No Escape by Josephine Bell Page A

patient.
    All the same he could not forgive Jane for interrupting him at the moment of success. So he got up from his chair, shook hands with Sheila, nodded to Jane and left the cubicle. Sheila immediately burst into tears.
    â€œHe’s gone and he won’t see me again!” she wailed.
    â€œDoes that matter? You weren’t exactly co-operative, were you?”
    â€œI never even thanked him properly for helping me.”
    Jane began to feel immensely, overwhelmingly bored with the whole business.
    â€œYou can write him a nice letter when you get home,” she said.
    Unconscious of the intended irony, Sheila nodded. Jane lifted the suitcase on to the empty chair.
    â€œDo you want it here or shall I take it out again to Sister’s room, now you’ve seen it?”
    â€œLeave it here, please. But put it under the bed.”
    â€œThey won’t let you keep it there.”
    â€œOnly till tomorrow. They may not notice it if you push it well under.”
    Jane did as she was asked to avoid argument and as Sheila now appeared to be fully satisfied, sinking back on her pillows and smiling, Jane left her, picked up her own outdoor things and handbag in the X-ray Department and left the hospital by a side door.
    She came out into the road by a small gate a short distance from the main entrance. Cars were parked on both sides of this approach. Walking rapidly, she suddenly heard her name called and turning saw that the car directly behind her on the other side was Mr Stone’s and the man himself was leaning from the driver’s seat to open the passenger door.

Chapter Five
    She walked back slowly, wondering what he was doing there, over an hour since he had left her at the main hospital entrance.
    Her surprise must have shown plainly in her face, for Stone said, smiling, “Why am I here? Yes. Well, I just wanted to know the latest about Sheila.”
    â€œWe’re worried about her,” Jane said simply.
    He frowned, turned to look up and down the road, then said, “Why not hop in and let me take you wherever you’re going? Then you can tell me.”
    His manner was very soothing, coming as it did so soon after her uncomfortable brush with Tim. This man was not at all excited, but calm and wise and helpful. Sheila needed a friend and surely this was one; he had already proved it by his solicitude.
    So Jane got into the car and gave her address in Arcadia Road, that lay between Olympia and Shepherd’s Bush.
    â€œNot so far from Sheila’s place,” Stone said, as they moved off. “But a different kind of set-up, I’m sure.”
    â€œI share a flat with a girl who’s at the L.S.E.”
    â€œWhat was that?”
    â€œThe London School of Economics” Jane told him, put out a little by his ignorance, which did not match the impression she already had of him.
    â€œMr Stone.” she began, formally.
    â€œGerry,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road. “Gerry’s the name, Jane.”
    â€œI said I was anxious about Sheila,” she went on, ignoring this interruption, though it pleased her. “You see I don’t think the hospital people understand her. I mean the nurse and—and the doctors.”
    All her resentment, her anger with Tim, rose up again.
    â€œGo on, tell me,” Gerry said, quietly.
    â€œParticularly Tim—I mean Dr Long. He seems to think now she’s having a real mental breakdown. He wants her to go to a mental hospital for treatment.”
    She saw Gerry’s hands tighten on the wheel, and went on, “He’s furious with me because—” She stopped. Sheila had begged her to say nothing about her immediate plans. It would he a gross breach of confidence to describe the fuss over the suitcases. Besides, she did not really know the man beside her, whose profile just now was far from prepossessing.
    But the next moment Gerry’s face relaxed and he gave her a brief smiling