Settling the Account (50 page)

‘But—but he’ll have great big needles and
things,’ Rosie insisted. ‘And big, big knives. Doctors stick knives
in you so they can see inside. I don’t want him to!’

‘Who told you that?’ Lizzie asked.

‘Mickey did! Mickey said the doctor would
stick needles in me!’

‘Michael Kelly, you stop right there,’
Lizzie said, before a guilty-looking Mickey had got even halfway to
the door. ‘Have you been telling your sister stories about the
doctor?’

‘It was just a joke,’ Mickey offered feebly.
‘I didn’t say anything about knives, either.’

Lizzie glared at him, and Mickey looked at
his feet. ‘I’ll tell you a story if you’re not careful. A story
about a strap and a backside. Frightening your little sister like
that! You tell Rosie you’re sorry, and that it’s not true.’

‘Sorry, Rosie,’ Mickey mumbled. ‘It’s not
true what I said about the doctor.’

‘Your father will have something to say to
you, my boy, if I tell him what you’ve been up to. You just watch
yourself.’ Lizzie held Mickey’s eyes for a few seconds before
releasing his gaze. ‘Right, off you get outside—no more biscuits
for you today. There’ll be no pudding tonight, either,’ she called
as Mickey made good his escape.

‘Mama, I’m scared of the doctor,’ Rosie
said, sniffing noisily. ‘He’ll have needles.’

Lizzie wiped the little girl’s nose and gave
her a hug. ‘Now, there’s nothing to be frightened of,’ she soothed.
‘Mama will be there all the time the doctor’s looking at you. Mama
wouldn’t let the doctor hurt you, now, would she?’

‘No,’ Rosie said in a small voice.

‘That’s all right then, isn’t it? And if
you’re a good girl, you can have afternoon tea with the grown-ups
afterwards. You’ll like that, won’t you?’ Rosie gave a hesitant
nod.

‘I wouldn’t worry if I was you, Rosie,’ Joey
put in. ‘The doctor’s not really coming to see you, you know. It’s
Maudie he’s after.’

‘Joey!’ Lizzie and Maudie said in unison,
each glaring at Joey. The boy grinned at his sister as he slipped
out the door.

By the time the doctor’s gig was seen coming
up the track, Maudie was still wavering between eager curiosity and
the desire to appear unmoved by her mother’s suggestion that the
visitor might not be impressed by her. When the knock on the front
door came, she took refuge in aloofness.

‘I’ll stay out here and butter a few more
scones,’ she said when Lizzie called down the passage to her from
the front bedroom. ‘I’m in no rush to meet him.’

Lizzie gave Amy a knowing smile, then went
to open the door to her guest.

Rosie was sitting up in her parents’ bed,
wearing her prettiest nightdress and looking overawed by the
solemnity of the occasion. She stared wide-eyed at the doctor as
Lizzie led him into the room. Amy patted the little girl’s hand
encouragingly, at the same time studying the doctor for
herself.

Doctor Townsend looked to be in his late
twenties. Curly brown hair framed a clean-shaven face, and his
mouth seemed well accustomed to smiling. He had an air of authority
about him that Amy found surprising in so young a man, but she
sensed that it came from competence and brisk efficiency rather
than from a domineering nature.

A handsome man, she thought, though not out
of the ordinary. Until she saw his eyes. They were large and brown,
and to Amy they spoke of an innate kindness that ran deeply through
this man.

‘This is Doctor Townsend, Amy,’ Lizzie said,
her eyes bright as she communicated a silent message of approval.
‘Doctor Townsend, this is Mrs Stewart. And this is Rosie—she’s got
one of her chests. Whenever she gets a cold it goes straight to her
chest. She gets more colds than the others, too, I don’t know
why.’

‘How do you do, Mrs Stewart.’ Doctor
Townsend gave Amy a pleasant smile, then turned his attention on
Rosie.

‘Well, I can see there’s nothing much wrong
with you, young lady,’ he said. Amy’s heart warmed to him when she
heard the gentle way he spoke to the little girl. ‘Those beautiful
rosy cheeks! Is that why they call you Rosie?’

Rosie gazed at him, too awed by the novelty
of having a stranger in the house and by the bogey-man image her
brother had painted of this man for her to be able to speak. She
gave a little whimper.

‘Don’t be frightened, dear,’ the doctor
said. ‘I won’t hurt you.’

Lizzie crossed the room to sit on the bed
beside Rosie and slip her arm around her. ‘Don’t be silly, love,’
she chided. ‘Mama’s here.’

‘I’d like to listen to her chest, if I
could,’ Doctor Townsend said. ‘Mrs Kelly, could you unbutton
Rosie’s nightdress for me? Yes, that’s just right.’ Amy moved her
chair to make room for the doctor to sit on the bed close to
Rosie.

