Healing in the Hills Page 7

  When tea was over Ismay accepted an invitation from Ivor to look over the hotel. Some of the bedrooms were occupied, but as it was still early in the season the hotel was not yet full and she peeped into two or three empty rooms and was able to appreciate how well the two men were setting about their job.

  ‘We were lucky to get a first-class housekeeper,’ Ivor said. ‘Of course it would have been better if either Gareth or I had been married, but since we’re a couple of bachelors it was essential to have a really competent woman on the staff. Fortunately the previous owners had just such a one, and she didn’t need much persuading to stay on, I’m glad to say. You haven’t met Mrs. Woods yet, but I’ll introduce you before you leave. She’s usually pretty busy at this time of the day supervising preparations for the evening meal. We employ local girls as waitresses and kitchen help, but I’m afraid some of them have to be watched pretty carefully. They’re willing, but not always very bright.’

  Ismay laughed, ‘Like some of our ward orderlies!’

  Ivor smiled, ‘I’d forgotten you said you were a nurse. How are you liking the Lakes? You did say it was your first visit, didn’t you?’

  ‘Oh no,’ Ismay smiled back. ‘I’ve been here before—once on a family holiday and once camping with the Girl Guides. I can’t say I know the district intimately, but it certainly isn’t my first visit.’

  ‘Well, while you’re here,’ Ivor said, ‘I hope you’ll come and visit us again, or better still, let me take you out to dinner. I get a free evening now and again.’ And he grinned ironically as Ismay looked surprised. ‘Gareth and I decided right from the start that although we had to make a go of the place we were not going to make a rod for our own backs. We each take a day off every week and go right away from the hotel and really relax. I’m free tomorrow. How about meeting me?’

  ‘Sorry, Ivor, I’m not sure if I could,’ Ismay admitted slowly. ‘I didn’t tell you on the train, but I’m really up here on a job. Anne has been in hospital and I’m here to supervise her while she’s on her convalescence’

  ‘Anne is the elder one, isn’t she?’ Ivor asked. ‘I’m surprised to hear she’s been ill. She looks the picture of health.’

  ‘It was only a leg injury and we’ve been getting her out in the sunshine as much as possible. But she certainly isn’t up to par yet, and gets tired easily. I’ll tell you what! I’ll find out if I can have an evening free and telephone you. Is that okay?’

  ‘Great! I’ll give you my number straight away,’ and taking a card out of his pocket Ivor Thomas scribbled on the back of it and handed it to Ismay.

  As she slipped it into her handbag he said, ‘You won’t forget to ring me, will you? I thought I’d never see you again when I got off that train. It was a stroke of sheer luck that I happened to meet you this afternoon. I could hardly believe my eyes.’

  That evening Ismay thought it might not be a bad plan to ask if she could have some time off soon. Since her arrival she had had no free time and she felt sure that there would be no objection, but what she was unsure of was to whom she ought to apply. Was it Felicity? After all, she was looking after her daughter. Or would it be wiser to ask Lewis or old Mrs. Kynoch?

  In the end she decided to ask Lewis himself, and that evening when he retired to the study she followed and knocked rather timidly on the door. At his ‘Come in’ Ismay pushed open the door and stood uncertainly just inside the room.

  Lewis looked up from the mass of papers on the desk in front of him, and then as he saw the cautious look on Ismay’s face he said briskly, ‘Well, you haven’t bearded the lion for nothing, have you, Ismay? Come along, sit down and get it off your chest.’

  It was hardly an encouraging start to their conversation and feeling distinctly apprehensive, Ismay came forward and slipped into a chair. Before she could speak Lewis said, ‘As a matter of fact I’m rather glad you popped in to see me. It’s just occurred to me that you’ve had no free time since you came here, we’ve simply absorbed you into the family rather like a giant octopus. I’m sorry we’ve been so remiss. Now how about taking time off this week? The reason I’m suggesting it is because I have to go to Carlisle tomorrow and I thought you might enjoy the run there. You could look at the castle during the morning while I’m at the hospital, and then we could have lunch together and do a bit of sightseeing in the afternoon.’

