Love for the Matron (2 page)

“Just as well
...
the train was nearly an hour behind time. As I wasn
’
t very sure what arrangements had been made about accommodation it seemed wiser to go to a hotel. I can have my luggage brought over to the house later. I suppose it
’
s ready
...
” Elizabeth kept her tone carefully non-committal.

The Assistant Matron flashed her a suspicious look. “It
’
s empty,
if that
’
s what you mean, Miss Graham, and the furniture belongs to the hospital. Miss Brown will have had her own personal things moved out, poor thing. No
doubt
he Housekeeping Sister will have seen to everything
...
it
’
s her province, not mine, of course. The secretary said something about your wanting to do a round...”

Elizabeth ignored the older woman
’
s resentful manner. “Yes, Miss Selby. I would like to do a full round and meet my ward sisters,” she explained pleasantly.

“You mean now, Miss Graham? But there won
’
t be time to warn the wards,” she began hastily.

Elizabeth interrupted her calmly. “Surely that won
’
t be necessary. I want to see the hospital as it is
...
not dressed up for Founders
’
Day. If you can spare the time we
’
ll go around now and come back here, for coffee afterwards so that you can put me more completely in the picture.”

The Assistant Matron seemed taken back by such decisiveness. “If I could just let the Housekeeping Sister know that I
’
ll be busy with you, Miss Graham
—
” she said awkwardly.

Elizabeth smiled at her. “Of course. Use my phone if you like.” But Miss Selby shook her head, and hurried into the secretary
’
s office. She wasn
’
t away more than a few minutes, but her face wore a flushed look when she returned, and it wasn
’
t a flush of anger.

Elizabeth guessed the reason for her satisfaction when they reached the first ward. By the flurry going on it was obvious that Sister had been
warned
...
For a moment Elizabeth was furious and then she relaxed and remembered with some amusement that not so many months before she herself would have been making equally hurried preparations to receive an unexpected visit from the Matron.

So she smiled reassuringly at the flustered ward sister. “Good morning, Sister Ross. This is only a tour of exploration, so don
’
t let me delay you. Just carry on with whatever you were doing.”

Elizabeth was aware of Sister Ross
’
s uncertain smile of relief before she hurried away towards the dressing ward. As she walked between the rows of beds on Men
’
s Surgical Elizabeth was conscious of the interested looks turned in her direction. Some were frankly admiring, and as she and Miss Selby finally went towards the door she couldn
’
t help overhearing some of the men
’
s comments.

“You
’
re pulling my leg! That one the Matron? She
’
s too young and good-looking by far!”

“But I tell you she is. George here says Sister told him.”

“Sh-h! she
’
s going to hear you if you don
’
t keep your voice down.”

Elizabeth was conscious of the warmth in her cheeks as they turned down the corridor, but the woman who marched beside her gave no sign of having heard anything out of place.

“But of course you
’
ll be used to more
modern
hospitals, Miss Graham. You
’
ll find things very different here.”

“Why, Miss Selby? Surely good nursing is not completely dependent upon the style of architecture? It depends upon the spirit and standards of those who work in a hospital, whether it
’
s built of weathered grey stone or concrete and glass.”

The older woman seemed puzzled. “St. Genevieve
’
s is second to none, Miss Graham, I
’
d like you to know, and those of us who work here think the world of it and don
’
t want a thing about it changed.”

There
w
as a brief little silence before Elizabeth spoke. “I
’
m afraid some of the changes are inevitable, Miss Selby, and my coming has nothing to do with them. I
’
m referring to the change-over of the training school and the modernization scheme, of course, and naturally there will have to be other changes to adapt ourselves to a new program. I appreciate your loyalty to St. Genevieve
’
s. It does you credit, and I
’
m sure that if
we all work together that the hospital will benefit and not suffer what the Prime Minister has refreshingly referred to as the wind of change.”

Elizabeth could sense that Miss Selby was swinging between resentment and appreciation and thought it safer to leave the matter there. She reminded herself that she mustn
’
t fall into the error of so many new brooms and sweep too clean...

