“Perhaps I did this time, but somehow[139] you are just a little too cool, Miss Davis; I would say too good, if I did not fear it would make you angry with me. And I don’t want you to be angry. I want you to do me a favor instead. I am better now and I won’t be so much trouble, so won’t you ask Madame Castaigne if you can take charge of me altogether both the day and night work? You could rest in between times and I promise you that from that moment I shall change from a lion into a lamb.” [139] “I am afraid Madame Castaigne——” “Oh, please don’t give that excuse. I grow tired of hearing Madame Castaigne’s name. Of course I understand you can’t accept such a task. Please forget I asked you. The truth is, Nona—Miss Davis—I wish you could make up your mind to bear with me for longer than just this time of nursing. I know I only look like half a man with the other half in bandages, and I may be a boor and a bully, but you see I have never had a single woman’s affection in my life——” Nona was by this time standing up looking very grave and angry. [140]The yellow light through the window flooded her white nurse’s dress to the color of her hair. [140] She was like a slender yellow lily, as cold and as remote, which Jack Martin remembered growing in certain aristocratic gardens he had seen in the South. “I am your nurse, Lieutenant Martin, if you wish me to continue to care for you, please never say anything of that character again, else you make my work impossible.” Then to Nona’s intense relief she heard someone at the door with her patient’s dinner. This was not her first experience of this kind. Men who are convalescing are apt to make love to their nurses from a combination of sentimentality and gratitude. But for some reason Nona felt especially annoyed and surprised. Yet she did not observe Lieutenant Jack Martin’s jaw set, nor his gray eyes flash as he said softly to himself, “But I shall not always be your patient, my lady.” [141] CHAPTER XI The Undertow
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