we? And yet here you are, offering me a job,’ she added hastily, in case he had second thoughts. ‘It sounds too good to be true.’
‘Nevertheless, it is a genuine offer of work—and do not forget that only the urgency of my need for adequate help has prompted me to offer you the job. You are at liberty to leave if you should wish to do so, providing you give me adequate time to find a replacement. If Miss Priss should return she would, of course, resume her work; that is a risk for you.’ He smiled suddenly. ‘We are both taking a risk, but it is to our advantage that we should help each other.’
Such terms of practicability and common sense made the vague doubts at the back of Loveday’s head melt away. She had had no future, and now all at once security—even if temporary—was being handed her on a plate.
‘All right,’ said Loveday. ‘I’ll come.’
‘Thank you. Could you be ready if I fetch you at half past eight tomorrow morning? My first patient is at eleven-thirty, which will give you time to find your way around.’
He stood up and held out a hand. ‘I think we shall deal well with each other, Miss West.’
She put her hand in his and felt the reassuring firmness of it.
‘I’ll be ready—and the cat. You haven’t forgotten the cat?”
‘No, I haven’t forgotten.’
CHAPTER TWO
LOVEDAY went to see Mrs Slade then, and in answer to that lady’s doubtful reception of her news assured her that Dr Fforde was no stranger.
‘Well, yer a sensible girl, but if you need an ’elping ’and yer know where to come.’
Loveday thanked her. ‘I’ll write to you,’ she said, ‘and I’ll write to Mrs Branch too. I think it’s a job I can manage, and it will be nice to have somewhere to live where I can have the cat.’
She said goodbye and went back to the basement, and, since a celebration was called for, she gave the cat half the cat meat and boiled two eggs.
In the morning she was a bit worried that the cat might try and escape, but the little beast was still too weak and weary to do more than cling to her when the doctor arrived. His good morning was businesslike as he popped her into the car, put her case into the boot and got in and drove away.
He was still glad to see her, but he had a busy day ahead of him and a day was only so long…
Loveday, sensing that, made no effort to talk, but sat clutching the cat, savouring the delight of being driven in a Bentley motor car.
His rooms were in a house in a quiet street, one in a terrace of similar houses. He ushered her into the narrow hall with its lofty ceiling and up the handsome staircase at its end. There were several doors on the landing, and as they started up the next flight he nodded to the end one.
‘I’m in the end room. We’ll go to your place first.’
They went up another flight of stairs past more doors and finally up a small staircase with a door at the top.
The doctor took a key from a pocket and opened it. It gave directly into a small room, its window opening onto the flat roof of the room below. There were two doors but he didn’t open them.
‘The porter will bring up your case. And I asked him to stock up your cupboard. I suggest you feed the cat and leave the window shut and then come down to my room. Ten minutes?’
He had gone, leaving her to revolve slowly, trying to take it all in. But not for long. Ten minutes didn’t give her much time. She opened one of the doors and found a small room with just space for a narrow bed, a table, a mirror and a chair. It had a small window and the curtains were pretty. Still with the cat tucked under her arm, she opened the other door. It was a minute kitchen, and between it and the bedroom was an even smaller shower room.
Loveday sucked in her breath like a happy child and went to the door to see who was there. It was the porter with her case.
‘Todd’s the name, miss. I’m here all day until seven o’clock, so do ask if you need anything. Dr Fforde said you’ve got a cat. I’ll bring up a tray and suchlike before I go. There’s enough in the cupboard to keep you going for a bit.’
She thanked him, settled the cat on the bed and offered it food, then tidied her hair, powdered her nose and went down to the first floor, the door key in her pocket. She should have been feeling nervous, but there hadn’t been time.
She knocked and walked in. This was the waiting room, she supposed, all restful greys and blues, and with one or two charming flower paintings on the walls. There was a desk in one corner with a filing cabinet beside it.
‘In here,’ said Dr Fforde, and she went through a half-open door to the room beyond where he sat at his desk. He got up as she went in.
He noticed with satisfaction that she looked very composed, as neat as a new pin, and the black eye was better, allowing for a glint of vivid green under the lid.
‘I’ll take you round and show you where everything is, and we will have coffee while I explain your work. There should be time after that for you to go around on your own, just to check things. As I told you, there are few skills required—only a smiling face for all the patients and the ability to cope with simple routine.’
He showed her the treatment room leading from his consulting room. ‘Nurse Paget comes about ten o’clock, unless I’ve a patient before then. She isn’t here every day, so she will explain her hours to you when you meet her. Now, this is the waiting room, which is our domain.’
Her duties were simple. Even at such short notice she thought that she would manage well enough, and there would be no one there in the afternoon so she would have time to go over her duties again. There would be three patients after five o’clock, he told her.
‘Now, your hours of work. You have an early-morning start—eight o’clock—an hour for lunch, between twelve and one, and tea when you have half an hour to spare during the afternoon. You’ll be free to leave at five o’clock, but I must warn you that frequently I have an evening patient and you would need to be here. You have half-day on Saturday and all Sunday free, but Miss Priss came in on Saturday mornings to get everything ready for Monday. Can you cope with that?’
‘Yes,’ said Loveday. ‘You will tell me if I don’t do everything as you like it?’
‘Yes. Now, salary…’ He mentioned a sum which made her blink the good eye.
‘Too much,’ said Loveday roundly. ‘I’m living rent-free, remember.’
She encountered an icy blue stare. ‘Allow me to make my own decisions, Miss West.’
She nodded meekly and said, ‘Yes, Doctor,’ but there was nothing meek about the sparkle in her eye. She would have liked to ask him to stop calling her Miss West with every breath, but since she was in his employ she supposed that she would have to answer to anything she felt he wished to call her.
That night, lying in her bed with the cat wrapped in one of her woolies curled up at her feet, Loveday, half asleep, went over the day.
