more than on the previous occasion. Then it had seemed as if she were at a loss for what to say. Looking at her more closely, it now appeared instead to be a knowledge that no words would serve any purpose, they might end in belittling what was too large for everyday speech.
When they had gone together into the withdrawing room, Hester looked at Corriden Wade. He was quite obviously tired and the strain was showing in the lines of weariness around his mouth and eyes. There was no longer the same energy in his bearing.
"Can I help you at all, Dr. Wade?" she asked gravely. "Surely there must be something I can do to lessen the burden upon you? I imagine you have many other patients, both in hospital and in their homes." She searched his eyes. "When did you last take any thought for yourself?"
He stared at her as if for a moment he was not sure what she meant.
"Dr. Wade?"
He smiled, and his face altered completely. The dejection and anxiety vanished, although nothing could mask the tiredness in him.
"How generous of you, Miss Latterly," he said quietly. "I apologise for allowing my own feelings to be so obvious. It is not a quality I intend, or admire. I admit, this case does trouble me deeply. As you have no doubt observed, both my sister and I are very fond of the whole family." A shadow of pain crossed his eyes, and the surprise of it was naked to see. "I still find it hard to accept that Leighton...
. Mr. Duff... is dead. I had known him for years. We had shared...
a great deal. That it should all end..." He took a deep breath."...
. like this... is appalling. Rhys is much more than a patient to me.
I know..." He made a slight gesture with his hands. "I know a good doctor, or a good nurse, should not allow themselves to become personally involved with anyone they treat. It can affect their judgement to offer the best care possible. Relatives can lend sympathy and grief, moral support and love. They look to us to provide the best professional treatment, not emotion. I know all this as well as anyone. Still I cannot help being moved by Rhys's plight."
"And I too," she confessed. "I don't think anyone expects us not to care. How could we dedicate our time to helping the sick and injured, if we did not care?"
He looked at her closely for several moments.
"You are a remarkable woman, Miss Latterly. And of course you are right. I shall go up and see Rhys. Perhaps you will keep the ladies company, and..."
"Yes?" She was now used to his pattern of seeing Rhys alone, and no longer questioned it.
"Please, do not offer them too much encouragement. I do not know if he is progressing as well as I had hoped. His outer wounds are healing, but he seems to have no energy, no will to recover. I detect very little returning strength, and that disturbs me. Can you tell me if I have missed something, Miss Latterly?"
"No... no, I wish I could, but I also have wished he would develop more desire to sit up longer, even get into a chair for a while. He is still very weak, and not able to take as much food as I had expected."
He sighed. "Perhaps we hope too much. But guard your words, Miss Latterly, or we may unintentionally cause even more pain." And with an inclination of his head, he went up the stair past her and disappeared across the landing.
Hester went to the withdrawing room and knocked on the door. She had a fear of interrupting a moment that could be confidential. However, she was invited in immediately and with apparently genuine pleasure.
"Do come in, Miss Latterly," Eglantyne said warmly. "Mrs. Duff was telling me about Amalia's letters from India. It sounds extraordinarily beautiful, in spite of the heat and the disease.
Sometimes I regret there is so much of the world I shall never see. Of course my brother has travelled a great deal..."
"He was a naval surgeon, wasn't he?" Hester sat in the chair offered her. "He mentioned something of it to me."
Eglantyne's face showed little expression. It was plain it did not excite in her the imagination of danger, personal courage, desperate conditions and the knowledge of suffering that it did in Hester. But then how could it? Eglantyne Wade had probably never witnessed anything more violent or