The rest of the round went off comparatively smoothly as the ward sisters had had more time to prepare for the unusual visitation. She could feel that they were weighing her up and reserving their judgements until they could meet with their other colleagues and exchange their views. Once or twice she thought that she detected a feeling of relief and even of admiration when she made a decisive remark, as if they were grateful to learn that there might be strong direction at the top.

“That
’
s the lot, Miss Graham, unless you want to see Outpatients. It
’
s not really functioning until the afternoon as the consultants prefer it that way.”

Elizabeth realized that Miss Selby was daring her to make some comment on that, but she sidestepped gracefully.

“Another time will do very well. Let
’
s have that cup of coffee.” Elizabeth led the way back to her own office before the other could make any objection.

“Coffee for two, please,” she told her secretary.

She saw the girl glance uncertainly from Miss Selby to herself before hurrying away.

“Sit down, Miss Selby. I must say I
’
m very impressed by what I
’
ve seen this morning. St. Genevieve
’
s seems very fortunate in its ward staff.”

The Assistant Matron sniffed a little before accepting it as a compliment. “Most of them have been with us since they were young girls. Shenston is a prosperous market town in its way, and with a girl
’
s grammar school as well as the boys
’
, we
’
ve always had a good class of girl to draw upon. Can
’
t say what it will be like without a proper training school though. We
’
re bound to collect the dumber ones then. They should have left
u
s alone ... all these planning Boards are all very well, but they don
’
t know local conditions.”

“We
’
ll still want staff nurses and ward sisters,” Elizabeth reminded her gently.

Miss Selby sniffed louder this time. “Can you see them coming back to us once they
’
ve trained in the bigger hospitals?”

“But if their families live here and their friends are here they will be only too glad to come back,” Elizabeth suggested.

“Maybe
...
we
’
ll see,” Miss Selby said with all the gloom she could summon up.

The girl came in with the coffee tray and put it in front of Elizabeth. “The Housekeeping Sister asked me to tell you, Miss
Graham, that she
’
ll take you over to the Matron
’
s house when
you
’
re ready.”

“Will you thank her and say I
’
ll be ready in about twenty minutes,” Elizabeth said with as much calmness as she could muster. She knew from the girl
’
s tone that she herself wasn
’
t the Matron referred to.

The girl went away and Elizabeth turned back to her unwilling guest. She had guessed by now that in all probability the Assistant Matron and the Housekeeping Sister were accustomed to taking their coffee together. She hadn
’
t suggested that the other join them ... one member of her staff at a time was enough for this her first morning.

“How do you like your coffee, Miss Selby? Half and half?”

“Yes, please, and no sugar. I have to watch my weight,” the other contributed this small item of personal information rather grudgingly.

Elizabeth smiled at her. “I wish I could be as strong-minded.
.
.! have to cut down in other things to make up for the sugar in my tea and
coffee.”
S
he could feel the other woman
’
s eyes surveying her trim slender figure doubtfully.

“You don
’
t look as if you had to bother, Miss Graham.”

Elizabeth laughed. “I must have been more successful in curbing my appetite than I thought. Now tell me more about St. Genevieve
’
s. You must have had a lot of extra responsibility with Miss Brown being ill so much.”

Once again Elizabeth was conscious of the intensity of the other
’
s resentment ... it was a protective resentment, she sensed.

“It was, but I never minded ... not doing it for Miss Brown. She was such a wonderful person in spite of her being always ailing,” the Assistant Matron said with swift impatience.

“So I
’
ve heard. The Matron of my own training school spoke very warmly of her
...
they
’
re old friends,” Elizabeth
put in quietly.

Miss Selby looked at her searchingly and then Elizabeth could feel the barrier being lowered a trifle as if the fact that she had trained under a
friend
of Miss Brown
’
s made her in some way more acceptable.

