A Forgotten Place by Charles Todd

Author:Charles Todd [Todd, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780062678829
Amazon: 0062678825
Barnesnoble: 0062678825
Goodreads: 36137547
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2018-09-18T05:00:00+00:00

I could hardly tell Rachel about either conversation. Or Hugh for that matter.

But something was wrong out here, and I wasn’t sure exactly what it could be. I didn’t know these people well enough to judge.

The rest of the day seemed to drag. For in my mind’s eye, I could see the long drive up to the door of the clinic, and the orderly at the small desk in Reception. Matron in her own little cubby of an office, and staff moving about on their duties. I ought to be coming up that drive an hour before tea. I was to go on duty at four.

But I wouldn’t be there, and Matron would send someone to inquire if I had arrived—and if I had, why I hadn’t reported to her. I’d have a new list of patients. Possibly some of those I’d tended before. I’d need to be put into the picture, given what was known about the wounds and the spirits of each man. Any changes in staff would be brought to my attention. And then Matron would ask after my parents and if leave had brought me any peace of mind.

She was an astute woman, she could read us just in the same way she could read patients, alert to a man’s depression, to his isolation, even when he smiled and said all was well. It would be there in his eyes, I thought. A difference between the smile on the lips and the shadows in the eyes. And Matron would take steps to deal with the problem.

I sighed as I finished the small chores I’d set myself, and then wandered into the little room where Rachel worked. The loom stood silent witness to the fact that she had used it recently. But it also told me that her mind hadn’t been on what she was doing. There was a stiffness in the colors running through the loom now, where before there had been almost a lyric sense of what blended and changed and surprised.

She had worked for the relief it gave her, but that was all she’d done. Something was missing . . .

Closing the door, feeling as if I’d been intruding, I wandered about the house until it was time to begin our dinner.

We’d just sat down to it when there was a knock at the door.

Rachel rose quickly and went to open it. I heard voices, realized that one of them was Ellen Marshall’s, sharp with worry. I glanced at Hugh, then got up to hurry down the passage.

Ellen, looking over Rachel’s shoulder, greeted me with relief.

“I’m so sorry to disturb your dinner,” she said quickly to me. “But Oliver is running a fever. I’m worried about him. What can I do?”

“Would you like me to come down and have a look?” For the motorcar was sitting in the road in front of the house. It wouldn’t take long. “I’ll just fetch my coat.” I could feel the cold air swirling about our ankles and skirts as I came to stand by Rachel.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.