Nurse Ann Wood by Valerie K. Nelson Page A

he’d never marry her, considering who she is. All the tribe of Sherrardes and Derharts would unite in preventing him making the same blunder that his cousin made.
    At the foot of the terrace outside, Iain deposited the children in the back of the car, while Ann got in beside them, and he tucked rugs round all of them.
    Half asleep, Guy snuggled up to the girl. “Auntie Ann and Uncle Iain,” he murmured. “It’s just as if we were ordinary children with a proper mummy and daddy.”
    Iain looked quickly at the girl, who had drawn the little form beneath the rug even closer. As her eyes met his, he saw the glitter of a tear on her thick black lashes...
    The memory of that tear, and of Guy’s words, were with him when he went back into the house to meet the disapproving storm from his aunt and Maureen.
    Mrs. Woods sought Ann out in her room on the following morning. She was still in her dressing-gown, but her face was made up and her hair beautifully dressed.
    Ann’s eyes went guiltily to her little travelling clock. Through sheer excitement she had not been able to sleep for a long time after she had come to bed, but in the end she had fallen into a deep, untroubled slumber which had lasted till now.
    “Oh,. I didn’t realize it was so late,” she said apologetically. “I — how is the patient?”
    “Still sleeping and apparently a good deal better,” Mrs. Woods said, lighting a cigarette, without either offering Ann one or enquiring whether she objected to smoking in this rather small room.
    “Iain Sherrarde rang up quite early. He is being very sticky about your nursing Beverley. I gather he thinks you’re scarcely capable.”
    Ann sat up, the startled color creeping into her pale cheeks. “Capable!” she echoed.
    “Oh, I mean because of your having lost your memory. He says you are really an invalid and you should be more in the position of a patient than a nurse.”
    “But I’m all right physically,” Ann insisted, rather anxiously.
    “He is insisting that Miss Pollard stays on to look after the children,” Mrs. Woods continued. Ann wondered whether she was imagining the warning in the other’s voice. Was she going to say now that Ann must leave Fountains and go back to hospital? Panic seized her by the throat.
    Mrs. Woods’ next remark wasn’t to that effect, but it was almost as unwelcome. “You’ll be a fool if you misinterpret his interest,” she said crudely. “I’ve been talking to the Pollard girl, asking her to stay on, and she confirms my own opinion that Doctor Lyntrope’s sudden interest in the children is her way of attracting Mr. Sherrardes’ attention.”
    “Then you know what happened to the children yesterday?” Ann seized on the opportunity of turning the subject of the conversation from herself. “You approve of our fetching them back from Dainty’s End?”
    “I admire your nerve, and I gather that you got considerable support from Mr. Sherrarde.”
    Ann hesitated. “I don’t think he would have allowed the children to come back if...”
    “If you hadn’t gone for them,” Mrs. Woods prompted. “Well, that’s because you’re a nurse. Don’t get any other ideas, for goodness’ sake.”
    She moved over to the door, taking one further, considering look at Ann. “When you’re ready, come to my room. We’ll go together to Beverley’s apartment.”
    A short time later, they were crossing the hall and going along the passage which led to Beverley’s lovely suite. As they entered the small hall, a door opened, and Mrs. Marchdale came out.
    She stared at them in a hostile manner. “She can’t see you, either of you,” she declared loudly.
    Mrs. Woods’ face was furious. “March, I told you not to come in here this morning. Do you want to kill Beverley? She was so much better first thing.”
    “There’s better and better,” the old woman declared. “I’ve been giving her a drop of something to help her get well.”
    “Oh, no!” protested Mrs. Woods.