“I didn
’
t know that,” she said heavily, and to Elizabeth
’
s astonishment gave her a faint smile. “Now what was it you wanted me to tell you
?
” When the Assistant Matron finally went away Elizabeth hoped that she had at least established a truce between them, a truce that might be withdrawn at any moment if she stepped over an invisible line—the line that separated Miss Brown from any other matron. She couldn
’
t be quite sure of the full reason for the older woman
’
s almost surly attitude; it could be in part uncertainty about her own position in the new scheme of things ... a reluctance to relinquish any of the powers she must have held under. Miss Brown,
who apparently had been seldom well enough to appear before noon, or it could be a very human reaction to finding herself under the authority of someone at least fifteen years her junior. Elizabeth thought fleetingly of her own fortieth birthday just past and wondered if in another fifteen years she would be as adverse to change. She crossed to the little mirror and adjusted the little bit of starched organdie and lace that did duty as a cap, and checked that no grey marred the smooth dark brown sheen of her hair. With a little smile at her vanity she went in search of her Housekeeping Sister.

Sister Winsley scurried to her feet as Elizabeth came into the little cubbyhole of her office.

“I was just coming, Matron. I didn
’
t think it was quite time yet,” she said worriedly.

“I
’
m early,” Elizabeth reassured her. “I can wait if you want to finish whatever you were doing.”

Sister Winsley poked at the scatter of papers on her untidy desk. “There
’
s nothing that won
’
t keep until I
’
m back, Matron. I
’
ll just get the keys. What about your luggage?” She peered at Elizabeth as if expecting that she had it somewhere concealed about her person.

“It
’
s still at the hotel. I can arrange about it later,” Elizabeth explained.

Sister Winsley made an unhappy little sound. “At a hotel
?
Then you didn
’
t arrive this morning. Which hotel? The porter can bring them over when he goes for his lunch.”

“It
’
s the Red House,” Elizabeth told her, not quite sure whether she preferred being resented, or fussed over.

“It
’
s quite a nice hotel,” Sister Winsley said with doubtful approval. “We
’
ll go to the Matron
’
s house, then, if you
’
re ready, Miss Graham.” Elizabeth hid a smile at the motherly tone. This member of her senior staff couldn
’
t be far off
retiring age and no doubt mothering came naturally to her...

Sister Winsley led her out through a side door and across a green lawn, where daffodils nodded their golden heads, to a small stone house tucked away in an angle of the old castle wall. Perhaps it had been a gate-house or a guard room in more ancient times, and a skilful hand had widened the windows so that the broad sweep of the gardens and the green of the trees could be seen, and the brightness of the sun could penetrate the thickness of the walls and lay its dancing patterns on the flagged floor.

Sister
Winsley had unlocked the front door, with a key as massive as the wrought iron hinges and knocker that decorated it, and led Elizabeth through different rooms most of which were on different levels.

“I
’
ve had good fires on this last week, so you shouldn
’
t find it damp, and Miss Brown left one of those convector heaters with a fan
...
she was going where there was central heating and wouldn
’
t be needing it. I
’
ve told Annie to put bottles in the bed, but be sure to refill them before you
’
re into it yourself as there
’
s nothing worse than an unaired bed, is there? and I didn
’
t know what you
’
d, be doing about meals. Miss Brown, on the days she was well enough, usually had her midday meal with us, and the others of course she had here. Annie
’
s quite a good cook, but it
’
s mostly invalid diet she
’
s used to preparing. Miss Brown could never eat much, poor thing. But there
’
s all the usual things in the store cupboard—sugar, salt, flour, and tinned stuff such as soups, and if there
’
s anything else you want, if you
’
ll make me a list I
’
ll send the stuff over from Stores with Annie. You
’
ll be wanting bread and butter and eggs and fruit for your breakfast and perhaps bacon
...”

Elizabeth broke into the stream of conversation. “I
’
ll be having my breakfast in the dining room
for the present, except at week-ends,” she said pleasantly.

Sister Winsley swung around and looked at her as if to make sure that she was serious. “Just as you say, Matron. It
’
s eight o
’
clock breakfast,” she added, as if hoping to discourage a matron who wanted to begin her day so early.

