To Please the Doctor Read Online Free

instructions Harriet rang off and, cradling the receiver back on its holder, Jill turned again to her companion. “ Well, I expect you gathered that Harriet won ’ t be back. She ’ ll phone later; meanwhile, she suggests we have a meal. ”
    “ Quite a good notion. Now how about that drink? ”
    “ You can see to it yourself while I go and hunt round the larder, ” Jill remarked as she made her way to the kitchen. He could jolly well wait on himself tonight, tomorrow would be time enough for her to take his orders without argument.
    The meal, when Jill eventually did serve it up, was certainly not up to her customary standard of cooking. To start with, she ’ d found herself confronted with an electric cooker, a contrivance she ’ d never used before and didn ’ t feel she ever wanted to use again. No doubt there was a right and wrong way of tackling it, but it remained a complete enigma to her! If she turned to find any cooking utensil, she took so long locating it that by the time she ’ d returned to the stove the potatoes had boiled over or the cutlet had caught alight. Mrs. Sidons might be the greatest treasure, but how on earth was Jill to know that she kept sago in the tin clearly marked sugar!
    By the time Jill sat down at the dining table she felt hot and flushed with her exertions. Duncan McRey ’ s cool assumption that it might be the natural thing to cook and serve his dinner, did nothing to calm her irritation, and with deliberate intent she served him with the least appetising-looking cutlets and the soggiest part of the greens. For a few moments they both ate in silence, while Jill found herself tensed and ready with a retort should he dare to offer any criticism.
    “ Harriet is a marvellous cook, it ’ s a real pleasure to come here for a meal. ”
    The criticism, no doubt it had been intended as such, was couched in such unexpected terms that all the biting retorts which Jill had been carefully rehearsing were completely useless. With as much calm as she could muster she carefully set down her knife and fork and ‘ faced her companion. “ I ’ m sure she is as good at cooking as everything else; it fits in with her other attributes .” She paused, crumbling her bread on her plate. “ But at least you ’ ll concede that even hysterical and incapable females are sometimes good cooks? ” She asked the question with a warming smile which brought a dimple to the corners of her lips.
    “ I really don ’ t know much about women. The words were terse and there was no answering smile as he pushed back his chair and commenced to refill his pipe.
    “ I shouldn ’ t light up yet . Aren ’ t you going to help wash up? I can ’ t very well leave it for the maid to do when she gets back. ”
    Jill did not miss the swift expression of astonishment which crossed his face at her words, but she had to admit he quickly concealed it, and rising to his feet began to follow her example, and piling the plates, carried them into the ki tche n . If he harboured any resentment she didn ’ t know. He certainly proved a most efficient help, and the dishes were washed and quickly put away. She was rinsing down the sink when the telephone interrupted for the second time that evening, and Duncan McRey made a hurried—and Jill imagined a grateful—exit from the kitchen.
    She was smiling to herself as she wrung out the cl oth and tidied everything to her satisfaction. There had been moments of desultory conversation between herself and Duncan McRey when their companionship had been almost pleasant, but he appeared happier behind a barrier of reserve. Oh, well, it didn ’ t really matter, she wasn ’ t easily intimidated. Harriet had said she had what it took—she couldn ’ t h elp wondering what exactly that was, but whatever it was, it was consoling to feel she possessed it.
    “ Ah, there you are! ” Duncan McRey remarked as she rejoined him.
    Jill sank contentedly into the armchair. She felt as exhausted