During that time I heard one or two allusions to the Leidner expedition.
A friend of Mrs Kelseys, a young squadron-leader, pursed his lips in surprise as he exclaimed: Lovely Louise.
So thats her latest!
He turned to me.
Thats our nickname for her, nurse.
Shes always known as Lovely Louise.
Is she so very handsome then? I asked.
Its taking her at her own valuation. She thinks she is!
Now dont be spiteful, John, said Mrs Kelsey.
You know its not only she who thinks so!
Lots of people have been very smitten by her.
Perhaps youre right.
Shes a bit long in the tooth, but she has a certain attraction.
You were completely bowled over yourself, said Mrs Kelsey, laughing.
The squadron-leader blushed and admitted rather shamefacedly: Well, she has a way with her.
As for Leidner himself, he worships the ground she walks on and all the rest of the expedition has to worship too! Its expected of them!
How many are there altogether? I asked.
All sorts and nationalities, nurse, said the squadron-leader cheerfully.
An English architect, a French Father from Carthage he does the inscriptions tablets and things, you know.
And then theres Miss Johnson. Shes English too sort of general bottle-washer.
And a little plump man who does the photography hes an American.
And the Mercados. Heaven knows what nationality they are Dagos of some kind!
Shes quite young a snaky-looking creature and oh! doesnt she hate Lovely Louise!
And there are a couple of youngsters and thats the lot.
A few odd fish, but nice on the whole dont you agree, Pennyman? He was appealing to an elderly man who was sitting thoughtfully twirling a pair of pince-nez.
The latter started and looked up.
Yes yes very nice indeed. Taken individually, that is.
Of course, Mercado is rather a queer fish-
He has such a very odd beard, put in Mrs Kelsey.
A queer limp kind.
Major Pennyman went on without noticing her interruption. The young uns are both nice.
The Americans rather silent, and the English boy talks a bit too much.
Funny, its usually the other way round.
Leidner himself is a delightful fellow so modest and unassuming.
Yes, individually they are all pleasant people.
But somehow or other, I may have been fanciful, but the last time I went to see them I got a queer impression of something being wrong.
I dont know what it was exactlyNobody seemed quite natural.
There was a queer atmosphere of tension.
I can explain best what I mean by saying that they all passed the butter to each other too politely.
Blushing a little, because I dont like airing my own opinions too much, I said: If people are too much cooped up together its got a way of getting on their nerves.
I know that myself from experience in hospital.
Thats true, said Major Kelsey, but its early in the season, hardly time for that particular irritation to have set in.
An expedition is probably like our life here in miniature, said Major Pennyman. It has its cliques and rivalries and jealousies.
It sounds as though theyd got a good many newcomers this year, said Major Kelsey.
Let me see. The squadron-leader counted them off on his fingers. Young Coleman is new, so is Reiter. Emmott was out last year and so were the Mercados.
Father Lavigny is a newcomer. Hes come in place of Dr Byrd, who was ill this year and couldnt come out.
Carey, of course, is an old hand. Hes been out ever since the beginning, five years ago. Miss Johnsons been out nearly as many years as Carey.
I always thought they got on so well together at Tell Yarimjah, remarked Major Kelsey.
They seemed like a happy family which is really surprising when one considers what human nature is!
Im sure Nurse Leatheran agrees with me.