“That will suit me very well. You see, Sister, it will take me some time to learn all the things I should know about St. Genevieve
’
s
...
things that you know already
,”
Elizabeth explained tactfully.

The older woman gave her a quick hesitant smile. “It
’
s forty-three years since I walked through the front door of St, Genevieve
’
s for the first time, and fresh from my father
’
s farm I was, and it all so new and strange and frightening. But not now
...
it
’
s part of my life ... my very bones, you might say, but you won
’
t want to be hearing about that. Is there anything else I can show you or tell you, Matron, before I get back to my work? I
’
ll tell Tom to bring your cases from the Red House. I
’
ve left the key in the front door
...
it
’
s a bit stiff, but if you turn it a little to the left as you push it in
...
before you turn it right.”

“Thank you very much, Sister Winsley,” Elizabeth said warmly. “I
’
ll just do a bit of exploring. Lunch is one o
’
clock, isn
’
t it?”

“Yes, Matron. Is there anything special you fancy and I can arrange with the kitchen to send it up for you?”

“Whatever the staff has will, be quite all right for me, Sister,” Elizabeth softened the reproof with a smile.

“Then in that case I
’
ll be on my way,” Sister Winsley fluttered uncertainly for a moment and then did take herself away.

Elizabeth took a deep breath of relief as the door closed behind her,
a
nd wondered why she had been so strong-minded upon insisting that she
would lunch with her staff every day except when she was off duty. Then with heightening enthusiasm she began to explore the Matron
’
s house.

Fortunately space was so limited that the hospital authorities had not been able to inflict too many pieces of unimaginative institutional furniture upon the place; what there was of it was small, and a trifle dull, but of good quality. She thought longingly of her trunk which would still be somewhere on the way between London and here. With some of her own books and pictures to brighten up the dark corners, and cushions to soften the severity of the strictly tailored armchairs, and some polished brass to relieve the glossy blackness of the little fireplace
...
and flowers. She saw the vase of daffodils that someone had left on the kitchen table—too many jammed tightly into too narrow a vase. Her fingers went swiftly to rearrange them and she found other better vases tucked away in a cupboard. She stepped back and surveyed the little sitting-room when she had finished placing the flowers to her satisfaction; then she sat down in the armchair nearest the fire and saw that if she turned it slightly she could see out of the window and down the green sward to where the river ran like quicksilver through the trees arching their slender greening branches against the pale washed blue of a spring day.

Elizabeth sighed with contentment. She felt that she could be happy here. For the first time since she heard her application had been accepted, and that she was the new Matron of St. Genevieve
’
s, she felt the tension slip from her and she knew that she
had
made the right move. For a moment she rested against the cushions as if rega
in
ing her strength before going back to the hospital, but before she could move there was a sudden sharp rat-a-tat that startled her with
its unexpectedness until she realized it was the knocker on her front door.

Collecting herself, she hurried down the short flight of steps, opened the door and then stopped short at the sight of the man who stood there, his dark hair looking even blacker in the shadow of the castle wall and the silvered patches even more pronounced than she had remembered earlier. He gave her a shy sort of smile and then stepped indoors without further invitation.

“I looked for you in your office when I
’
d finished on the wards, but they said you had come over here. There was something I wanted to ask you ... about tonight.
”

Elizabeth had turned and started up the stairs, and realized with a feeling of surprise that he was following with the sureness of a man who knew his way around this house.

He glanced with approval as he saw the flowers. “Miriam was fond of them as well, but with, her fingers the way they were she had to leave the arranging to others,” he commented.

It took her a moment to understand that it was Miss Brown he was referring to and not his wife.

He saw her expression. “Miss Brown had rheumatoid arthritis and she kept going as long as she could, knowing that however great the pain it was her best chance of keeping on her feet. I was her physician until she resigned, so I knew her very well, both as patient
and friend.”

He seated, himself where Elizabeth had been sitting; with a slight feeling of resentment she guessed that this was his usual chair and she took the other one across from
him.

He was silent long enough for her to realize that William Gregory was probably a shy man and that though force of habit had brought him to this room he wasn
’
t quite sure how to go on from there.