Part 20 (1/2)
”What was the nurse's name--the one who abandoned her job without notice?”
”Let me see. It wasn't Gorham. I'll call Alice, my a.s.sistant; I feel quite sure that she will know.”
Alice promptly answered the bell and on being questioned said:
”The nurse was Mrs. Orme. She'd been with Mrs. Tolliver ever since she was took sick, and was the best nurse she's had.”
”Why did she leave?” asked Josie.
”I don't know, miss, I'm sure. She were a quiet body, never sayin' much to no one. But quite ladylike, she were, an' most of us liked her.”
”Can you describe her?”
”Well, she isn't tall--not so very tall, you know--an' she's got a good form an' good manners. I take it she's about thirty-five, an' handsome for her age. Good eyes, but mostly looks down an' don't show 'em. Very neat an' tidy. Brown hair. She wore gray clothes, you know--the reg'lar nurse's uniform.”
”Do you know where Mrs. Orme lives?”
”No, miss; haven't the faintest idea.”
”Who is Mrs. Tolliver's doctor?”
”The house physician, Dr. Pease. His office is No. 633, in this hotel.”
”Thank you, Alice.”
Josie hunted up Mary Louise.
”Have you ever heard that a trained nurse named Mrs. Orme is in any way connected with Alora's history?” she asked.
”No; I'm pretty sure Alora has never mentioned such a person. What about her, Josie?
”I think Alora went away with her. Have you any description of Miss Gorham, the governess?”
”Not especially,” said Mary Louise, trying to remember. ”Alora has sometimes referred to her as 'Old Skinny,' but that doesn't mean anything.”
”It means she isn't Mrs. Orme, anyhow,” answered Josie, in a disappointed tone.
Mary Louise considered this in her usual careful way. She would like to help Josie, if she could.
”Who do you suppose this Mrs. Orme could be?” she presently asked.
”Some one whom Alora knew years ago, when her mother was alive. Of course her name may not have been Orme, then, and she may not have been a trained nurse. That's why I was inclined to connect her with Gorham.”
”Wait a minute, Josie! A nurse, do you say? Why, I remember something about a nurse, no--Alora's mother's nurse. When we were in Italy, where I first knew Alora, she told me that her father, at one time when they lived in New York, had been forced to give money to a woman, and Alora believed he had left America to escape this person's further demands.
When I asked who the woman was, she said it was her mother's nurse; but I'm pretty sure she didn't mention her name.”
Josie's freckled face now wore a broad smile.
”How simple any enigma proves when you have the key,” she remarked, with an air of relief. ”The mystery is solved, my dear! It's all as easy as A. B. C.”
”In that case,” said Mary Louise, more mystified than ever, ”kindly oblige me with the key.”