Paddington Green by Claire Rayner

Author:Claire Rayner [Rayner, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-84982-058-5
Publisher: M P Publishing Limited
Published: 1975-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

16

Abel sat in the corner of the cab, leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees as though by sitting so impatiently he could hurry the vehicle on its way. Already the man was whipping up his horse as hard as he could and the dusty old hack swayed and rattled furiously over the cobbles as it went hurtling across Bedford Square, so that William in his corner was tumbled about like an egg in a basket, greatly to his discomfiture.

‘Really, father, I see no reason why you should respond with such ridiculous haste to the woman!’ he said pettishly as the cab bounced over a rough patch in the road and made him strike his elbow painfully against the side of his seat. ‘And I certainly do not see why I should have to accompany you. If you choose to be at the beck and call of the hospital on Sunday as well as every other day, that is your affair. Bad enough you insisted on talking of hospital matters today. I for one have better things to do with a pleasant afternoon than concern myself with workaday affairs. And I cannot see why—’

‘Stop your whining,’ Abel said harshly. ‘And use your head. Nancy is no fool—she has more sense in her little finger than you and half the hospital have in all your bodies put together, and if she says the matter is of some urgency then it is. And since it concerns the woman I brought in from the streets and these are the ones you will be having care of, then you might as well start as I mean you to go on, and see her now, and—’

‘I told you—’ William gasped, as the cab hurled itself round a corner, ‘I told you I see no reason why I should do any such thing. The matters at Wapping are well enough—the Trustees—’

‘To hell and damnation with the Trustees!’ Abel said, and leaned out of the window to see where they were, and then seized the door handle, for the cab was now rattling along Broad Street, and would be at the steps of the hospital in another minute or two. ‘They’ll do as they’re bid, and that’s all about it. I’ve decided that the place shall be sold, and sold it shall be. It remains in my possession, and I decide its disposing. As for you—’ The cab stopped and he leapt out almost before the wheels had stopped turning. ‘You may do as you choose as far as living in my house is concerned. Stay or depart, as you please. But if you depart you take nothing with you, and if you stay you work among the outdoor patients as I have told you. Pay the man—’ and he went running up the steps of the hospital leaving William red-faced and furious to settle the cabman’s demands.

Nancy was waiting at the top of the first flight of stairs in the women’s medical house, peering over

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