Isak Dinesen’s memoir. How do you find it?’
He would know Karen Blixen’s Danish name. Try as she might, she could never recall it.
‘I like to read about a determined woman who is doing what she loves most against all odds,’ she returned coolly.
‘Is that what you are? A determined woman?’ He raised his eyes to the ceiling, then caught her eye and smiled in a self-satisfied way. ‘Are you working at St Thomas’ against all odds?’
How dare he?
‘I don’t think there’s any comparison between a nurse in a hospital and Karen Blixen running her farm single-handedly.’ She deliberately looked down at her book again.
Why doesn’t he go away and leave me alone?
‘Impossible to concentrate, I should say, in this madhouse.’ He gazed towards the heaving tables.
The annoying thing was that this time he was right. She snapped her book closed.
‘By the way, I’m Edwin Blake.’
If he thought she was going to curl up in deference to his godly presence, he was wrong. She hid a smile. She’d have a little game with him.
‘How do you do, Dr Blake.’
Quick as a flash he answered, ‘It’s Mr Blake, actually.’
Maxine’s hand flew to her mouth in mock dismay. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’
If Anna had been with her at that moment and caught her eye they would not have dared look at each other for fear of breaking into giggles for pulling the great man down a few pegs. She looked innocently at him.
There was a moment’s pause. Her heart beat a little too rapidly. Have I gone too far?
‘I suppose I deserved that.’ A smile hovered, softening the hard line of his lips.
She picked up her knife and fork again and made a pretence of finishing her meal, but each swallow stuck in her throat. This was awful. She wasn’t enjoying the stew at all with him staring at her, while he hadn’t even touched his food.
‘You may begin, Mr Blake,’ she emphasised, tackling a piece of brownish potato. She looked up and smiled. ‘Sorry, but you were staring.’
Her remark seemed to draw him back an inch or two. Then what looked like a flicker of respect passed across his face. ‘Was I really? I didn’t mean to.’
He began to eat, grimacing every so often and inspecting the contents of his fork before continuing. He broke the awkward silence.
‘How long have you been at St Thomas’?’
Oh, no. He wanted to keep up a conversation. Surely her message was clear that she wasn’t at all interested. He was just doing it to annoy her.
‘A year. When it was a whole building.’ She placed her knife and fork neatly together and made a great play of looking at her watch, ‘Oh, it’s later than I thought.’ She jumped to her feet and tucked her book under her arm.
He immediately sprang up. ‘But you haven’t finished your—’
‘I wouldn’t want to be accused of wasting time again.’ She threw him a cold glance. ‘Good day, Mr Blake.’ With that she turned and made her way through the narrow spaces between the other tables, inwardly seething.
Pompous prig. She thought of more words for Mr Edwin Blake as she tidied her hair in the small mottled mirror over the washbasin in the cloakroom before she felt ready to face her patients again.
‘A word with you, please, Nurse Taylor.’
Sister Crook put her head round the tiny kitchen as Maxine was preparing the drinks on her ward. She immediately put down the cloth and followed Sister into her room.
‘Sit down, please.’ Sister Crook took her place on the opposite side of the desk. ‘I’m most surprised,’ the older woman began, ‘to find that although you have not actually been rude to one of your superiors, you have nevertheless not acted in the required deferential manner to an eminent surgeon. So what do you have to say for yourself?’
A flush of anger rushed to Maxine’s cheeks. ‘I imagine you’re referring to Mr Blake,’ she said, barely trusting herself to speak.
Sister nodded.
By sheer willpower, Maxine stopped herself from saying anything that would get her into more trouble.
‘What I’m saying, Nurse, is that you need to mind your P’s and Q’s when he’s around. Mr Blake is an important man and we’re grateful to have him here. And you don’t want him putting any black marks against your Nightingale Badge, do you?’
‘No, of course not.’ Oh, how she detested such arrogance. Someone who put himself so far above the minions, he thought nothing of having the power to ruin her career if he so wished. Her hands clenched into fists.
‘So will you in future give him the respect he deserves?’
Maxine only paused for a second. Sister’s eyes were unusually stern. ‘Yes, Sister, I’ll do my best.’
‘That will be all.’ She let her gaze rest on Maxine a few moments more. ‘You’re an excellent worker, Nurse Taylor, but you have much to learn about men. Never forget – they can make us or break us.’
Maxine did her best to avoid Mr Blake whenever she could. Even glimpsing him in the distance along one of the corridors made her seethe that he’d reported her, but he seemed bent on seeking her out.
‘Nurse Taylor, would you come over here and show the juniors the correct way to take a patient’s temperature,’ and ‘Nurse Taylor, please show Nurse Johnson how to give a proper bed bath,’ and ‘Nurse Taylor, would you demonstrate hospital corners on this bed.’
Maxine would grit her teeth and carry out his instructions, which normally would have come from Sister, until it became obvious to her – and probably most of the staff, she wouldn’t be surprised – that he was doing this on purpose, causing her a good deal of embarrassment. She knew she would have to speak to him about it.
Bennett had only said that morning, after Maxine had made an irritable comment about him, ‘Taylor, you realise our dear Mr Blake fancies you.’
In spite of Maxine’s denial, she couldn’t help the warmth that seeped under her collar.
‘Whatever nonsense are you talking about?’ she demanded.
‘He singles you out – nearly all the time. It’s clear as daylight to the rest of us.’
‘But I’ve done nothing to encourage him to single me out. I don’t even
