The Gemel Ring

She left early in the morning, in the MG which had been a present from her godmother on her twenty-first birthday and her most treasured possession, for it was a means of getting home for a weekend at least once a month as well as for her holidays. She was a good driver and a fast one, so once over the winding road which crossed Woodbury Common she joined the main road and put her foot down. She was on duty the next morning, and she wanted an hour or two to settle in once more before she went on the ward. Her brain was already busy with the work ahead of her; there would be two new student nurses to absorb into the staff of the Men’s Surgical ward she had been running for two years now; her staff nurse would need—and deserve—a long weekend off; there was that little tussle with Matron before her, concerning the new ward curtains—and there was Clive Barton, the Surgical Registrar, who had shown signs of becoming serious about her, and for some reason she couldn’t quite understand, she didn’t want to encourage him. Which was silly really, for she liked him very much, perhaps she was a little fond of him even and might get fonder, but she hesitated to commit herself.

She whizzed past a couple of slow-moving transports, wondering why it was that Lucy, quiet and retiring and shy, who had little or no opportunity of meeting any men, should have known the moment she had set eyes upon David that she wanted to marry him.

Charity’s dark winged eyebrows drew together in a frown. Perhaps she was never going to meet a man who would make her feel like that—willing to hand over her whole life without question. She slowed down to go through Axminster, to get caught up in the early morning traffic filtering its way through the narrow, curling main street. She glanced at her watch; she was doing nicely, she would stop for lunch just before she got on to the M3 and then press on, for London would take a bit of getting through even outside the rush hour.

She reached St Simon’s Hospital in time to join her friends in the Sisters’ sitting-room for an early tea. They hailed her with pleasure and a spate of questions about her holiday, brought her up to date with the hospital news and settled down to drink their tea and eat as much bread and butter and jam as time allowed.

“Did anything exciting happen, Charity?” Nancy Benson wanted to know as she got up to fill her cup.

Charity sat down on the arm of the chair. “No—at least, not exciting, exactly; a man fainted while we were waiting to cross one of the ferries—an American, Mr Arthur C. Boekerchek…” There was a shriek of laughter. “Yes, I know it’s a gorgeous name, isn’t it—I couldn’t believe my ears.”

“I suppose you did your Florence Nightingale act?” a small girl remarked, “or was there a doctor around?”

Charity, a little belatedly, discovered that she didn’t want to tell anyone about the doctor. She said briskly: “Oh, yes—someone or other came along, and the American was taken to a hotel to rest. It wasn’t in the least exciting. Tell me, how is our Alice doing with Mr Wright?”

“Our Alice” was Accident Room Sister, a quiet retiring girl in her early thirties. Her younger colleagues had despaired of her seeming content to remain single, and when Mr Wright, the assistant radiologist, equally quiet and retiring, had shown interest in her, they had combined in a conspiracy to bring them together as often as possible. Her inquiry was met with a triumphant cry of: “They’re engaged—isn’t it marvellous? After all our hard work and patience.”

“I wonder who’ll be next?” asked Nancy, and looked at Charity, who said instantly and strongly: “Don’t look at me—I’ve no one in mind,” which wasn’t quite true, but how could one be serious about a man one had glimpsed for the briefest moment of time and would never see again?

They dispersed very soon after that, most of them to go back on to their wards, the lucky ones off duty to change for an evening out, and Charity to her room to unpack and get ready for the morning.

She had only been away a fortnight, but there were a number of new patients, although old Mr Grey, who had been in the ward for some time, was still there, as were Mr Timms and Charlie Green. During her absence, she noticed, they had contrived to get moved into the four-bedded, partitioned area at the top of the ward where doubtless they were continuing their cosy little card parties whenever it was possible to get someone to push their beds together. There was a fourth man there, and she passed from her patients’ glad cries of welcome to his bed—a small, cherubic-faced elderly man, recovering from a not too serious operation, and, as Charlie was quick to tell her, a tip-top rummy player. She smiled at them in a motherly fashion, begged them to be good boys and went on down the ward.

