Secret for a Nightingale (43 page)

She stood at the rail watching us, and we waited there until the ship was out of sight. Then we went back to the hospital, too moved for speech.

I had written a letter to Lily which Ethel promised to deliver. I wanted her to know that William was really well and under my care. I knew nothing could give her more comfort except the return of William himself.

The hospital was different now. Each day some of the men would be sent home. Only the worst cases remained. Some would die, of course; but it was hoped that in a few months the others would be well enough to go home.

Charles was to go with a batch of the wounded.

He came to me and told me of his orders.

“I wish, Anna,” he said, ‘that you could come with me. “

“I shall be home soon. I am looking after William Clift, and although he is doing well, he is not yet quite ready to be moved. So … I am needed here.”

“You would always put duty first, of course.”

I was not sure that he was right. I did not want to go yet. I had the feeling that I had come here for a purpose and that purpose was not completed. I had to be near Damien Adair for a while though I was not sure what I wanted to do.

Charles kissed me tenderly.

“As soon as you’re back, I’ll come to you. I think by then you will have made up your mind.”

“Yes, Charles,” I said, ‘that will be best. “

“Everything will be different at home when we get back to normality.”

I agreed with him.

“It can’t be long now,” I said.

Then he talked about what we would do in the country. He would see what was going. He would choose his practice carefully and would take nothing until he had consulted me. I could see that he would be a considerate husband and that I was fortunate to have such a man love me.

I watched him sail away and when he had gone I missed him. It is so comforting to be loved even if one is not sure that one can return that love.

Our duties were comparatively light now and there were frequent occasions when we had a few hours to ourselves. Parties of us would take the caiques and go across to Constantinople The town was so different now. It was no longer under enemy threat. The shops were suddenly brighter. There seemed always to be music in the streets.

There were many restaurants where we could have a meal or sit merely drinking wine or thick Turkish coffee.

We were known by our uniforms and respected. We had earned a

reputation for doing good work, and although in the beginning many had been sceptical of us, that was not the case Henrietta was in even higher spirits than usual. She seemed almost feverishly merry. She said to me once: “I don’t know how I shall settle in England after this. I would love to go farther East. There is so much I want to know.”

Philippe Lablanche was still in Constantinople and he took us out once or twice; he often called at the hospital and I thought he was attracted by Henrietta. She was rather flirtatious towards him and he seemed to find that enchanting. She had had a great deal of attention in her life and seemed to expect it and to revel in it.

She constantly asked Philippe questions about the customs of the people, and when he talked about his travels she was spellbound imagining herself, I guessed, riding through the desert, pitching her tent at some oasis all very romantic. I had an idea that Dr. Adair was rarely out of her thoughts.

Once she came back from Constantinople with a costume she had bought.

It was of silk with swathings of material hanging loosely over trousers which billowed out and were caught in at the ankles.

“What on earth have you bought that for?” I asked.

“Because I liked it.”

“You couldn’t wear it.”

“Why not? I’ll put it on and show you how it suits me.”

In a few moments she was standing before me, radiant in the costume.

I said: “You look like the queen of the harem. But you are too fair to fit the part.”

“Some of them are fair. Some are slaves from distant lands.”

“Henrietta,” I said, ‘you are quite absurd. “

“I know. But it is fun being absurd.”

“Mind you, you could wear it as a fancy dress costume at home. It would be quite suitable for that.”

Her expression changed. It was a little uneasy.

“It will be strange to be home,” she said slowly.

“Just imagine … after all this. Rather mundane, don’t you think?”

I stared at her in amazement. I had thought that, like most of us, she was longing for home.

“Don’t tell me you are going to regret leaving the hospital,

the wards, the suffering men . all the horrors of it, the impossibility of keeping it clean . the anguish, the blood, the terrible exhaustion, the conditions we have been living in. Don’t tell me that you haven’t longed to be home. “

“It is more comfortable, of course.”

I laughed at her.

“Is that all?”

“There is a possibility here of something fantastic happening. At home what is there? Balls, parties, coming out, meeting the right people. There is something romantic here.”

“Henrietta, you amaze me! I thought you couldn’t wait to get home.”

“Things change,” she said, and she was smiling into space.

A few days later Philippe called at the hospital and invited us to dine with him that evening. He would call for us at six and we would take the caique across to Constantinople as usual.

I was wearing a pale green dress which I had brought with me. It was very simple and had been easy to slip into my carpet bag. It was the one dress I had, apart from my uniform. I had not worn it very much because our uniform was a protection if we should find ourselves in a difficult position as Henrietta and I had learned during that adventure we had had in the streets of the city.

But on that evening we should be with Philippe and he was well accustomed to the ways of Constantinople.

Henrietta wore a long cloak and I was amazed to see that under it was her Turkish outfit. She looked very beautiful. There was an infectious gaiety about her which was very attractive. One felt one must enjoy an occasion because she did so thoroughly.

As we were about to step into the caique we met Dr. Adair.

“Are you dining in Constantinople?” he asked.

Philippe said that we were.

“Two ladies and one man! That doesn’t seem right. How would it be if I invited myself to join the party?”

We were all taken aback. Henrietta’s eyes were sparkling.

“But that would be delightful!” she cried.

“Thank you,” said Dr. Adair.

“Then that’s settled.”

The caique was crowded as usual and Dr. Adair said: “Everyone wants to take advantage of the last weeks here. Very soon everyone will be free to go.”

“There are some patients who can’t be moved yet,” I reminded him.

“A matter of time,” he said.

“I dare say you are counting the days.”

I replied that we were delighted that the war was over and there was a possibility of getting back to normal again.

“Normal is always so enticing … at least to look back on and forward to.”

