Free Stay with Me by Jessica Blair Page A

a word with Alistair,’ said Lena to her friend three weeks later. ‘He’s been a more frequent visitor of late and tries hard to keep away from the subject of doctoring although, being wrapped up in it and wanting to do good in Whitby, he finds it hard.’
    â€˜Well, at least it’s a step in the right direction.’
    â€˜What about you and James? ’
    Olivia gave a wan smile. ‘He’s attentive when he calls at the house, which isn’t as often as I would like, but I think like you he finds the mourning period somewhat restrictive.’
    â€˜At least he has more freedom and can escape to his work.’
    â€˜Have you got him talking about that yet?’
    Lena gave a shake of her head as she pulled a regretful face. ‘I still don’t see much of him. Don’t forget what I told you, Olivia.’
    Lena was reminded of it herself eight weeks later when Alistair paid her a visit one afternoon. After their exchange of greetings, Lena said, ‘You’ll take tea with me?’
    He held up his hand in a gesture of refusal. ‘No. I haven’t time today. And it may be some time again before I can visit you as often as I have been doing lately.’
    Her face clouded over with disappointment. ‘Why?’
    â€˜There are signs of an epidemic in two of the yards off Church Street. They are both overcrowded and conditions are particularly bad there. I’ve got to try to stem any spread of the disease, not only by treating the sick but by trying to improve living conditions.’
    â€˜Isn’t such improvement the business of the town?’ Lena protested impatiently.
    â€˜Yes, but unless I cajole and insist on bringing the cases to public notice, nothing is done. I’ve got to be involved and that will take up a lot of my time, as will my attentions to the sick, to try to prevent this illness from spreading. I’ll call again as soon as I can but I can’t give a definite date at the moment. I hope the trouble will soon be resolved. I’m sorry, Lena, but that is the situation. If only you weren’t in mourning, you could work alongside me.’
    He hurried away, leaving her with his last sentence haunting her, as it was to do for weeks to come.
    Work alongside me? Among the sick, poverty-stricken and depraved! Was this how Alistair saw their life together if they married? That ‘if’ became a very big one as the days passed and she had time to reflect that life with him would always be lived surrounded by illness. Could she stand that? Could she stay beside him, helping him as he expected? Did she really have the devotion to him to overcome such hardship and vicissitude?
    Lena was pleased that Alistair was happy in his work. She knew it took a strong character to engage in a profession that not only took him to the homes of the well-off but into scenes of poverty and dire living conditions She admired his desire to improve such conditions and his devotion to the health of Whitby’s populace, but wondered if he would ever succeed in his aims; so much more was needed than one man’s medical expertise. Was he storming a brick wall? She began to wonder if she could face life with a man who would expect her to be of like mind and to help him blindly.
    If only his interest lay in his father’s business then she could have become involved in a trade in which she was already interested, and would willingly have faced life beside him, come what may. She began to wonder if she had ever been in love with Alistair or had merely believed she was because everyone else in their social circle expected them to marry. Had that expectation in others rubbed off on them so that they thought they were in love without any strong basis?
    Questions mounted day after day and, restricted as she was in her outlets, Lena’s mind became more and more troubled.
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    â€˜Lena!’ Alarm rose in Olivia’s voice as she crossed the room to