“And you haven't done very well with Mrs. Carlyon either, have you,” he went on.
“No-not at all. We must have missed something.” She had related much of her discussions to him to while away the long evenings, and to help put it all in order in her own mind.
“Then you had better go back and see the people again,” he advised her solemnly, looking very pink and white in his dressing robe with his face scrubbed clean and his hair a trifle on end. “I can spare you in the afternoons. You have left it all to the men. Surely you have some observations to offer? Take a look at the Furnival woman. She sounds appalling!”
He was getting very brave in offering his opinions, and she knew that if Monk and Rathbone were right, Louisa Furnival was the sort of woman who would terrify Major Tiplady into a paralyzed silence. Still, he was quite correct.
She had left it very much to other people's judgment. She could at least have seen Louisa Furnival herself.
“That is an excellent idea, Major,” she concluded. “But what excuse can I give for calling upon a woman I have never met? She will show me the door instantly-and quite understandably.”
He thought very gravely for several minutes, and she disappeared to consult the cook about dinner. In fact the subject was not raised again until she was preparing to leave him for the night.
“She is wealthy?” the major said suddenly as she was assisting him into bed.
“I beg your pardon?” She had no idea what he was talking about.
“Mrs. Furnival,” he said impatiently. “She is wealthy?”
“I believe so-yes. Apparently her husband does very well out of military contracts. Why?”
“Well go and ask her for some money,” he said reasonably, sitting rigidly and refusing to be assisted under the blankets. “For crippled soldiers from the Crimea, or for a military hospital or something. And if by any chance she gives you anything, you can pass it on to an appropriate organization. But I doubt she will. Or ask her to give her time and be a patron of such a place.”
“Oh no,” Hester said instinctively, still half pushing at him. “She would throw me out as a medicant.”
He resisted her stubbornly.”Does it matter? She will speak to you first. Go in Miss Nightingale's name. No self- respecting person would insult her-she is revered next to the Queen. You do want to see her, don't you, this Furnival woman?”
“Yes,” Hester agreed cautiously. “But…”
“Where's your courage, woman? You saw the charge of the Light Brigade.” He faced her defiantly. “YouVe told me about it! You survived the siege of Sebastopol. Are you afraid of one miserable woman who flirts?”
“Like many a good soldier before me.” Hester grinned. “Aren't you?”
He winced. ' “That's a foul blow.”
“But it hit the mark,” she said triumphantly. “Get into bed.”
“Irrelevant! I cannot go-so you must!” He still sat perched on the edge. “You must fight whatever the battle is. This time the enemy has picked the ground, so you must gird yourself, choose your weapons well, and attack when he least expects it.” Finally he swung his feet up and she pulled the blankets over him. He finished with fervor. “Courage.”
She grimaced at him, but he gave no quarter. He lay back in the bed while she tucked the sheets around him, and smiled at her seraphically.
“Tomorrow late afternoon, when her husband may be home also,” he said relentlessly.”You should see him too.”
She glared at him. “Good night.”
However the following afternoon at a little before five, dressed in a blue-gray gown of great sobriety, no pagoda sleeves, no white broderie, and looking as if she had indeed just come off duty in Miss Nightingale's presence, Hester swallowed her pride and her nerves, telling herself it was a good cause, and knocked on Louisa Furnival's front door. She hoped profoundly the maid would tell her Mrs. Furnival was out.
However she was not so fortunate. She was conducted into the hall after only the briefest of pauses while the maid announced her name and business. She barely had time to register the doors in the hallway and the handsome banister sweeping across the balcony at the far end and down the stairs. The suit of armor had been replaced; however, without the halberd. Alexandra must have stood with the general at the top on the landing, perhaps silently, perhaps in the last, bitter quarrel, and then she had lunged forward and he had gone over. He must have landed with an almighty crash. However had they not heard him?
The floor was carpeted, a pale Chinese rug with heavy pile. That would have softened the noise to some extent. Even so…
She got no further. The maid returned to say that Mrs.
Furnival would be pleased to receive her, and led her through the long corridor to the back of the house and the withdrawing room opening onto the garden.
She did not even bother to look at the sunlight on the grass, or the mass of flowering bushes. All her attention was on the Woman who awaited her with unconcealed curiosity. She assumed in that instant that she had gained admittance so easily because Louisa was bored.
“Good afternoon, Miss Latterly. The Florence Nightingale Hospital? How interesting. In what way can I possibly be of help to you?”
Hester regarded her with equal curiosity. She might have only a few moments in which to form an opinion before she was asked to leave. The woman in front of her standing by the mantel wore a full crinoline skirt, emphasizing the extreme femininity of her form. It was up to the minute in fashion: pointed waist, pleated bodice, floral trimmings. She looked both voluptuous and fragile, with her tawny skin and mass of fine dark hair, dressed immaculately but far fuller than the fashion dictated. She was one of those few women who can defy the current mode and make her own style seem the right one, and all others ordinary and unimaginative. Self-confidence surrounded her, making Hester already feel dowdy, unfeminine, and remarkably foolish. She knew immediately why Alexandra Carlyon had expected people to believe in a passionate jealousy. It must have happened dozens of times, whatever the reality of any relationship.
She changed her mind as to what she had been going to say. She was horrified as she heard her own voice. It was bravado, and it was totally untrue. Something in Louisa Furnival's insolence provoked her.
“We learned a great deal in the Crimea about just how much good nursing can save the lives of soldiers,” she said briskly. “Of course you are probably aware of this already.” She widened her eyes innocently. “But perhaps you have not had occasion to think on the details of the matter. Miss Nightingale herself, as you well know, is a woman of excellent family, her father is well known and respected, and Miss Nightingale is highly educated. She chose nursing as a way of dedicating her life and her talents to the service of others-”
“We all agree that she is a most excellent woman, Miss Latterly,” Louisa interrupted impatiently. Praise of other women did not appeal to her. “What has this to do with you, or me?”
“I will come immediately to the point.” Hester looked at Louisa's long, slanting eyes, saw the fire of intelligence in them. To take her for a fool because she was a flirt would be a profound mistake. “If nursing is to become the force for saving life that it could be, we must attract into its service more well-bred and well-educated young women.”
Louisa laughed, a rippling, self-conscious sound, made from amusement but tailored over years to have exactly the right effect. Had any man been listening he might well have found her wild, exotic, fascinating, elusive-all the things Hester was not. With a flash of doubt she wondered what Oliver Rathbone would have made of her.
“Really, Miss Latterly. You surely cannot imagine I would be interested in taking up a career in nursing?” Louisa said with something close to laughter. “That is ridiculous. I am a married woman!”
Hester bit back her temper with considerable difficulty. She could very easily dislike this woman.
“Of course I did not imagine you would be.” She wished she could add her opinion of the likelihood of Louisa's having the courage, the skill, the unselfishness or the stamina to do anything of the sort. But this was not the time. It would defeat her own ends. “But you are the sort of woman that other women wish to model themselves upon.” She squirmed inwardly as she said it. It was blatant flattery, and yet Louisa did not seem to find it excessive.
“How kind of you,” she said with a smile, but her eyes did not leave Hester's.
“Such a woman, who is both well known and widely…” She hesitated.”And widely envied, would find that her
