Free Doctor's Assistant by Celine Conway Page A

answered readily, then hesitated and added a qualification, “I’m happy now, but I shouldn’t care to go on this way for ever.”
    ‘That’s fair enough. None of us would. In time you’ll find Port Quentin too small and restricting, too full of middle-aged and old people—not to mention the cranks who shun a wider life! You’ll want gaiety and young friends.”
    “Perhaps,” she admitted, “but Port Quentin will always be a marvellous place to come home to.”
    They were silent, while darkness suddenly fell. Ben drew a breath.
    “These moments are too rare,” he said quietly, “yet everyone has a right to them. I’m glad I shared this with you, Laurette.”
    “So am I.”
    Presently, they slipped back on to the road and he drove down from the hillside into the little town of winking lights. He slowed at the Kelsey gates.
    “Shall I run you up to the house, or would you rather I didn’t?”
    “I’ll walk, thanks, Ben. And thank you for taking me to the mission. I’ll work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for what I haven’t done today.”
    He smiled. “You’ve done more today than you’ll ever know. So long, Laurette.”
    She stepped from the car and flitted away round the drive. Ben moved on, thinking of her, much to his own surprise, as a flower about to be exposed to a merciless floodlight. Now why should he imagine a thing like that?

 
    CHAPTER SEVEN
    CHARLES was standing in the hall, lighting a cigarette. He flicked out the match and placed it in an ashtray, stared enigmatically at Laurette as she stood framed in the doorway.
    “Hello, there,” he said. “Didn’t you invite your escort in for a drink?”
    “He has a couple of patients to see before dinner.” She shook back her hair. “I feel grubby and sleepy. I think I’ll take a shower.”
    “Have a cocktail first.” He indicated an open door. “There’s no one in there yet.”
    She passed in front of him, blinked a little in the bright light of the lounge. “Is my father still chirpy?”
    “Quite. He and I did several hours’ work together this afternoon.” Charles filled glasses and handed one to Laurette. “He told me you’d gone to the mission.”
    “It was my first visit—rather an education.”
    “But very tiring. Need Ben have kept you there so long? It’s nearly seven.”
    “He couldn’t get away, and then when we did leave the sun was setting so we watched the night come in over the river.”
    “How romantic,” he said. “I hope you embraced at the appropriate moment.”
    She tasted her drink and looked up at him. “Are you being nasty?”
    “No, I’m merely interested. After all”—with a mocking twist to his lips—“you’re a member of the household—a junior, feminine one whose well-being we all have at heart. Is the drink all right?”
    “Yes, thank you.”
    His glance narrowed. “You really are tired, aren’t you? No one can stop Ben flogging himself but he’s no right to do it to you. Relax for a few minutes.”
    It was easy to obey. She lay back in the chair and met his eyes. “Have you ever been to the mission, Charles?”
    “Not this one. We have one near Mohpeng but it’s run on different lines, by a religious group.”
    She nodded thoughtfully. “As we were coming home I wondered if something couldn’t be done for the Lockleys. All the churches have missions and if those two could be persuaded to join up with one of them...”
    “It isn’t your business,” he said brusquely. “The Lockleys have enough about them to know what they’re after. Let Ben Vaughan and the Lockleys manage the place in their own way. They’re a good bit older than you are, anyway, so they’re probably just as likely to see the other side of a question. Stay away from the mission.”
    “Is that an order?” she enquired politely.
    “Yes, it is,” he replied uncompromisingly. “You’ve only been in this country a matter of months and already you fancy yourself the district nurse of Port Quentin.