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in his early thirties, she judged, if that. He was obviously keen to get to the top. Sister Noakes could do worse than hitch her star to his. This Dr Tester sounded attractive, though. For some reason Anna fervently hoped that Sister did fancy the consultant rather than the senior registrar. The morning passed swiftly for Anna. Now that she was getting used to the ward routine she didn't find the work so hard. During the morning she saw the house doctor, Dr Wilmott, in the ward, together with Dr Alexandre, and hurriedly bent her head to her task of tidying Mr Cumming's locker. She didn't want to see Dr Alexandre—Rick. There was nothing she could say to him, other than to apologise, once again.
    Anyway, she told herself crossly, he ought to be pleased she'd saved him a journey. He lived in so could hardly say he would have dropped her off on his way home. Where was his home, anyway? she pondered, trying to imagine him in a setting like her own. She had never been to the Channel Islands so had difficulty in visualising them.
    She presumed Dr Alexandre didn't have a wife but did he have a girlfriend? Perhaps one in Jersey?
    'Nurse!' At last Mr Cumming's voice penetrated Anna's private world, and she jumped up, smiling at the patient. Remembering he was blind, she put the smile into her voice instead, seeing from the corner of her eye that the two doctors were approaching with Pauline Wilson.
    She turned her attention to her patient, hoping Dr Alexandre wouldn't stop at that particular bed. 'I've tidied your locker, Mr Cumming. On the top now is just your jug of fruit juice and a glass. Do get someone to reach it for you, though,' she warned, and the man nodded.
    'Did I hear Dr Alexandre?' he asked loudly, and Anna squirmed, watching the registrar change direction.
    'Good morning, Mr Cumming. A lovely morning with even a touch of bird-song, I believe!' Dr Alexandre laughed, and Anna lowered her eyes submissively, waiting for the registrar to move on.
    'Never! Is there really, doc? Not in December. It isn't the courting season yet!' Mr Cumming chortled.
    'It must be my hearing then,' Dr Alexandre agreed, not appearing to notice Anna, though she was really too tall to miss.
    She swallowed nervously, knowing she ought to say something yet not knowing what.
    'You must be in love, Doctor! That's what it is,' Mr Cumming assured him, and Anna's heart gave a funny little lurch and dropped several inches. She held her breath, waiting for the registrar to reply.
    'Could be, Mr Cumming,' Rick Alexandre agreed, then moved away, still without acknowledging Anna, who silently carried away the rubbish Mr Cumming had asked her to dispose of.
    He could be in love. But with whom? Sister Noakes? No. Anna shook her head, once in the safety of the linen-cupboard, which was also on her list for tidying. Indeed she had done little else that morning and wondered if her presence was strictly necessary.
    'Anna.' Pauline Wilson followed her to the linen-cupboard a few minutes later. 'Sister says as you aren't busy she's going to lend you to Coppice, next door. They want a patient taken to X-ray and can't spare a nurse. Will you go now, please? Then you can take an early lunch and go off till four-thirty, Sister says.' The third-year vanished, and Anna gave an exasperated sigh.
    Now she was to run general errands! Still, it was better than staying there, feeling Dr Alexandre's contempt. Four-thirty was early to return to duty, she mused, knowing it ought to be five o'clock, but Sister was allowing her to go to lunch early.
    By the time Anna had wheeled her patient to X-ray and seen the queue she knew her lunch wasn't going to be an early one. Bryan and Sheila were there, from her set, and she edged her patient nearer to them.
    The patient, Mrs Norton, was over eighty but sprightly enough, according to the Coppice Ward Staff Nurse. Her wrist had been troubling her so much in hospital that an X-ray had been ordered. The patient chatted non-stop about her