Last April Fair. Бетти Нилс

Чтение книги онлайн.

      She went and peered down at Gaby. ‘You do look a little pale, darling. You’ll feel better on dry land, I expect, and you girls can have a few days’ fun on your own.’She patted Gaby’s head and Phyllida saw the girl wince. ‘We’ll leave you plenty of spending money.’

      When she had gone Gaby said wearily: ‘Mummy always thinks that if she gives me enough money everything will be all right.’

      ‘I expect you’ll enjoy it just as much as being on board ship,’ said Phyllida soothingly. ‘Now, I’m going to pack our things, and suppose we have dinner here this evening? You choose what you’d like to eat and get a long night’s sleep. Now I’m going to take these books back to the library.’

      She went to see the doctor too, and he wasn’t in the best of tempers. ‘I’ve made it plain to Gaby’s parents that she’s extremely ill and possibly heading for a relapse, and I suggested that you should all fly back from Madeira tomorrow, but they won’t hear of it—told me that if the specialist considered her fit enough to take a holiday that was good enough for them, that we’re probably over-anxious. They agreed readily enough to Gaby going ashore with you—said they’d pick you up at the end of the week. Are you at all worried?’

      ‘I’m in a flat spin,’ confided Phyllida. ‘Anything could happen, couldn’t it? And here we are, thousands of miles away from home and her parents refusing to face up to her being ill. Do you think she’ll be all right? I’ll take the greatest care of her.’

      ‘If she keeps quiet and with you to look after her she might get over this bad patch, but she really needs to be flown home and taken to hospital, but her parents utterly refuse. They say that this has happened before and she’s always got over it.’He sighed. ‘At least Mr de Wolff has all the particulars of her case and I’ve written a covering letter; he’s promised to deliver it himself at the hospital and arrange for a doctor to call and see Gaby—probably tomorrow in the evening or the following morning. We shall be back here on Saturday and if Gaby is no better, I’ll do my best to persuade her parents to fly her back.’