The patients here were all new, so she began the task of getting to know them—twenty-odd men who had been admitted during her fortnight’s absence—supported after a while by her staff nurse, Lacey Bell, who presently, at Charity’s invitation, followed her into her office, where they drank their coffee together while Lacey added a few details about the patients—details best left unsaid in the ward. She was a good nurse, thought Charity, listening to her astute summing-up of the cases, and one day she would make a good Sister—perhaps she already had aspirations to step into her own shoes. Charity was very well aware that the hospital expected her to marry Clive Barton.

She gathered her scattered thoughts together and said cheerfully: “Thanks, Lacey, you’ve done a good job while I’ve been away.” She smiled at the girl opposite her. “How about a weekend off? I’m sure you’ve some overtime to work off.”

Her staff nurse looked pleased. “Lovely, thank you, Sister, if you’re sure it’s OK.” She got up. “I’ll just go and make sure the ward’s straight, shall I?”

Charity nodded. “Do—I’ll flip through these notes, and mind you’re at hand during Mr Howard’s round, I may need a reminder.”

She had never needed a reminder yet, thought Lacey as she swung down the ward once more. Sister Dawson might be one of the most eye-catching girls at St Simon’s, she was also one of the brainiest; she had never been known to forget anything; she learned new techniques within minutes and she had been the Gold Medallist of her year—a sufficiency of talents to swell her pretty head, and yet they hadn’t; she never mentioned her medal, nor for that matter had she ever been heard to tell anyone that she had the Advanced Driver’s Certificate, could speak fluent French and passable German, even if with a strong English accent; that she swam like a fish and played a first-class game of tennis, and had received more proposals of marriage than any other female in the hospital.

She deserved better than Clive Barton, mused her faithful staff nurse, plumping up pillows and straightening counterpanes while she kept a stern eye on the student nurses. Clive was all right, but Charity Dawson needed someone even cleverer than she was and with a brain just that much quicker; someone to be the boss, however gently he did it. Lacey, reviewing the eligible males to hand, couldn’t discover one who might do. It vexed her so that she spoke rather more sharply than she had intended to Mr Grey, and then had to tell him she hadn’t meant a word of it.

Charity, left alone, started on the notes, she read them fast and carefully and when she was half way through them, got up to peer at herself in the small mirror behind her desk. She was by no means vain, but no ward Sister would wish to do a round with one of the consultant surgeons, with her pleated muslin cap at an incorrect angle; she adjusted her headgear minutely, wrinkled her nose at her reflection, and sat down again. She was studying the last of the notes when Clive Barton came in.

Charity raised her green eyes for a moment and smiled. “Hi,” she said briefly, “I shan’t be a tick—there’s some cool coffee on the tray and a mug behind you.”

She bent her head again while her companion did as she had suggested and then took the chair opposite her. He was a middle-sized young man, with a pleasant face and pale hair already receding a little. He looked to be a mild man too, but Charity knew that there was a good deal of determination behind his placid features. Clive wanted to get to the top—to become a consultant—he had been a registrar for several years now and was liked and respected by the consultants he worked for. Sooner or later one of them would retire, and he, if he was lucky, would have a chance of stepping into his shoes. He sat quietly now, admiring Charity; he was almost in love with her, he certainly liked her enormously and she would make him a splendid wife. Besides, she was known to all the consultants and a great many of the local GP’s and they liked her, a fact which would be of considerable help to him. She was certainly a good-looker, although he had sometimes wished that she weren’t so clever. Not that she ever paraded the fact; there was no need, it was so obvious, and he had never quite liked her hair, it was so vivid, and somehow the simple knot she wore above her slender neck made it all the more so. A vague longing to change her into someone smaller and meeker and less spectacular entered his head, to be instantly dismissed as treason; Charity was a darling girl; he made the thought positive by asking: “How about coming out this evening? I’m sick of canteen food.”

She slapped the notes tidily together and smiled across the desk at him. “I’d love to—how I loathe coming back—it seems worse than usual.”

“Meet anyone interesting?” he asked her idly, and because she sensed that he didn’t really want to know, she was able to say composedly: “Father’s friends.” Her ear had caught the sound of feet. “Here’s Mr Howard.”

The round went off well; Mr Howard was in good spirits, which meant, naturally enough, that those who accompanied him were in good spirits too, even though they were forced to listen to his often-told jokes, but better that than the sharp questions he fired at them; medical students who so often regrettably gave the wrong answers.

