Heaven Around the Corner. Betty Neels
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with her patient in bed and presumably sleeping, Louisa cleared away their supper things, tidied the kitchen ready for Eva in the morning and went back to the window. It was very dark outside, but the streets were well lighted and there were plenty of people about and a good deal of traffic. The pleasant thought struck her that if Miss Savage wasn’t to be disturbed until ten o’clock each morning, she would have time to take a quick look round after her own breakfast. She could be up and dressed by eight o’clock and Eva would be in the flat then, so that if Miss Savage wanted anything there would be someone there. She didn’t know much about private nursing, but it seemed to her that this case wasn’t quite as usual; only the vaguest references had been made to off duty, for instance, and what about her free days? She should have made quite sure of those, but she had been so eager to get the job, and although it might not turn out to be exactly what she had expected at least she was out of England, beyond her stepmother’s reach, and moreover, in a country which, at first sight, looked delightful.
She went to bed and slept dreamlessly all night.
She was up and ready for Eva when she arrived, and since Miss Savage hadn’t said anything more about uniform, she had put on a pleated skirt and a thin sweater.
Eva was surprised to see her already dressed, but she wasted no time in making coffee and unwrapping the still warm rolls she had brought with her. She shared Louisa’s coffee too, sitting at the kitchen table while she told Louisa where the shops were and how to go to them. It wasn’t nine o’clock when Louisa, a quilted jacket over the sweater and a woolly cap and gloves, left the flat; there would be time to explore and perhaps she could persuade Miss Savage to go for a short walk once she was up. She crossed the little park as Eva had instructed her and turned into Ole Bull Pass and then into the main shopping street, Torgalmenning, where the shops were already open, although there weren’t many people about.
Louisa walked briskly down its length, intent on reaching the harbour Eva said she simply had to see, promising herself that the next time she would stop and look in all the shop windows. It didn’t take her long; there was the harbour, bustling with life, ferries chugging to and fro, freighters tied up in the distance. It was overlooked on two sides by rows of ancient houses, many of them wooden and all of them beautifully cared for and most of them converted into shops. She walked a little way beside the water, looking across to the mountains in the distance and then nearer to the neat colourful houses clinging to the skirts of the mountains behind the town. There was a fish market too, but she didn’t dare to stop to inspect it for more than a minute or two; quite a different matter from the fish shops at home, and she had never seen such a variety. She paused for another minute to stare across the water at a castle—she would have to find out about that, too… She had no more time; she retraced her steps, aware that there must be another way back to the flat, probably shorter—tomorrow she would discover it.
She had time to change into her uniform when she got back; there was more chance of Miss Savage doing as she was asked if she was reminded that Louisa was a nurse.
At exactly ten o’clock, Louisa tapped on the door and went in, put the tea tray down by the bed and drew the curtains. Miss Savage wakened slowly, looking very pretty but just as listless as the previous evening. She sat up slowly without answering Louisa’s cheerful good morning, merely: ‘What a hideous uniform—it doesn’t do anything for you at all, but I suppose you’d better wear it—that doctor’s coming this morning.’
‘Then you’d better stay in bed when you’ve had your breakfast,’ said Louisa cheerfully, ignoring the bit about the uniform. ‘He’ll want to examine you, I expect.’
Miss Savage yawned. ‘I don’t want any breakfast.’
‘Coffee? Rolls and butter and black cherry jam?’ invited Louisa. ‘I’ll bring it anyway.’
‘Not for ten minutes.’
It was amazing what those ten minutes did for her patient. Miss Savage was leaning back against her pillows, looking quite different, positively sparkling. What was more, she drank her coffee, ate a bit of roll and then went to have her bath without any fuss at all. Louisa made the bed and tidied the room and had Miss Savage back in it seconds before the door bell rang.
Doctor Hopland was elderly, portly and instantly likeable. His English was almost accentless and he appeared to be in no hurry. He listened to Louisa’s rather scant information about her patient, nodded his head in a thoughtful way and observed that beyond keeping an eye on Miss Savage he thought there was little he could do. ‘I have had notes of the case,’ he told Louisa. ‘Unhappily there are many such these days and you will understand that there is not a great deal to be done. Miss Savage is co-operative?’
It was hard to give an answer to that. Louisa said slowly: ‘On the whole, yes, but she does like her own way…’
‘I understand. Well, nurse, all you can do is to persuade her to eat good wholesome food and rest whenever she is tired, and as well as that get her into the fresh air. She is in bed, I take it?’
‘I thought you might like to examine her, doctor.’
‘Certainly. Shall we do that now?’
Miss Savage submitted very nicely to Doctor Hopland’s services, in fact she was so meek that Louisa was astonished, but not nearly as astonished as she was an hour later, when Miss Savage, whom she had left reading a book in bed, came into the sitting room and declared that she was going out to see something of Bergen.
So they spent an hour or two looking at the shops and Miss Savage bought several expensive trifles and an armful of books which Louisa was given to carry. ‘And how about a bottle of sherry in case anyone calls?’ asked Miss Savage gaily. ‘And don’t frown like that, Louisa, I know I mustn’t drink it. I wonder where we buy it?’
They couldn’t see a drink shop and, on reflection, Louisa couldn’t remember having passed one, so she went into the bookshop they had just left and asked one of the assistants.
‘The nearest one is on the other side of Torget, quite a walk away, and there are quite a lot of restrictions—you can only buy drinks at certain hours.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘They’re closed now and don’t open until this evening.’
Miss Savage’s voice was high and peevish. ‘I never heard such nonsense—you must get it then, I suppose.’
‘Is it so urgent?’ asked Louisa. ‘I mean, do you know anyone here who’s likely to come to see you?’
They were walking back to the flat. ‘That’s beside the point and no business of yours,’ said Miss Savage nastily. The charming mood of the morning had quite gone, as Louisa expected, and she had a difficult afternoon and an even worse evening, with her patient lolling on the sofa, refusing meals and playing the tape recorder far too loudly. It was a relief when she was told to go and buy the sherry.
She didn’t hurry. It was good to get away from the flat; besides, she was hungry, for she hadn’t been given the time to eat her own meal at midday and when tea came, Miss Savage had demanded this and that so that by the time it had been poured out, it was tepid. So now Louisa whipped into a snack bar, had a coffee and a large satisfying bun, and feeling much better, walked on down to the harbour, along Torget, with its mediaeval houses lining the pavement, and then turned up the side street whose name she had carefully written down, and found the off-licence.
It seemed a great fuss for one bottle of sherry, she decided as she walked briskly back again. It was cold now, but the shops, although closed, were still lighted and there was still a lot of traffic. She went indoors reluctantly; Eva would be gone by now and if Miss Savage was still so peevish she saw little hope of enjoying a pleasant supper.
Miss Savage was sitting at the window, watching TV and so amiable that Louisa almost dropped the bottle in surprise. What was more, her patient made no difficulties about supper. She sat down to the table and even though she ate almost nothing of it, pushed the beautifully cooked cod round the plate, chatting with the utmost good nature while Louisa thankfully ate. She went to bed presently, leaving Louisa to clear the table and then sit