Doctor's Assistant by Celine Conway

Author:Celine Conway [Conway, Celine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE letter arrived on the day that Ben cracked the plaster from John Delaney’s leg and fitted the limb with a smart and shiny support. Laurette had helped, and smiled with Ben at her father’s exuberant admiration of the new pink casing to his calf and ankle. The atmosphere in the tiny veranda had an element of relief, and when finally Ben had prepared to go, Laurette had met his eyes frankly.

“We’re awfully grateful for all you’ve done, Ben. I’m sure there’s hardly another doctor who’d have tackled it outside a hospital.”

“You’re wrong. This kind of thing is being done in all the remote parts of Africa.”

“Still, you might have had my father sent to Umtopo.”

“Idiot,” he said briefly. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a bill.” His manner, reminiscent of the old relationship which had existed between them, encouraged her to ask, “Who makes them out now?”

“Alix,” he replied. “She’s a competent woman.” He rinsed his hands in the bowl Bwazi had brought and looked across at the erect figure of the Captain who, without aid, stood nonchalantly smoking at the veranda rail. “You still won’t be able to drive for a while, you know.”

The answer was accompanied by a philosophical shrug. “If I’d taught Laurette how to handle the bus I wouldn’t care. She has to tramp everywhere and in this heat it’s fatiguing’“

“Pity. You must use the boy for errands.” To Laurette he said, “Can I take you somewhere this morning?”

“I wouldn’t mind being dropped at the post office,” she confessed.

His unbending was very slight. His remarks, as he drove, were merely conversational, and when he pulled up at the post office his smile of farewell carefully excluded friendliness. Laurette knew a moment of intense longing for a showdown with Ben. She wanted to ask him outright if it was true he had told his cousin he could not afford a nurse, and she wanted to accuse him of shabby treatment and cowardice. Anything to clear the air.

But somehow she was out on the narrow pavement, thanking him politely for the lift and watching the tourer move off.

Laurette bought her stamps and air letters. As always when she called at the post office she asked if there were any mail for the Delaneys, for everyone saved the Port Quentin postman a climb when they could. She received three letters, went out to the pavement and looked at them. Two of the envelopes were addressed to her father from England; the third, written in Peter’s unruly scrawl, was for Laurette. No doubt about it; he had spelled out her name in full so that there could not be a vestige of a mistake. He never wrote to her except for her birthday, when he remembered it, and at Christmas, and neither was imminent.

The pavement was becoming congested with Pondos who had come in from the reserve to cash postal orders received from relatives working up north in the gold mines. There were blanketed women, each one with a baby

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.