There were no operations that day; the routine of dressings, getting patients up who didn’t want to get up, and keeping in bed those who were determined to get out of it, conducting Miss Evans, the Principal Nursing Officer, round the ward, dealing with various house-men, physiotherapists, visitors and those of her staff who wanted her private ear for some reason or other, kept Charity busy until she went off duty at five o’clock. She was to meet Clive at seven; there was plenty of time to bath and change, so she went along to the sitting-room and ate her tea in company with such of her friends who were off duty too, talking shop as usual, and presently went upstairs to her pleasant little room.

Clive hadn’t told her where they were going, she supposed it would be the quiet little restaurant close to the hospital where they had been several times before. She chose the lime green wild silk with its matching jacket and brushed her chestnut hair until it shone, before running downstairs to meet him at the Home entrance. She hoped uneasily that he wasn’t going to ask her to marry him; he had started to once before and she had gently dissuaded him, knowing that she was only postponing the inevitable.

She wasn’t even sure what she was going to say when he did propose; she was attracted to him, perhaps she was a little in love with him, but she didn’t think the feeling was enough to last a lifetime. Love, she felt sure, should sweep one off one’s feet, and leave one uncaring about anything or anybody else, and Clive hadn’t done that—besides, she wasn’t even sure that he loved her. She had no conceit, but she couldn’t help but be aware that she was a striking-looking girl, one whom men liked to be seen out with; she was also aware that she had intelligence as well as looks. She sighed and shrugged and then smiled at Clive waiting patiently in the hospital courtyard.

They dined pleasantly together, and over coffee he asked her to marry him, and looking at his earnest face across the table, she very nearly said yes. Only a fleeting memory, the tail-end of a dream, of a laconic giant of a man who didn’t like her accent, prevented her. But because Clive was so persistent, she did promise to think it over.

“I have to be quite certain,” she told him. “You see, when I marry it will be for the rest of my life—oh, I understand that sometimes divorce is inevitable, but perhaps it could sometimes be prevented if the people concerned had been quite sure before they married.” She grinned engagingly. “Aren’t I a pompous ass? I’m bossy too, you know—you might hate that.”

She hoped that he would say something about making sure that she would never get the chance to boss him, but he didn’t, only smiled and said that he wouldn’t mind—a remark which strangely disquieted her.

It was when they were leaving the restaurant that a girl ahead of them fell in the foyer. Both Charity and Clive went to help her, for the girl’s companion was elderly and stout and past bending. The girl was a wisp of a thing, slim and golden-haired and blue-eyed, who to Charity’s faint disgust, gave way at once to easy tears even as she assured Clive prettily that she had only tripped and not hurt herself in the least. And Charity, glancing at Clive’s face, could see that he rather liked this feminine display of helplessness, a disquieting thought, for she had been brought up to control her feelings in public and reserve her tears for the privacy of her own room, something she had sometimes found difficult when she had longed to have a good cry without having to wait until she was by herself, when quite often, by that time, she had no wish to weep any more. But this pretty little creature she was supporting now had no such inhibitions; she cried with ease and charm so that Charity felt compelled to suggest that they should retire to the powder room and repair the damage, if there was any.

The girl cheered up under Charity’s kindly eye, introduced herself as Margery Cross, and after a few minutes of re-doing her face, followed Charity back into the foyer where the two gentlemen were chatting quite happily together. There was another round of introductions before Margery thanked Clive with all the fervour of one who had been rescued from untold horrors, and with several backward glances, accompanied the stout gentleman, who it turned out was her doting father, to the taxi waiting for them. Charity stood patiently beside Clive while he waited on the pavement, staring after it until it had disappeared round a corner, before taking her arm and starting on their walk back to the hospital.

“Poor child,” he remarked. “It’s so unusual to find someone so sensitive in these days; most girls are so self-sufficient.”

“They have to be,” said Charity mildly.

He glanced at her quickly. “You were a dear, taking her under your wing like that—her father was most grateful. That’s what I like about you, Charity, you always know what to do.”

But she didn’t, she told him silently; she didn’t know if she wanted to marry him, did she? And if she had known what to do at Vlissingen, she would have found a way of talking—even for a few minutes—to that doctor who remained so persistently in her thoughts, just to convince him that she wasn’t a priggish English girl, boastful about her knowledge of German and resentful of his criticism. She admitted now that it was his complete unawareness of her which had so annoyed her, and if she were to be quite honest, she might as well admit at the same time that she didn’t dislike him. On the contrary.

