Dear Tiberius; (aka Nurse Nolan) by Susan Barrie

rather oddly.
    “ Do you ride, Miss Nolan? ” he asked.
    “ I used to, ” she confessed, “ in the days when both my parents were alive, and we still kept a couple of horses. But I haven ’ t ridden since then. ”
    “ But you ’ d like to? ”
    “ Oh, yes, of course I ’ d like to! ”
    “ Then there ’ s no reason why you shouldn ’ t, ” he surprised her by telling her swiftly. “ There ’ s a little mare in the stables that would carry you beautifully— ” he seemed to be assessing her potentialities as a horsewoman as he studied her “ —and she ’ s yours to ride when you can spare the time. There ’ s no reason why you should lack exercise if you enjoy it. ”
    “ Oh—oh, thank you! ” Lucy stammered.
    “ Not at all. ” The friendliness faded from his face rather abruptly, and the masklike look with which she was more familiar took its place. “ And there ’ s another thing, Miss Nolan—or ought I to continue to address you as Nurse Nolan? ”
    “ It doesn ’ t matter, ” she answered. She could have told him that it would be even more correct to address her as “ sister, ” but since he had never done so, and she had never bothered to assert her position with him, she remained silent now.
    For an instant the smile returned.
    “ Miranda calls you Lucy! ”
    “ Yes. ” With her dark curls blowing in the breeze, and her blue eyes deep and dark like violets, the name, for all its simplicity, seemed somehow just right for her—or that was what he thought at that precise moment. “ Sometimes ‘ Noly, ’ “ she told him, with a smile of her own.
    “ I think I prefer Lucy, ” Sir John admitted, and then he turned from her and started to disinter with the end of his hunting crop a fragment of stone from the crumbling balustrade of the steps on which they were standing. “ By the way, Miss Nolan, what I was about to say just now is simply this: I don ’ t wish you to feel shut away here or cut off from every sort of facility, or means of amusement. If you wish to go shopping in Barnchester, or to a cinema, you mustn ’ t hesitate to ask Jennings to drive you, when he is here. When he is not here Battersby drives the Land Rover, and that would be better than country bus services. ”
    “ It would, ” Lucy agreed, and added her thanks.
    Sir John appeared about to walk away from her with one of his cool little nods, when obviously a new idea entered his head.
    “ This afternoon I shall be driving to Barnchester myself, so if you would like to take advantage of a lift there and back, the opportunity is yours. ” He did not look at her, but examined the end of his hunting crop. “ Does that appeal to you? ”
    “ Why, I—why, yes ....” Lucy was definitely surprised, but
    she endeavored to keep some of the surprise out of her voice. And there were several reasons why a trip into Barn c hester was something she could feel really grateful for just then. “ Yes, thank you. Sir John, it does certainly appeal to me, if you don ’ t mind giving me a lift. As a matter of fact. I ’ ve been wondering how I could match some knitting wool. ”
    “ Well, you can do so this afternoon, ” he replied. “ Fiske will take over in your absence. At two-thirty? Can you be ready by then? ”
    “ Oh, yes, I can be ready, ” she assured him, and as he walked away and left her she stared after him with a somewhat unbelieving look in her eyes, and then went tripping down the steps to the shrubberies with a curious feeling that the morning was even brighter than she had imagined. It was quite a superlatively fine morning!
    At two-thirty t hat afternoon she was ready and waiting at the foot of the terrace steps. Jennings brought the car around from the garage and sat imperturbably behind the wheel after he had held open the rear door for her, and she found Muffin already disposed on the backseat, lying comfortably on a plaid rug. He lifted his head and placed it condescendingly on her knee when