IN THE SHIP'S HOSPITAL
"I hope she dies of pneumonia!" Bess was frankly crying as she walked
down the corridor toward the ship's hospital. "I'd like nothing better
than to witness a funeral at sea, if it was Linda Riggs'," she stated
most emphatically, and then wiped her eyes.
"She's a cat, that's what she is or she would have died long ago.
Remember," she recalled, "when we planned that surprise party on Nan
back in Lakeview and that black cat came into the room. That was the
soul of Linda Riggs," Bess vowed. "She's a cat and a witch."
Grace looked impressed, but Laura snickered.
"See here, Bess," Rhoda stopped and put a restraining hand on Bess's
arm. "You're not going into that hospital room and talk like that before
Nan. She needs rest and quiet. The doctor said so. Now, are you going to
curb your anger, or aren't you?"
"Oh, I will," Bess answered. "Just give me a couple of seconds to
cool off. Every time I think of Nan risking her life to save that
good-for-nothing, it riles me clear through. Nan's so good to everyone,
and Linda, well, she tramps all over everybody."
"There, Bess, take it easy," Laura for once tried to placate the girl.
"We won't have any more trouble from her this trip. The nurse told me
Linda has to stay in bed until the boat docks. If Nan is careful, she'll
be down in her own cabin tomorrow."
"So remember, Bess," Amelia implored, "not to say anything about Linda
or about that other either."
"What other?" Bess asked, and then remembered. "Oh, you mean the cabin?"
she supplied the answer herself.
"Yes, just keep still about everything unpleasant," Rhoda warned. "We
want Nan out of here as soon as possible." With this, she pushed open
the white door of the ship's hospital and a nurse came forward.
"You've came to see Miss Sherwood," she smiled.
"Yes," Rhoda was spokesman for the group. "Is it all right for us all to
go in together?"
The nurse looked doubtful a moment, noting the marks of tears that were
still on Bess's cheeks. Bess felt her glance and blushed. "Oh, I'm all
right now," she reassured the nurse. "I promise to be good," and she
smiled so winningly that the nurse gave in.
"Well, you may go in," she said, as she looked professionally at her
watch, "for half an hour. But remember, you are not to disturb the
patient." With this she opened the door to a private room, and the girls
went in.
There, lying in a white hospital bed, looking pale and very wan, was
Nan. She smiled at their entrance. "I'm all right," she said. "Don't
look so scared. Come in and sit down."
They did, and it was a few seconds, a few awkward seconds, before anyone
could think of anything to say. Twice Bess opened her mouth to speak,
but when her friends looked at her warningly, she closed it again.
Finally, Rhoda found her voice. "Why, Nan," she asked, and her glance,
like that of the other girls was riveted on a big bouquet of red roses,
"where in the world did you get those flowers?"
The color came back into Nan's cheeks. "Can't you guess?" She grinned
rather defiantly at them. "They aren't from anyone on the boat."
"But how could anyone on shore know?" Bess already had her suspicions as
to the person.
"And if he did," Grace was very positive about the "He," "How could He
send them?"
"Come, Nan, spill it," Laura was as curious as the rest. "Heroines
can't have secrets, you know. Their lives are public property."
"That's just what I am afraid of." Nan nodded from her place among the
pillows. "However, I couldn't keep it to myself if I wanted to. They're
from Walter!"
"But how--" Bess just couldn't wait.
"He sent them from shore when the boat was in dock and asked the steward
to keep them until we were in mid-ocean. They brought them up here this
morning and when I opened my eyes--there they were." Nan's eyes were
shining and her cheeks were almost as red as the roses.
"They are just gorgeous," Rhoda stooped over to smell them, "so red, and
fragrant, and fresh."
"Aren't they though?" Nan reached out and touched them softly. "But tell
me now," she looked up. "What's new?"
"You should know," Laura answered. "You are the news around here.
