”
Bill, tall, blond, good-looking, said happily, “Bill will be charmed, entranced, and no end delighted.”
Kate laughed. “It looks as though this is the way it’s got to be, Scott. Be seein’ you.”
She gave him a gay little wave of the hand and let Bill help her into the station wagon. The others tumbled in and the car drove away, leaving Chloe and Scott on the sidewalk.
“My car has as good a motor as your fancy station wagon. We won’t be more than a couple of minutes behind them,” Scott told Chloe firmly, and marched her around the corner to where his car was parked.
“Oh, but we have to do an errand for Liss,” Chloe told him. “She’s afraid she’ll run out of provisions before the evening’s over, so I promised her you and I would run out to Bud Enslee’s and pick up some supplies.”
“Oh, now see here” — Scott bit back the angry words, and Chloe studied him for a moment, her eyes narrow in the light from the instrument panel as he bent to switch on the ignition.
“I’m sorry,” said Chloe gently. “I didn’t think you’d mind. You see Bud has to be extra careful about who he sells stuff to. That’s probably why he’s still the town’s pet bootlegger and why the cops don’t lay a finger on him.”
“Bootlegger? Oh, for Pete’s sake, the prohibition law was repealed quite some time ago,” Scott protested.
“Hamilton County’s dry — local option,” said Chloe briefly.
“Oh,” said Scott, and set the car in motion and drove away from the curb.
The house at which Chloe directed him to stop was on a quiet residential street.
Chloe led the way up the walk and rang the door bell. After an interval a pretty, plump young woman in a crisp linen dress beneath a gingham overall apron opened the door.
“Hello, Millie,” said Chloe lightly. “This is Doctor Etheridge. Is Bud at home?”
Millie said pleasantly, “How do you do, Doctor Etheridge? Do come in. Bud’s helping me get the babies to bed. I’ll send him along. Just go into the living room and make yourselves at home.”
Chloe thanked her and stepped past her; then as Millie turned to go she hesitated and came back to look up at Scott confidingly.
“Doctor Etheridge? I was wondering — my Billie has a sort of rash on his stomach. Would you think it perfectly awful of me if I asked you to look at it and tell me if it’s dangerous?”
“Of course not,” said Scott, liking the friendly, pretty young woman instinctively. He felt glad to be of service.
She led the way along the hall to a big square room at the back. Two small beds stood at opposite corners of the room, and in one a dimpled, towheaded, blue-eyed girl who was about two years old clung to the bars of her bed and bounced up and down in sheer animal spirits. In the opposite bed a boy of perhaps three and a half or four eyed them sullenly, a little uneasily.
Scott, who was genuinely fond of children, had no difficulty in making friends with the apprehensive little boy, and examined the rash and soothed the mother’s anxiety. It was merely a slight rash that would yield immediately to a slight change in the boy’s diet, and he promised to have the drug store send her a bit of salve to treat it.
Millie tucked the children in bed and walked with Scott to the door. When she had closed the door she hesitated a moment, and then said impulsively, “Doctor Etheridge, the children are frightened to death of Doctor Graves. He’s old and grumpy, and we don’t like him very much either. May we shift over to you?”
Scott said promptly, “I’d be delighted, Mrs. Enslee, of course. Only I wouldn’t want to breach ethics — stealing Doctor Graves’s patients, I mean.”
“Well, if it isn’t you it’s going to be somebody else. So if you don’t mind, we’ll be dropping in on you from now on,” said Millie.
She led the way to the living room, where Chloe was chattering gaily with a tall, good-looking, dark-haired man who must have been ten to twelve years older than Millie.
Chloe jumped up as Millie and Scott came in, but before Chloe could speak Millie said eagerly, “Oh, darling, listen. Doctor Etheridge said Billie’s rash was nothing to get excited about and he’s given me a diet change and is going to send over some medicine. And Billie simply loved Doctor Etheridge, so we’re all going to be his patients from now on.”