  Ismay sat as if turned to stone. The invitation had been made quite matter-of-factly, but just the same it was a definite invitation to take her out, and she felt once again the ready anger which Lewis had aroused in her on previous occasions. She firmly suppressed it and said gently, ‘As a matter of fact I came in to ask if I could have an evening free. I’ve been invited out by a friend I ran into this afternoon.’

  Lewis looked distinctly surprised. ‘I wasn’t aware you had any acquaintances in this part of the country.’ He looked straight at Ismay across the desk. Ismay, caught and held by the insistence of the hazel eyes, did not reply to this remark but waited for him to go on. After a second he said, ‘Well, if you’ve already provisionally made your own arrangements there’s no point in considering my suggestion. Perhaps you’d be kind enough to mention the matter to Mother, however, so that she can see to it that Anne doesn’t come to any harm during your absence,’ and Lewis picked up his pen again, pointedly ignoring the girl on the other side of the desk.

  He was obviously as annoyed as Ismay had been only a moment or two ago and she hesitated in perplexity. What could have displeased him so much? Had he really expected her to accept his invitation? If so he must not be very discriminating despite the fact that doctors were supposed to be good at a snap summing up. Ismay knew now she had not misunderstood the look in his eyes, when she had gone to Penrith to fetch him from his rooms. He had tried to start a relationship with her, and right under his wife’s nose to boot.

  Ismay got up and walked stiffly out of the room without saying another word. She went immediately to find old Mrs. Kynoch and make sure that the proposed outing was convenient to her before Lewis, perhaps in a fit of pique, changed his mind, and was touched when the old lady insisted she be free from lunchtime onwards.

  She was, however, unprepared for the surprising sight of Felicity already at the breakfast table on Friday morning. It was so unusual an occurrence that for a moment Ismay hesitated in the doorway, and she was aware that Clare and Anne, who now came down to breakfast with the others, were almost as astonished as she herself to see their mother alongside Lewis drinking a glass of fruit juice.

  As if she sensed their astonishment Felicity looked up and gave a light laugh. ‘Lewis is going into Carlisle to see some patients this morning, and as I have a dental appointment I thought I’d beg a lift. My appointment isn’t until two, but I can do some shopping before we have lunch together. As you’ll be free this afternoon you will come to the dentist with me, won’t you, darling?’ and she turned her head to smile intimately into Lewis’s eyes.

  He lowered his newspaper for a moment and grunted something unintelligible, but Felicity did not seem in the least put out by his lack of encouragement. ‘Is there anything you’d like me to get you?’ she asked Anne and Clare as they took their places at the table.

  ‘I don’t think so, thanks, Mummy,’ Anne answered politely, ‘unless it’s some of that special shampoo you got for us from your hairdresser. It made our hair lovely and shiny last time and we haven’t had any since.’

  ‘Of course, darling. Don’t worry, I shan’t forget.’ Felicity went on with her frugal breakfast of Melba toast and black coffee as if she always had her breakfast downstairs with the rest of the family, and this day was no different from any other. Later when Ismay telephoned to say she had an afternoon as well as the evening free Ivor Thomas insisted on coming over to pick her up about three o’clock.

  ‘I can’t get away before that,’ he explained over the phone, ‘but perhaps you could write some letters or do some shopping in the meantime. I’ll be there at the latest by three-thirty a
nd then we can spend the afternoon walking if it’s fine or going to a film if it’s wet. There’s a jolly good one on in Kendal—Gareth took Mrs. Woods last night. We could have a late supper and I’ll run you home later. How does that appeal to you?’

  ‘Very much.’ Ismay tried to sound enthusiastic, but she was still feeling despondent at the way in which Lewis had been treating her since she had refused the invitation to join him on his trip to Carlisle. He had not been discourteous, but he had been very aloof indeed, punctilious but distant, and she had discovered, to her shame, that his correct behaviour hurt. What had come over her? She could not have been so shocked by Peter’s death that she had lost the ability to think reasonably and sensibly? Lewis Kynoch was a married man and therefore quite beyond her reach.

