The Secret Woman by Victoria Holt Page B

I ever think of it. As for myself I couldn’t help thinking how pleasant it must be to own such a place—fake or not. There is an air of opulence about it; and I feel sure that this castle will no doubt be more comfortable to live in than the genuine article. I alighted from the station fly which I had engaged to bring me and my belongings from the Queen’s House. I was in a sort of courtyard and there was an iron studded door with a bell beside it, rather like the one at the Queen’s House. I pulled this bell and a manservant appeared.
    â€œI’m Nurse Loman,” I said.
    â€œHer ladyship is expecting you,” he answered. He was very dignified, the perfect butler. I had an idea that everything would be perfect in Castle Crediton—outwardly at least. I went into the hall which I was sure was the one Anna had once mentioned to me. Yes, there were the tapestries she had talked of, and which she had been examining when she had first met her Captain.
    â€œIf you will wait for a moment, Nurse Loman, I will inform her ladyship of your arrival.”
    I nodded and looked about me, impressed by it all. I thought I was going to like living in a castle. In a very short time the servant reappeared and took me up the stairs to her “ladyship.” There she was seated in her high-backed chair, a tartar, I thought, if ever I saw one and I was glad that she was not to be my patient. I knew from experience that she would be the very worst possible, but she was in perfect health and would scorn illness, thinking, I was sure that it was due to some mental weakness. I can’t help comparing myself with Anna. She would have made an assessment of the treasures of the house, and while their obvious worth did not escape me, I included them in my summing up of “grand” and concerned myself with the people. Nursing gives one a very clear insight into people; when they are sick and to a certain extent at one’s mercy, they betray themselves in a hundred ways. One becomes perceptive, and the study of human beings always seemed more interesting to me than that of inanimate objects. Yet I am inclined to be frivolous—at least when I compare myself with serious Anna.
    Lady Crediton was what I call a battle-ax. She looked at me and did not entirely approve of my appearance although I was doing my best to look demure. Her appearance was entirely forbidding—or it would have been to anyone less experienced than I was. I thought to myself: Well, Dr. Elgin has recommended me and I’m here and they want a nurse, so at least they’ll have to give me a chance to prove my worth. (And I was going to prove it for I found Castle Crediton much to my taste.) The place had appealed to me as soon as I heard of it, and when I learned that there was the possibility of working there, I was elated. Besides, I don’t want to be too far from Anna.
    â€œSo, Nurse Loman, you have joined our household.” She spoke precisely in a rather gruff masculine voice. I could understand the husband seeking consolation elsewhere. She was clearly a very worthy person, almost always right and taking care that those about her realized it. Creditable, but very uncomfortable to live with.
    â€œYes, Lady Crediton. Dr. Elgin has given me particulars of my patient.”
    Her ladyship’s mouth was a little grim, from which I gathered the patient is no favorite of hers. Or does she despise all patients because they haven’t earned her obvious ruddy health?
    â€œI am glad that he has given you some indication of how we are placed here. Captain and Mrs. Stretton have their own apartments here. The Captain is not in residence at the time, but Mrs. Stretton and her son, with their servants occupy the east wing. But although this is so, Nurse Loman, I myself am…shall we say the Chatelaine of the Castle, and as such what happens in all parts of it is my concern.”
    I bowed my head.
    â€œIf you have any