money if they're not legally compelled to! I tell you, Mary, my girl, you've been lucky. Miss Carlisle's straighter than most.'
Mary said slowly, 'And yet – somehow – I feel she doesn't like me.'
'With good reason, I should say,' said Nurse Hopkins bluntly. 'Now, don't look so innocent, Mary! Mr. Roderick's been making sheep's eyes at you for some time now.'
Mary went red.
Nurse Hopkins went on: 'He's got it badly, in my opinion. Fell for you all of a sudden. What about you, my girl? Got any feeling for him?'
Mary said hesitatingly, 'I – I don't know. I don't think so. But, of course, he's very nice.'
'H'm,' said Nurse Hopkins. 'He wouldn't be my fancy! One of those men who are finicky and a bundle of nerves. Fussy about their food, too, as likely as not. Men aren't much at the best of times. Don't be in too much of a hurry, Mary, my dear. With your looks you can afford to pick and choose. Nurse O'Brien passed the remark to me the other day that you ought to go on the films. They like blondes, I've always heard.'
Mary said, with a slight frown creasing her forehead, 'Nurse, what do you think I ought to do about Father? He thinks I ought to give some of this money to him.'
'Don't you do anything of the kind,' said Nurse Hopkins wrathfully. 'Mrs. Welman never meant that money for him. It's my opinion he'd have lost his job years ago if it hadn't been for you. A lazier man never stepped!'
Mary said, 'It seems funny when she'd all that money that she never made a will to say how it was to go.'
Nurse Hopkins shook her head. 'People are like that. You'd be surprised. Always putting it off.'
Mary said, 'It seems downright silly to me.'
Nurse Hopkins said with a faint twinkle, 'Made a will yourself, Mary?'
Mary stared at her. 'Oh, no.'
'And yet you're over twenty-one.'
'But I – I haven't got anything to leave – at least I suppose I have now.'
Nurse Hopkins said sharply, 'Of course you have. And a nice tidy little sum, too.'
Mary said, 'Oh, well, there's no hurry.'
'There you go,' said Nurse Hopkins dryly. 'Just like everyone else. Because you're a healthy young girl isn't a reason why you shouldn't be smashed up in a charabanc or a bus, or run over in the street, any minute.'
Mary laughed. She said, 'I don't even know how to make a will.'
'Easy enough. You can get a form at the post office. Let's go and get one right away.'
In Nurse Hopkins's cottage the form was spread out and the important matter discussed. Nurse Hopkins was enjoying herself thoroughly. A will, as she said, was next best to a death, in her opinion.
Mary said, 'Who'd get the money if I didn't make a will?'
Nurse Hopkins said rather doubtfully, 'Your father, I suppose.'
Mary said sharply, 'He shan't have it. I'd rather leave it to my auntie in New Zealand.'
'It wouldn't be much use leaving it to your father, anyway – he's not long for this world, I should say.'
Mary had heard Nurse Hopkins make this kind of pronouncement too often to be impressed by it.
'I can't remember my auntie's address. We've not heard from her for years.'
'I don't suppose that matters,' said Nurse Hopkins. 'You know her Christian name?'
'Mary. Mary Riley.'
'That's all right. Put down you leaving everything to Mary Riley, sister of the late Eliza Gerrard of Hunterbury, Maidensford.'
Mary bent over the form, writing. As she came to the end she shivered suddenly. A shadow had come between her and the sun. She looked up to see Elinor Carlisle standing outside the window looking in.
Elinor said, 'What are you doing so busily?''
Nurse Hopkins said with a laugh, 'She's making her will, that's what she's doing.'
'Making her will?' Suddenly Elinor laughed – a strange laugh – almost hysterical.
She said, 'So you're making your will, Mary. That's funny. That's very funny.' Still laughing, she turned away and walked rapidly along the street.
Nurse Hopkins stared. 'Did you ever? What's come to her?'
IV
Elinor had not taken more than half a dozen steps – she was still laughing – when a hand fell on her arm from behind. She stopped abruptly and turned. Dr. Lord looked straight at her, his brow creased into a frown. He said peremptorily, 'What were you laughing at?'
Elinor said, 'Really – I don't know.'
Peter Lord said, 'That's rather a silly answer!'
Elinor flushed. She said, 'I think I must be nervous or something. I looked in at the District Nurse's cottage and – and Mary Gerrard was writing out her will. It made me laugh; I don't know why!'
Lord said abruptly, 'Don't you?'
Elinor said, 'It was silly of me – I tell you – I'm nervous.'
Peter Lord said, 'I'll write you out a tonic.'
Elinor said incisively, 'How useful!'
He grinned disarmingly. 'Quite useless, I agree. But it's the only thing one can do when people won't tell one what is the matter with them!'
Elinor said, 'There's nothing the matter with me.'
Peter Lord said calmly, 'There's quite a lot the matter with you.'
Elinor said, 'I've had a certain amount of nervous strain I suppose.'
He said, 'I expect you've had quite a lot. But that's not what I'm talking about.' He paused. 'Are you – are you staying down here much longer?'
'I'm leaving tomorrow.'
'You won't – live down here?'
Elinor shook her head. 'No – never. I think – I think – I shall sell the place if I can get a good offer.'
Dr. Lord said rather flatly, 'I see.'
Elinor said, 'I must be getting home now.'
She held out her hand very firmly. Peter Lord took it. He held it. He said very earnestly, 'Miss Carlisle, will you please tell me what was in your mind when you laughed just now?'
She wrenched her hand away quickly. 'What should there be in my mind?'
'That's what I'd like to know.'
His face was grave and a little unhappy.
Elinor said impatiently, 'It just struck me as funny, that was all!'
'That Mary Gerrard was making a will? Why? Making a will is a perfectly sensible procedure. Saves a lot of trouble. Sometimes, of course, it makes trouble!'
Elinor said impatiently, 'Of course – everyone should make a will. I didn't mean that.'
Dr. Lord said, 'Mrs. Welman ought to have made a will.'
Elinor said with feeling, 'Yes, indeed.'
The colour rose in her face.
Dr. Lord said unexpectedly, 'What about you?'
'Me?'
'Yes, you said just now everyone should make a will! Have you?'
Elinor stared at him for a minute, then she laughed. 'How extraordinary!' she said. 'No, I haven't. I hadn't thought of it! I'm just like Aunt Laura. Do you know, Dr. Lord, I shall go home and write to Mr. Seddon about it at once.'
Peter Lord said, 'Very sensible.'
