For the first time in her professional career, Nurse Elinor Martin found herself enveloped by the personality of a passing medical subject with just more than mere professional interest.
As for the boy, under normal circumstances, he was by no means a poor judge of feminine pulchritude. Twenty-four hours earlier, he would have welcomed being left alone for over sixty minutes in the company of a lovely bit of femininity, but now, with the possibilities of really beginning life over again, women were the farthest thing from his thoughts.
Perhaps it was this indifference toward her and his apparent lack of interest in her sex that fed Elinor’s imagination and made her mind so active regarding this man, who he might be and what his chances in passing were.
His monotonous pacing back and forth before her desk was beginning to prey upon the girl’s nerves and she ventured at length to interrupt.
“Would you mind sitting down?” she asked in a crisp fashion, pointing to a chair. “You’re making me so nervous, I can’t work.”
Lefty looked to the floor, shamefaced and acquiesced by slipping into the chair designated by the girl, glancing up at her sheepishly as he nervously toyed with the brim of his hat.
As their eyes met, Lefty was greeted by a generous smile that seemed to give him confidence.
Elinor returned to her work while the boy sat staring at the ceiling and pulling nervously at his hat.
Completely forgetting his offense, he rose and again began to pace the room, from left to right.
Elinor dropped her pen and shook her head just as their eyes met again.