  Rather to her surprise she thoroughly enjoyed her outing with Ivor Thomas. He might not be the handsomest man in the world, in fact his appearance was at first glance a little odd. His face was irregular in shape and he had a quirkish way of raising one eyebrow higher than the other when he was testing out her reaction to some of his remarks.

  But he was interesting to talk to, particularly when Ismay got him started on his experience with the Royal Navy. He told her of voyages to the Far East, of showing the flag in Singapore, of the wonders of Hong Kong and Japan and Thailand, which Ismay had often thought she might like to visit, given the opportunity. He told her about the strange religions of some of the oriental races and of the various forms of Buddhism practised out there. He told her of bizarre meals he had eaten and the strange customs of far-off places he had visited as well as amusing incidents which had actually happened aboard ship.

  ‘You make the Navy sound like one long holiday,’ Ismay said as she wiped her eyes after he had been recounting a particularly uproarious tale of what the crew had done to a young midshipman who arrived on board thinking he knew all there was about the Navy.

  Ivor Thomas sobered instantly. ‘Oh, it wasn’t like that, I can assure you. Everyone has to work pretty hard, everyone has their own job. But one tends to remember only the amusing incidents and forget the uncomfortable ones. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed my years in the service, and I was sorry when my number came up and I had to take my bowler hat. If Gareth hadn’t come up with this idea of our going into business together I can’t think what I would have done. I should have been eaten up with nostalgia for the old life, and probably developed into one of these crusty old ex-service types always writing letters of complaint to The Times.’

  Ismay looked at him. ‘I just can’t imagine you as a crank,’ she remarked slowly and thoughtfully.

  Ivor Thomas bowed in her direction. ‘For those few kind words, many thanks,’ he said. ‘Now when am I going to see you again?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Ismay gazed at him and smiled with pleasure. She liked this rather odd man. ‘Give me a ring in a week or so. I don’t get much free time. Not that I want it because I’m treated more as a guest than an employee, but until Anne is really on her feet again and robustly healthy, I must be around.’

  ‘But doesn’t she go to bed pretty early?’ Ivor suggested. ‘There’s no reason why I can’t collect you one evening, just to come back to our place for a drink, is there?’

  ‘I suppose not,’ Ismay admitted. ‘I’d like to accept, but I can’t give you a firm yes right now. May we leave it?’

  He agreed, half reluctantly, and when they got home Ismay was relieved to discover that he was not the sort who expects a good-night kiss as recompense. Ivor merely shook her by the hand as he opened the side door at Little Grange, and saying breezily ‘I’ll be seeing you’, he went back to the car as she pushed the door wide and went inside.

  As Ismay reached the hallway the door of the study opened and Lewis Kynoch came out. ‘I heard a car and thought it was Felicity,’ he explained as she hesitated. ‘I didn’t know you were still out. Feel like a nightcap?’

  ‘Thanks, but it’s a little late, I think I’ll be getting up to bed,’ Ismay replied firmly.

  He stood irresolutely in the doorway of the study for a moment and Ismay wondered if he was going to challenge her wish to go straight up to bed, but instead Lewis just said, ‘Good night, then. Sleep well,’ and turning back into the study he closed the door implacably between them.

  As she went slowly upstairs Ismay could not help thinking again what a complicated character he was. Had he really thought it was Felicity coming home? Or had he known that it was herself? It was a question to which she could find no answer, so dismissing it from her mind, she went up to her bedroom. Lewis Kynoch must surely realize by now that she had no intention of starting an intrigue with him.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The picnic proposed by old Mrs. Kynoch finally materialized the following week-end. Not only James and his wife Sally turned up as the party got ready to leave for Ravens’ Bay, but also young Dr. Young, Major Ross, and a hospital colleague of Lewis Kynoch’s with his wife. In all there were twelve persons to be transported to the coast, and in the end they decided to take three cars, Lewis’s big one, James Kynoch’s shooting brake which would take the picnic hamper as well as canvas chairs and a table, and Major Ross’s car, which was also roomy and comfortable.