The journey across the Bosphorus was very brief and soon we were alighting. Several caiques had arrived at the same time and there was quite a crowd on the shore. Dr. Adair took my arm, Philippe took Henrietta’s.

“Just a moment,” said Dr. Adair to me quietly.

“Take a look back … across the bank. Doesn’t it look romantic? Not much like the hospital we know. In this light it looks like a caliph’s palace, don’t you think?”

He was smiling at’me half ironically. He looked secretive, I thought.

But then he always did.

“It looks quite different, I admit.”

“You will also admit that it is something you will never forget.”

I turned away. Henrietta and Philippe were no longer in sight.

He looked around him.

“It is so easy to lose people in the crowds.

We’ll find them. “

But we did not find them.

We made our way along the waterfront. Dr. Adair looked at me in what I fancy was mock dismay.

“Never mind,” he said.

“I think I know where Lablanche was planning to go.”

“Did he tell you? I didn’t hear him.”

“Oh … I know his favourite haunt. Come, we’ll go there. Leave it to me.”

He led me to one of the carriages which was waiting to be hired. They were drawn by two horses and we sat side by side, as we began our drive through the city. It was most romantic,

especially by night. I was still getting over the shock of finding myself alone with him. He talked rather nonchalantly but knowledgeably about the architecture, in which subject he appeared to be well-informed comparing the mosque built by Sulyman the Great with that of Sultan Ahmed the First. We had by this time crossed one of the bridges to the Turkish part of the city.

“Here I think we may find our friends,” he said.

“If not… we must make do with each other.”

I said: “If you would prefer it, Dr. Adair, I can go back to Scutari.”

“Whatever for? I thought you’ were bent on dining out.”

“I had accepted Monsieur Lablanche’s invitation but as I have lost him”

“Never mind. You have another protector.”

“Perhaps you had other plans.”

“Only to dine out. Come. Let us go in. It may well be that the others have forestalled us.”

We alighted and he led me into the restaurant. It was darkish and there were lighted candles on the tables. A man in very splendid livery of blue and gold with a gold-coloured cummerbund came towards us. I did not understand the conversation between them but the liveried man presumably a head waiter was most obsequious.

Dr. Adair turned to me.

“Our friends have not yet arrived. I have asked them to find a table for two, and there we will wait for them. When they do he will tell them at once that we are here. If they do not, I am afraid. Miss Pleydell, you will be obliged to make do with me.”

We were taken to a table in an alcove, somewhat secluded from the rest of the room.

“A little seclusion is so much better if one wants to indulge in conversation,” he said.

I was feeling uneasy and yet at the same time exhilarated. I had come a long and devious way to find this man and here I was actually seated opposite him. It was success indeed.

“I hope you are ready to experiment with Turkish food. Miss Pleydell.

It is rather different from what you have at home . or hospital fare. But one has to be adventurous, don’t you agree? “

“Yes, of course.”

“You don’t seem very sure. Are you adventurous?”

“Surely one must be to come out to the Crimea, to war?”

“Up to a point, I agree. But you are a dedicated nurse and would doubtless go to the ends of the earth if your profession called you there. Would you like caviar? Otherwise there is a very tasty dish of meat stuffed with peppers which have been treated in all sorts of sauces.”

“For fear of being judged unadventurous, I might try that,” I said.

“Good, and after that I suggest this Circassian chicken. It’s cooked in a sauce of walnuts.”

“Don’t you think we should wait for the others?”

“Oh no …”

“But I was supposed to be Monsieur Lablanche’s guest.”

“He has the ebullient Henrietta to entertain.”

“Do you really think they will come here?”

“There is a possibility. I am not sure of the number of these eating places in Constantinople, but at least this is one of them, and a renowned one … so there is a possibility that they might come here.”

“I thought you were sure they would come, that it was a favourite place of Monsieur Lablanche.”

“He is a man of discrimination so he will certainly know of this place.”

“You are not very direct. You gave me quite a different impression a little while ago.”

“We make our own impressions. Miss Pleydell, but why bother ourselves with such a trivial matter? Here we are dining a deux. It is a good opportunity for us to talk.”

“Do you think we have anything to talk about?”

“My dear Miss Pleydell, it would be two very dull people who had nothing to talk about just for one brief evening. We have worked together … You have formed your impressions of me…”

“And you of me. That is, if you have ever noticed me.”

“I am an observant man. I miss little, you know.”

“But surely some things are too insignificant for your notice.”

“Certainly not. Miss Pleydell.”

The liveried man in the cummerbund was approaching our table with a waiter slightly less splendidly clad than himself, and the order was given. Dr. Ad. air chose a wine and in a very short time the first course was brought to us.

He lifted his glass.

“To you … and all the nightingales who left home to come across the sea to nurse our soldiers.”

I lifted mine.

“And to the doctors who came, too.”

“Your first protege will now be on his way home,” he said.

“Oh, you mean Tom. Yes, he is on the way home with Ethel. They are going to be married.”

“And live happily ever after?”

“That is what is hoped for. There is a farm and Ethel is a country girl.”

“And your second?”

“You mean William Clift who is recovering slowly.”

“That was a near thing.” He looked at me steadily.

The Circassian chicken arrived at that moment and there was silence while it was served.

“I am sure you will find it delicious,” said Dr. Adair. He filled my glass.

“Yes,” he went on, “I wanted to talk to you about William Clift.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“You look surprised.”

“I am surprised that you should think me worthy to discuss a patient with you. I fancied you thought nurses should remain in their places and should merely run hither and thither at the doctors’ command and be consigned to the menial tasks.”

“Well, should they not? That does not mean that I should not want to discuss William Clift with you. His wounds are healing. He was brought close to death, but he survived … and in due course he will be quite fit and probably live to a ripe age. He could so easily have been dead, you know.”