Home is Goodbye by Isobel Chace Page A

here as for the doctor to get out to her from Arusha. And Cengupta has been over once or twice. That’s why I wanted him now,’ he added thoughtfully. ‘He thinks she’s in for a bad time.’
    Sara could not help remembering that he had come into the hospital calling out her name, and she gave a little half-smile and he laughed.
    ‘I wanted you too!’ he exclaimed. ‘But Mrs. Wayne said you were at the hospital coping with an emergency, so I guessed that I couldn’t have you both! Karim says this sort of thing is in your line?’
    ‘Yes, it is,’ Sara agreed simply. She had no need to elaborate, for at that moment there was a complete understanding between them, and she knew that he would accept her word. It was pleasant to feel that for a few moments she was being accepted as herself and not as her aunt’s niece. She took a deep breath and said the first thing that came into her head.
    ‘Julia will be annoyed at your leaving her alone on her first evening.’
    It was casually said, but she knew from the sudden tightening of his mouth and neck that she had destroyed the moment.
    ‘I don’t suppose so,’ he said quietly. ‘She comes more to see Mother than anyone else. Her mother is mine’s first cousin and she has a share in the estate. Naturally she comes every so often to see what’s doing.’
    He sounded reasonable and very much himself, but Sara bitterly regretted bringing the other girl into the conversation. She had the feeling that Matt thought she was prying into his private affairs, and she had had no intention of ever doing such a thing.
    ‘James brought her to the hospital,’ she heard herself saying. ‘He said she was your girl! She’s very pretty!’ she added, aghast at where her tongue was leading her.
    Matt said nothing. Sara waited for the silence to become more comfortable, but it did nothing of the sort. Instead she grew steadily more and more agitated. At last Matt began to speak, quite quietly, but so that she could not help but listen to what he had to say.
    ‘I’ve known Julia all my life. We were practically brought up together, and we both play golf. Golf is probably the most important thing in Julia’s life. She travels from one club to another, picking up whatever games she can and usually collecting most of the cups. Then, when she’s hard up, she comes home to recuperate. That’s what she’s doing at the moment. It’s a question too of finance. It’s an expensive business belonging to every golf club in East Africa, so she has to have a fairly large income to do it. Every now and again she makes sure she’s getting every penny she’s due.’ He paused thoughtfully. ‘That’s the curse of these big family affairs,’ he went on. ‘Everyone always thinks that he could manage better than the chap who’s actually doing the job! Every improvement has to be fought in case one’s income is down a bit that year. If I didn’t cook the books a little, they’d slowly strangle the whole goose!’
    ‘I didn’t know you were related,’ Sara said in a small voice.
    ‘Oh, good lord, I have dozens of second cousins! So you can see why you have to be worthy of your hire, Nurse Wayne,’ he said sternly. ‘Fifteen hundred a year takes a lot of explaining!’
    ‘Fifteen hundred pounds!’ Sara repeated. ‘But I’ve never been paid anything like that in my life!’
    The size of the figure momentarily stunned her, for she knew that on top of that the entire Wayne family was receiving free board and lodging from the estate.
    ‘It’s the customary figure for an experienced, fully qualified sister around here,’ he said, in a voice that brooked no argument. ‘You can be worth every penny of that to us in preventive medicine too. Karim Cengupta has all sorts of schemes in that direction.’
    ‘I should think so!’ Sara agreed in shocked tones. ‘You would need to get something for all that money!’
    He grinned at her, amused by her thrifty reaction.
    ‘It’s not so