“What sort of person has waited on you here? A nice woman?”
“A very nice woman, Nurse Margaret, Sister Margaret, they call her. She has been so good to me.”
“Then you shall go to Hastings with Sister Margaret to take care of you. And I shall expect to see quite a rosy face when I go down to see you. And now I am not going to stay any longer to-day and tire you. We have settled that you are to become a nurse, but first you must get quite well. I will see Brentwood and make all arrangements. For the present, good-by.”
He held out his hand, which May took tremulously. She dare not ask him any questions, nor even inquire after his aunts. She knew if she did she would break down, and he knew this also. They both ignored the past, or at least did not speak of it.
And when she next saw Doctor Brentwood after this interview with Ralph Webster, he told her that everything was settled. She was to go to Hastings in three days, and Sister Margaret, the hospital nurse, was to accompany her.
“And when you return I will see about receiving you here as a probationer,” said the doctor, “as Webster tells me you wish to become a nurse. Would you rather stay here, or go to another hospital?”
“I should rather stay here if I may,” answered May, gratefully.
“I think I can manage it. Yes, the sea-cure is the very thing for you, and I expect you will come back quite well.”
“But—but, Doctor Brentwood, about the expense? I can not—”
The doctor moved his well-shaped hand.