  Rather to her surprise Ismay discovered herself allocated a place in the back of Major Ross’s car with Roy Young, while Felicity occupied the passenger seat in front. Mrs. Kynoch and the girls had gone with Lewis and his brother James had taken Dr. and Mrs. Maynard in his car.

  As soon as they were on the main road Felicity started a low-voiced and intimate conversation with John Ross so that Ismay and Roy Young found themselves isolated in the back of the car and perforce had to find some common ground on which to converse. It did not take them long to get around to hospital gossip. As Ismay had conjectured, Roy Young had qualified only two years before. He had done his year walking the wards, and then six months later had gone into partnership with his father.

  ‘How are you liking G.P.-ing in the country?’ Ismay asked, genuinely interested.

  ‘Well, of course I know most of the folk hereabouts,’ Roy Young said, and ruffled his fair hair so that it stood on end before smoothing it flat again.

  It was a telling gesture. ‘I know what you mean,’ Ismay said, ‘your father has been their doctor for years and they’re taking their time about...’

  ‘Yes,’ he interrupted her. ‘They’re certainly taking their time about accepting me—as a doctor, I mean. At the moment they still think of me as a scrubby schoolboy and I don’t think they realize I’ve grown up. In time they’ll get used to me. They’ll have to. Father’s not getting any younger and I think he’d like to ease out of the practice bit by bit. He wants to do less, and that means I must do more and more. In due course we shall have to get another chap in because there’s far too much work for one man. It’s a pretty widespread area.’ He stopped and looked thoughtful. ‘How did you guess about them not accepting me?’ and he looked down into Ismay’s eyes.

  She chuckled. ‘Well, my own father’s a G.P. and I’ve often had to listen to stories of when he and Mother first started: before I was born of course. It was Dad’s first sample of general practice and they had their ups and downs. To make matters even more difficult my father wasn’t a real Cantabrigian, so to the patients he was a “foreigner”. My grandparents came over from Ireland and settled in Bristol and Dad was born and brought up there. But after he and Mum were married he was offered the opening in Cambridge and we’ve been there ever since. It took ages for him to be accepted as one of the townspeople, let alone as a doctor.’

  ‘I feel for him,’ Roy Young spoke with conviction. ‘I don’t know which is worse, to be regarded by the locals as an alien or as a silly schoolboy.’

  Ismay chuckled and from then onwards conversation rolled easily between them, so that by the time they arrived at Ravens’ Bay and piled out of the car she found that they were on easy terms, and that she was treating him much as she treated her young brother Robin.
In actual fact, though Roy Young must have been two or three years older than herself, he had an extraordinarily youthful air, and watching him as he helped to carry picnic baskets and the other impedimenta down to a sheltered spot on the beach where old Mrs. Kynoch could dispense the lunch in comfort, Ismay was not really surprised that he said some of his patients treated him as if he was still a juvenile.

  Later on, stripped down to a pair of extremely brief swimming trunks, he looked even younger. But his immature appearance was deceptive, as she discovered after lunch when he inveigled her into going for a walk along the beach. As soon as they were out of sight of the other members of the party he put a confiding arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

  As she gazed up with astonishment into his intensely blue eyes he said, ‘What a marvellous thing that Lewis Kynoch brought you here to look after Anne, otherwise I’d never have met you, Ismay.’

  With an effort Ismay prevented her mouth from falling open in sheer surprise. She’d never been without the odd invitation despite her ‘keep off the grass’ reputation at St. Ninian’s, but never had she acquired two beaux in such a short time—first Ivor Thomas and now Roy Young.

  While she stood in the curve of his arm at a loss for speech, taking this as a sign of encouragement Roy put his other arm around her and pulled her even closer. ‘You know, you’re absolutely marvellous. I always did go for the Celtic type—those thick black lashes and that lovely dark hair,’ and he buried his nose in the silky tresses covering her ear and gave a rapturous sigh. ‘Mm ... and you smell delicious too, Ismay. Of salt and fresh air, and some delectable perfume. What is it?’