He put his bag on the floor and reached down
towards it. ‘Now, Rosie, I’m going to listen to your chest. It
won’t hurt, I’ll just—’ As he spoke, he pulled a contraption of
rubber and metal out of his bag.

The moment Rosie saw it, her eyes grew even
wider. She opened her mouth as if to scream, but instead she
vomited loudly and copiously down the front of Doctor Townsend’s
jacket.

‘Rosie!’ Lizzie exclaimed. ‘Look what you’ve
done—on the doctor’s nice jacket, too! Why didn’t you tell Mama if
you felt sick?’

‘I don’t want him to cut me up with that
thing,’ Rosie wailed. ‘He wants to stick it in me!’

It took several minutes before Lizzie
managed to calm Rosie down, and in the meantime Amy relieved the
doctor of his jacket and took it out to the kitchen for the girls
to clean. Doctor Townsend endeared himself further to her by his
total lack of concern for his jacket; Rosie was his only care.

Once Rosie appeared reasonably calm again,
Doctor Townsend took the contraption and held it up, too far from
Rosie for it to be threatening. ‘It’s a funny looking thing, isn’t
it, dear? It’s got a funny name, too. It’s called a stethoscope.
It’s not for sticking in little girls, it’s for listening to what
goes on inside your chest. See, it hasn’t got any sharp bits.’

He turned the stethoscope over in his hand,
still holding it at a safe distance. As Rosie studied the thing
dubiously, he showed her how it fitted into his ears. ‘Do you think
I could listen to your chest with it?’ he asked. Rosie shook her
head vigorously, and clung more tightly to her mother.

‘Rosie, that’s enough,’ Lizzie scolded.
‘Stop being so naughty.’

‘It’s all right, Mrs Kelly,’ Doctor Townsend
said. ‘Rosie, would you like to have a go with it first?’

Curiosity overcame Rosie’s fear. She
released her tight hold on Lizzie and let the doctor slip the
narrow tubes into her ears. He held the flat metal part against his
own chest.

‘I can hear a bumpa-bump!’ Rosie said, her
eyes alight.

Doctor Townsend lifted the plate off his
chest before speaking. ‘That’s my heart beating. Can I listen to
your bumpa-bump now?’

Rosie considered the idea. ‘All right,’ she
said.

The doctor listened to her chest from the
front and the back, tapped gently at it, and asked Rosie to cough
for him. He turned her face to the light and looked in her mouth
and up her nose, checked out her ears, and got her to move her eyes
up and down while he studied them. By the end of the examination it
was obvious that Rosie was thoroughly enjoying the fuss being made
of her. She looked a little disappointed when the doctor packed
away his stethoscope and closed up his bag.

‘What do you think?’ Lizzie asked.

‘Oh, I don’t think you’ve anything to worry
about with her, Mrs Kelly. Her lungs are certainly a little
congested, and from what you say that’s probably become chronic.
But I shouldn’t think it’ll slow her down much. Keep her wrapped up
warmly in the cold weather, and perhaps keep her inside on the
coldest days, and she’ll always have those rosy cheeks. Don’t send
her to school in the worst of the winter weather, either.’

‘I don’t go to school yet,’ Rosie piped up.
‘I’m only four.’

‘Are you?’ The doctor managed to look
astonished. ‘A big girl like you! I thought you must be five or
six.’

Rosie giggled in a self-satisfied way. ‘Are
you going to look at Maudie now?’ she asked.

‘Shh, Rosie,’ Lizzie said quickly. ‘No, he’s
not.’

‘Did you want me to look at one of the other
children?’ Doctor Townsend asked. He glanced towards the door,
where Lizzie’s remaining six children had assembled, drawn by their
varying degrees of curiosity. Doctor Townsend’s smile faltered a
little. ‘Not all of them, I hope.’

‘No, there’s nothing wrong with any of
them,’ Lizzie said. ‘Don’t take any notice of her.’

‘But Joey
said
,’ Rosie insisted. ‘He
said
the doctor was coming out to see Maudie. Are you going
to do Maudie’s chest, too? Maudie, the doctor’s got a thing to
listen to your insides with.’

Amy saw Maudie slink further into the
passage and out of sight, her cheeks reddening.

‘That’s enough, Rosie,’ Lizzie said. ‘Don’t
take any notice of Joey’s nonsense. You’ll stay for afternoon tea,
won’t you, Doctor Townsend?’

‘Well, perhaps I should be getting back to
town.’

‘No, you have to stay,’ Rosie protested.
‘You have to stay and have a grown-up tea with me.’

Doctor Townsend laughed. ‘How can I refuse
such a pretty invitation? Thank you, Mrs Kelly, I’d be
honoured.’