“You’re very silent,” observed Clive. “I expect you’re tired, Charity.”

She agreed with him; not tired in the least, but it would be easier to agree than try to explain that she felt, all of a sudden, dissatisfied with life. They parted at the entrance to the Home and Clive kissed her goodnight, and although she enjoyed it, as any normal girl would, she felt no stirring within her. The fact frightened her a little as she got ready for bed. Perhaps she would never love anyone; some people had no great depth of feeling, supposing she should be one of these unfortunates? She went to sleep finally, worrying about it.

She had been back for two weeks when Miss Evans sent for her soon after eight o’clock on a day which bade fair to be both hot and busy. Theatre day, and the temperature already in the seventies. Charity muttered under her breath, bade the invaluable Lacey Bell take over, and sped through the hospital to its very heart where the PNO had her office, ringed about by lesser nursing officers whose duty it was to hold back those too eager to take up her time. But today Charity received no rebuff, no delay even, she was swept through to Miss Evans’ sanctum before she had time to do more than straighten her cap and adjust her cuffs. She had no idea why she had been sent for and there had been no moment in which to review the happenings of the last few days to discover what she had done wrong. She braced herself, took up her position before the desk and wished her superior a good morning.

It was a surprise when Miss Evans smiled at her, a rather vinegary smile, it was true, but still a smile. It was still more of a surprise when she was bidden to take a chair.

“I realise that you are busy,” began Miss Evans, a shade pompously, “but there is a matter of importance concerning yourself which I must discuss with you without delay—an urgent matter, I might say, and somewhat unusual. I have received a visit from a member of the American Embassy staff this morning with the request that you should be released from your duties here in order to nurse a member of their trade delegation in The Hague.” Her rather cold eyes studied Charity’s quiet face with interest. “A Mr Arthur C. Boekerchek—an extraordinary name—I understand that you have already met him.”

Charity felt surprise and excitement and kept both feelings firmly under control. “He fainted in a car at the ferry—I did very little, I just happened to be there…”

Miss Evans held up a hand. “The details are irrelevant, Sister. I merely wished to know that you were indeed the person they ask for, although it is a puzzle to me that it must be you and no one else—one would have thought that there was a sufficiency of nurses in a large city such as The Hague. However, I found it impossible to refuse their request on Mr Boekerchek’s behalf without giving offence; you will be good enough to make ready to leave for Holland some time tomorrow.”

Charity’s green eyes glinted dangerously. “But perhaps I might not wish to go to Holland, Miss Evans,” she prompted gently. “I wasn’t aware that I had been asked.”

Her superior’s face went a rich puce; at any moment, thought Charity naughtily, she’ll begin to gobble—she had never liked Miss Evans; few of her staff did, she wasn’t too good at her job, but she was nearing retirement; for the most part they allowed themselves to be dictated to and quietly went their own way without minding overmuch. But this time, Charity did mind. She got to her feet.

“I’m afraid that I must refuse to go, Miss Evans,” she said politely. “And now, if you will excuse me, I should go back to the ward—it’s theatre day.”

She was immediately immersed in the tasks which awaited her—drips to supervise patients to send on time to the theatre, dressings to do, nurses to keep an eye on—she urged on her team of helpers, the faithful Bell at her right hand. There was certainly no time to think about her interview with Miss Evans; that she would hear more of it was a foregone conclusion. Which she did, very shortly and hardly in the manner which she would have expected.

The last case came down to the ward just after twelve o’clock. Mr Howard, whose operating day it was, worked fast and expected everyone else to do the same; he arrived hard on the heels of his patient, still in his theatre trousers and a terrible old sweater, his cap pulled untidily over his hair, his mask dragged down under his chin. He marched up the ward to where Charity was connecting the quiet form in bed to the various tubes vital to his recovery, and said impatiently: “Morning, girl—I’ll see that first case—wasn’t very happy about him.”

They were bending over the unconscious man when Mr Howard asked: “What’s all this I hear about you going to Holland, eh?”

Charity reconnected a tube and said with calm: “Matron had arranged for me to go, but I refused.”