Bud’s eyebrows went up a little, but he grinned, and the look he gave his wife indicated the depth of his tenderness for her.
“With your approval, of course, Mr. Enslee,” said Scott pleasantly.
“Oh, we’ve been badly in need of a family physician for the last six months, ever since Graves was too drunk to set Billie’s arm the last time he fell out of a tree and fractured it,” said Bud. His dark jaw set hard and there was a look in his eyes that spoke of his extreme dislike for Doctor Graves.
“I’ll be very happy to have you, of course,” said Scott. “I hope to get the office straightened out within a week. Meanwhile, of course, if you should want to get in touch with me before my own phone is put in, you can call me over Miss Alice Mowbray’s line. I have rented her apartment.”
Chloe protested, affronted, “You didn’t tell me you’d left the hotel.”
Scott laughed. “I didn’t think it was necessary. Isn’t this the town where everybody knows what you do ten minutes before you do it?”
Chloe said briskly, “Well, we simply have to fly. We’ll be seeing you folks.” She slid her hand through Scott’s arm and drew him with her out into the night.
Scott said curiously, “Where to now? Obviously, Bud was just fresh out of supplies.”
Chloe laughed. “What makes you think so?”
“Well, neither of us is carrying a package.”
“It’s in the car, silly,” she laughed. “That way neither you nor I could ever swear in court that we bought a single solitary drop of anything from him. And Millie took you to see the babies, so if anybody in the neighborhood is curious about why we came to call — well, Billie was sick.”
“Oh,” said Scott.
Chloe slid close to him on the seat, tucked her hand through his arm, and rubbed her cheek kittenishly against his shoulder.
“So now I’ve got you your first patients. Wasn’t that nice of me?”
Scott stopped the car in front of Liss’s house, and Chloe slipped out of the car. She waited for him as he got out and locked it. “You do amuse me, angel, the suspicious way you lock your car and everything.”
“I suppose it’s a habit I acquired when I started carrying a bag of instruments around in my car,” he tacitly apologized.
She laughed and they walked up the path to the house, and as they reached the door, it swung open and Liss stood there, slender and tall and beautiful in her black chiffon gown.
“You two!” she accused them sternly. “Now what’s your alibi?”
“In the back of
Scott’s car — ” Chloe began mysteriously.
“Correction, please — under my arm,” said Scott, and offered the bulky package to Liss.
“Why, what in the world — ” asked Liss. And then as she took the package and felt its shape, she gasped and her eyes flew wide. “Why, Scott Etheridge, how dare you bring your own refreshments to a party, you sweet thing? It just isn’t done, though I can’t think why not. It’s a lovely idea!”
Puzzled, Scott asked, “But didn’t you tell Chloe — ”
Chloe said coolly, “I thought it would be nice for Scott to meet some friends of mine. And it was a good idea for he picked himself up a couple of patients. I’m helping him build up a practice.”
Chloe led the way into the big living room.
Scott’s eyes swiftly sought and found Kate, very much at home. She looked as though she were having fun. Bill Elliott, handsomely at ease, sat beside her, his manner possessive as he looked down at her.
“Hello,” Scott greeted Kate, as he crossed to her. “You look as though you were being taken care of.”
“Beautifully, thanks,” said Kate crisply. “And you?”
“We were doing an errand for Liss,” Scott insisted.
Kate’s eyebrows went up as she studied him.
“How very thoughtful of you,” she said, and turned her shoulder on him and gave her bright, interested attention to Bill once more.
At his elbow Liss said softly, “Better not intrude, Scott. Shall we see what other amusement we can find?”
- 7 -
As the party broke up, in the general confusion of good nights and plans for future meetings, Scott saw Bill Elliott lean close to Kate and heard his low-voiced, “Until tomorrow, then.”
Kate smiled warmly at him and nodded. And Scott was startled to realize the depth of resentment he felt at their obvious interest in each other. Yet as he put Kate into the car and went around to climb in beside her, he reminded himself sharply that he had no right to resent anything at all.