‘Right, bring the stuff into the parlour,’
Lizzie told Beth. ‘Is the kettle on? Good. Where’s your
father?’

‘Pa said he wasn’t coming,’ said Joey. ‘He
said he’s too busy.’

Lizzie’s eyes narrowed. ‘Tell him I said I
want him to come up,’ she said sweetly. ‘I’d like him to come right
now. Tell him the doctor wants to meet him, too.’

‘Oh, I don’t want to inconvenience Mr Kelly
if he’s busy,’ Doctor Townsend said.

‘Don’t you worry about that,’ Lizzie said,
turning her most brilliant smile on the doctor. ‘I know my
husband’s been looking forward to meeting you.’

Doctor Townsend looked somewhat puzzled by
the contradiction of a man who was supposedly eager to meet him,
but at the same time claimed to be too busy to do so. But he
allowed himself to be ushered into the parlour and seated in the
best chair. He was not to know that it was Frank’s.

Frank greeted the doctor politely but with
an unaccustomed reserve when he came in. The boys were banished
outside, while Rosie pulled her little stool over to Doctor
Townsend’s chair. She sat at his feet and watched him
adoringly.

Beth came into the parlour carrying a plate
in one hand while she balanced Kate on her other hip. ‘Shall I put
her to bed, Ma?’ she asked.

‘Hmm? Yes, put her down, that’s a good girl.
Put a clean nap on her first if she’s wet.’

Doctor Townsend smiled at the toddler, who
was staring at him with big eyes. ‘Is this one Maudie?’ he
asked.

‘No, I’m Maudie.’ Maudie walked in with a
tray of teacups. It was her first opportunity for a close
observation of Doctor Townsend, and she took full advantage of it
once she had put the tray on a small table, looking him up and down
with a glance that, while brief, was thorough. The doctor seemed
momentarily taken aback, clearly having expected a much younger
child. A flash of amusement showed in his face, to be quickly
replaced by a bland smile.

‘How do you do, Miss Kelly?’ He stood up to
shake Maudie’s hand.

Amy could never recall having seen Maudie
look timid before, but the smile she gave the doctor was decidedly
shy. It lent a sweetness to her face that more than compensated for
its lack of any startling prettiness.

Maudie took the seat closest to Doctor
Townsend’s, which Lizzie had carefully left free for her. ‘Move out
of the way, Rosie,’ she told her little sister as she leaned across
to pass a cup to the doctor.

‘No,’ Rosie said. ‘He’s my doctor, not
yours. He didn’t come to see you. He’s not going to do your
chest.’

‘Rosie,’ Lizzie said sharply. ‘You can sit
there quiet or you can go to your room. Not one more word,’ she
added when Rosie opened her mouth to protest. ‘Have some of
Maudie’s nice cakes, Doctor Townsend. She made nearly all this lot
by herself. She’s a good cook.’ Maudie blushed becomingly.

‘Do you like them?’ Lizzie asked, watching
the doctor as he took a bite.

‘Very nice, thank you. Oh, I don’t think I
need any more just yet,’ he said as Maudie began loading up his
plate.

‘You’ve got to try one of those ginger
ones,’ Lizzie said. ‘They’re about the best ones of all.’

‘And I take it you made these as well, Miss
Kelly?’ Doctor Townsend asked, obediently taking a ginger cake.
Maudie nodded shyly.

‘She’s just about as good a cook as I am,’
Lizzie said. ‘I think it’s important for a girl to be a good cook,
don’t you? She knows all about looking after a house, too, I make
sure all my girls learn those things. And she’s used to looking
after the little ones.’

‘Ma!’ Maudie protested, squirming with
embarrassment. ‘Don’t go on.’

‘I’m not going on, I’m just discussing
things with the doctor. I’m sure Doctor Townsend thinks it’s
important for girls to learn those things, don’t you, Doctor?’

‘Oh, yes, most important.’ Doctor Townsend
gave Lizzie a wry smile. ‘You may find this hard to credit, Mrs
Kelly, but there are some women who would take offence at any
suggestion that their daughters should know how to cook.’ His smile
grew broader. ‘Though I suppose all mothers have similar aims for
their daughters, just different ways of going about it.’

The source of his amusement dawned on Amy.
‘You mean like Mrs Bennet?’ she asked, smiling as she realised it.
‘When Mr Collins came to court Lizzie—not you, Lizzie,’ she said
before Lizzie had time to protest. ‘It’s in one of Miss Austen’s
books.’

The doctor’s smile faltered for a moment,
then came back more strongly. ‘You’re quite right, Mrs Stewart,’ he
said with a self-deprecating grin. ‘How foolish of me to think none
of you would have read Miss Austen.’