Everyone's talking about you. There are at least a dozen different
versions of what happened last night making the rounds of this ship. One
has it that Linda actually went over the side of the boat and that you
leaped in and saved her from drowning. Then you caught hold of a rope,
and a sailor, out to see that everything was shipshape, heard your
cries, and hauled the two of you in."
"Another," Amelia said further, as Nan laughed, "has you in a fight with
Linda. Oh, I mean," she corrected herself when Nan looked worried, "that
Linda is supposed to have become so frightened that she didn't know what
she was doing. She tore at your hair and scratched you. (Here Nan ran
her hand over her face. It was perfectly whole.) Finally, when you
realized that she was beyond reason, you are supposed to have hit her
over the head so hard that you knocked her out!"
"And another--" Laura began.
"Oh, don't tell me any more," Nan shook her head. "I don't know how I'm
ever going to go out of here and face all those people. It scares me to
think of it."
"You needn't worry, Nan," Rhoda took her friend's hand in hers. "We'll
all rally round. Everybody, really, is just being grand. I didn't know
there were so many nice people in the world."
"Isn't it so?" Nan forgot her embarrassment. "Look at that pile of
cards and notes and books and magazines. Why, I believe all the
passengers on the ship have stopped in to ask about me and one little
boy"--she stopped and giggled before she went on--"wanted my autograph!
Can you imagine anything so silly? But tell me, what did happen? I
fainted, didn't I? I don't remember a thing after I found those doors
were locked."
"Oh, Nan," Bess couldn't restrain herself any longer. "Maybe you were
there for hours, we don't know. We only know this: after we left you out
there on deck we all went into the lounge and talked and played games
for a long time."
"We wondered where you were, didn't we?" She looked at the others for
confirmation. They nodded their heads as Bess went on, "but we thought
that you were probably off somewheres with that English girl, what is
her name?"
"You mean Hetty Warren?" Nan supplied.
"Yes, that's it. Well, we thought you were with her and her grandmother
until about ten o'clock when we went down to the cabin and met Hetty.
She was bringing a travel book about England to you. She said she hadn't
seen you all evening.
"We were worried then, and she went with us to see whether you were
with either Jeanie or Maureen. They said they hadn't seen you, either.
We didn't know what to do then, so finally we went to Dr. Beulah. She
had been in her cabin all evening, because she wasn't feeling very well.
She called a steward and he said he would hunt you up. He was gone for
hours, while we sat in her cabin and talked and wondered and worried.
"When he finally came back, he didn't have any news! Dr. Beulah got up
and dressed then and called the Captain. He told us all to come up to
his office. We went at once, and he asked a million questions about you.
Then he got busy on the phone and started a boat-wide search.
"It wasn't any time at all after that when they called Dr. Beulah and
told her to come to the hospital right away." Here Bess started to cry
again, for she remembered so vividly how frightened they had all been at
that call.
"Oh, Bess," It was Nan speaking. "Come here, I'm so sorry I caused you
all that trouble."
"Anyway," Bess grinned through her tears. "Dr. Beulah went up and the
first person she saw there was Linda Riggs. I guess she was pretty
disgusted herself for once, though she would never say it. Then the
nurse took her in to see you."
"Oh, I remember from then on," Nan continued. "I came to when they were
carrying me here, so that when Dr. Beulah came up I knew what it was all
about. I was only scared for fear she would give me the scolding I
deserved for going off that way by myself. But she didn't. She just took
me in her arms and kissed me and then went off and talked to the nurse
and doctor. I don't know what she said or did to them, but they have
been fluttering around me all the time as though I was a Royal
Princess."
"Wait until you get up!" Laura exclaimed. "Then you'll find out who you
are." She looked both merry and mysterious as she said this last. Nan
looked questioningly at her.
But there was no opportunity for any more talk. The nurse came in, felt
Nan's pulse and smiled at the girls.
"I'm sorry," she said, nodding toward the door. So they got up and
left, leaving Nan looking wistfully after them.