Read Dear Tiberius; (aka Nurse Nolan) for Free Online

’ s own sentiments about Lynette Harling very neatly.
    Lucy did not e xtend her stay in London beyond a couple of days, but they were days filled with shopping, and therefore, simply flew by. Sunday she did not count as a holiday, because it would have been her free Sunday in any case, and on Monday she returned to Ketterings.
    She returned by train, taking a taxi when she reached the junction and arriving at Ketterings in time for tea. It was already set out for her on a little table in her sitting room, and the table had been drawn close to a bright log fire, because there was a decided nip in the evening air. There were new cretonne covers on her sofa and her one deep armchair, and cretonne curtains to match at the tall window opening outwards onto a little balcony overlooking one of the nicest corner s of the grounds. Someone had placed fresh flowers in a vase on her writing table, and the smallest tabby kitten she had ever seen in her life was comfortably asleep on the thick skin rug before the fireplace.
    Lucy was about to stoop and pick up the kitten when a noise was heard from the corridor, and Miranda propelled herself into the room in her wheelchair, with Fiske beside her. Miranda ’ s eyes were bright and sparkling, and there was a hectic pink flush on her cheeks.
    “ Do you like it? ” she inquired, before Lucy had a chance even to kiss her. “ Do you like the room? We decided to make it all look much nicer for you when you came back, and Mrs. Abbott routed out these covers and curtains and things. The kitten is called Gentian, on account of its eyes, and it ’ s one of Cherry ’ s latest litter. ” Cherry was the stable cat. “ I know you like cats, and Gentian will be company for you, won ’ t she, when you ’ re alone in here in the evenings and I ’ m in bed? ”
    For an instant Lucy was so touched by this eager thought for her—and the way Miranda ’ s eyes hung anxiously upon her own—that it brought a lump into her throat, and she found it difficult to answer straightaway. Then, with Gentian perched contentedly upon her shoulder and purring loudly into her ear, she assured Miranda that she was delighted with the new appearance of everything, and Fiske poured out tea for them all, for Miranda had had the forethought to order for three beforehand.
    Then, when Miranda had nibbled her way very slowly through one scone, Lucy brought out from her suitcase the present she had purchased for her in London, and Miranda received it ecstatically.
    It was a nightdress case in the shape of a penguin, constructed very cleverly of black and white velvet. And it looked so exactly like a business gentleman in a tailcoat, with his hands behind his back, that it had struck Lucy as soon as she saw it as the very thing to bring a smile to Miranda ’ s lips, and provide an ornament for her severe little bed. Miranda received so much that was expensive—and which often failed to give her any real pleasure—that the unpretentious gift was in two senses of the word a novelty, and Lucy could tell from the way she received it into her hands and gazed at it that it was going to become one of her most prized possessions.
    “ Oh, you are a dear! ” Her eyes revealed her appreciation, and she hugged the penguin to her like a much smaller child ’ hugging a doll. “ It ’ s almost as good as a teddy bear, and I always loved teddy bears, although I haven ’ t had one for ages. I shall call it Joey, and it wil l , of course, sleep on my bed! ” She surveyed Lucy with interest. “ But now tell me all that you did in London, and did you like seeing your sister again? Did you have fun? ”
    “ Yes, I suppose I had quite a lot of fun. ” This was true, because Kathleen was always a most enlivening person to be with, but somehow Lucy did not include her evening at the Colossus as providing her with very much “ fun. ”
    “ And you went to a nightclub? I always think a nightclub must be wildly exciting! Did you