harshly. He’s not a snob, Grace, and if he likes your man, he’ll be a valuable ally. But you must bring Bear to afternoon tea here tomorrow, while all four of us aren’t working the second day shift.”
“We can’t invite him here!” said Tufts, startled.
“Oh, can’t we?” Edda asked, getting to her feet. “I’m off to see Matron.”
“Edda, no!” Grace wailed.
Too late: Edda was gone, and lucky enough to find Matron with time to see her.
“Yes, Latimer?”
“May I have permission to invite a young man to afternoon tea in our cottage common room tomorrow, ma’am? All four of us will be present to meet him.”
No explosion of wrath greeted this request: instead, Matron indicated the supplicant’s chair with an expressionless face. “I think you had better sit down, Latimer, and explain this rather extraordinary request.”
“It’s about my sister Faulding, ma’am.”
“You are aware she isn’t happy nursing?”
Edda sighed, hunched her shoulders. “Yes, I am.”
“Is she in another scrape?”
“Not yet, but if she isn’t handled properly she could get into a very serious one. By handled properly, I mean her sisters need to move closer to her in her present dilemma,” said Edda, struggling to leave so much unsaid, as it had to be. “Our stepmother has very fixed ideas — laudable, naturally! — and a situation has blown up that we sisters need to know more about before Stepmama is informed.” Her hands went out, appealing. “You see, Grace has met a young man she wants to marry, but unfortunately he isn’t from Corunda — in fact, he’s an itinerant, a commercial traveller. A Perkins Man, respectable, but we need to meet this young man and find out more about him. Afternoon tea in our quarters would be ideal.”
“Permission granted,” said Matron, foreseeing an answer to her difficulties with Grace. “I will inform Sister Bainbridge.”
“What an eminently sensible young woman Latimer is!” said Matron to Sister Bainbridge over dinner in her house. “She came to me, which is exactly what she should have done. To keep the nurses terrified of us is vital, but it is so refreshing to find that some nurses can see under the veneer. A clever young woman too. Not one word of criticism did Latimer pass against Maude Latimer, but I was able to plumb all the currents. The young man is socially suspect according to Maude’s lights, clearly. We must do what we can to help, Marjorie, including with the Rector, if it comes to that. Can our cook manage scones, jam and cream?”
Two hours with Bear Olsen reconciled Grace’s sisters to this stunningly sudden change in Grace’s life and future welfare.That he loved her was plain, but — equally important — he wasn’t a shiftless ne’er-do-well of a commercial traveller. He was a genuine Perkins Man, the best in the Antipodes, with a promising career, two thousand pounds in the bank, and friends in high management. He was not a drinker and he would be a good husband to Grace; her three sisters came away from the interview fully convinced of that.
“I’ll be on this circuit for at least another five years,” he explained, having done justice to the Sisters’ cook’s scones with jam and cream — a mark of Matron’s generosity and approval that staggered its recipients. Perhaps beneath the iceberg lay a human being? An appalling thought of an alien kind. “For that reason,” said Bear, “I wouldn’t want to uproot Grace from Corunda and her family yet. I’ve found a decent house on Trelawney Way, which means it’s on the city water and sewer. I can get it for eleven hundred pounds, cash.”
“That’s a good price for city water and sewer,” Edda said.
“Well built, Edda, honest! The roof’s properly lined with tar paper, the interior walls are plastered, and the toilet’s in a separate room from the bathroom. The floors are karri and the windows are all properly flashed — they can be easily fitted with mesh
“We can’t invite him here!” said Tufts, startled.
“Oh, can’t we?” Edda asked, getting to her feet. “I’m off to see Matron.”
“Edda, no!” Grace wailed.
Too late: Edda was gone, and lucky enough to find Matron with time to see her.
“Yes, Latimer?”
“May I have permission to invite a young man to afternoon tea in our cottage common room tomorrow, ma’am? All four of us will be present to meet him.”
No explosion of wrath greeted this request: instead, Matron indicated the supplicant’s chair with an expressionless face. “I think you had better sit down, Latimer, and explain this rather extraordinary request.”
“It’s about my sister Faulding, ma’am.”
“You are aware she isn’t happy nursing?”
Edda sighed, hunched her shoulders. “Yes, I am.”
“Is she in another scrape?”
“Not yet, but if she isn’t handled properly she could get into a very serious one. By handled properly, I mean her sisters need to move closer to her in her present dilemma,” said Edda, struggling to leave so much unsaid, as it had to be. “Our stepmother has very fixed ideas — laudable, naturally! — and a situation has blown up that we sisters need to know more about before Stepmama is informed.” Her hands went out, appealing. “You see, Grace has met a young man she wants to marry, but unfortunately he isn’t from Corunda — in fact, he’s an itinerant, a commercial traveller. A Perkins Man, respectable, but we need to meet this young man and find out more about him. Afternoon tea in our quarters would be ideal.”
“Permission granted,” said Matron, foreseeing an answer to her difficulties with Grace. “I will inform Sister Bainbridge.”
“What an eminently sensible young woman Latimer is!” said Matron to Sister Bainbridge over dinner in her house. “She came to me, which is exactly what she should have done. To keep the nurses terrified of us is vital, but it is so refreshing to find that some nurses can see under the veneer. A clever young woman too. Not one word of criticism did Latimer pass against Maude Latimer, but I was able to plumb all the currents. The young man is socially suspect according to Maude’s lights, clearly. We must do what we can to help, Marjorie, including with the Rector, if it comes to that. Can our cook manage scones, jam and cream?”
Two hours with Bear Olsen reconciled Grace’s sisters to this stunningly sudden change in Grace’s life and future welfare.That he loved her was plain, but — equally important — he wasn’t a shiftless ne’er-do-well of a commercial traveller. He was a genuine Perkins Man, the best in the Antipodes, with a promising career, two thousand pounds in the bank, and friends in high management. He was not a drinker and he would be a good husband to Grace; her three sisters came away from the interview fully convinced of that.
“I’ll be on this circuit for at least another five years,” he explained, having done justice to the Sisters’ cook’s scones with jam and cream — a mark of Matron’s generosity and approval that staggered its recipients. Perhaps beneath the iceberg lay a human being? An appalling thought of an alien kind. “For that reason,” said Bear, “I wouldn’t want to uproot Grace from Corunda and her family yet. I’ve found a decent house on Trelawney Way, which means it’s on the city water and sewer. I can get it for eleven hundred pounds, cash.”
“That’s a good price for city water and sewer,” Edda said.
“Well built, Edda, honest! The roof’s properly lined with tar paper, the interior walls are plastered, and the toilet’s in a separate room from the bathroom. The floors are karri and the windows are all properly flashed — they can be easily fitted with mesh
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