Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-04-10
Copyright: 1912 BY News Syndicate Co. In
IN TWO PARTS-PART TWO

In the short half-hour they had for
lunch, Miss Vadga brewed and drank
. cup OF tea and then went out to re-
Heve Miss Parker at the reception desk.
Miss Parker joyfully foregathered with
the other three nurses in DR.. Single
tons office. The doctors had gone out
to lunch. There wasn't a man In the
place. Miss Essing presided over sand
wiches and tea. The subject under dis
custom was Miss Illona Vadga.
"a certain famous playwright"
Miss Walton was saying, told me only
this morning that he heard she had
two husbands. Both died under most
mysterious circumstances That is why
she had to leave Hungary and go to
Paris"
That's funny, Emily" Miss Parker
laughed, but I heard you tell that
story before. think it's only a wish
I don't think she has sense enough to
get one man. let alone murder two. I
think the only man she ever cared
about was DR.. Coventry. And maybe
she didn't, even for him. Maybe she
only had the affair with him in Paris
to get over to this country. You know
those foreigners. They'll do anything.
She and DR.. Coventry certainly cover
1t up well, don't they? You'd never
suspect"
"Ridiculous!" Miss Dale flared. "Dr.
Coventry is a great surgeon. He is only
interested in his work.
You ought to know, Brenda" Miss
Essing drawled. You had plenty OF
chances to try him out. But I think
you're right. All any woman means to
that icicle is an anaesthetized body he
can cut his initials into. I believe we
ought to give Illona a break-at the
neck or somewhere along the spine
after taking hell from her for almost
year. Maybe she doesn't keep her in
struments clean"
That's not true" Miss Dale defend
ed. "She is the best nurse ever knew
Her technique Is flawless. Let's at least
be just"
why. BrendaP" Miss Essing asked.
What did 1t ever get you? Oh, we'll,
we don't want her here and If she has
to go, she has to 60. Hate will find a
way"
They thoughtfully slipped their tea
while in the reception room the sub
1ect of their discussion wished for the
first time that she could get away from
the office for awhile. She wanted to
think things out. Her wish was hardly
made before it was granted.
DR.. Coventry was washing up in the
Mushroom off the surgery at Stuyves-
ant hospital. 1t was after - o'clock.
The last operation had taken him
longer than he had planned. 1t
shouldn't have. 1t was simple trepan-
ming job to relieve pressure on the
brain of man whose skull had been
fractured in an automobile accident.
He thought the patient would live. He
hoped so. If he didn't, 1t would be the
fault of him, the surgeon.
He thought back over the operation.
He had been bungling, unaccountably
so. He remembered dropping a scalpel
which Miss Neff, his surgical nurse,
had handed him. He remembered the
thin clank as it struck the tile floor
and the quick mechanical shuttle as
somebody kicked it away. There was an
infinitesimal pause, quick intake of
Miss Neff's breath and then another
scalpel had been hammered into his
hand at exactly the right angle so that
his fingers closed and he was at once
in position to cut.
That was it! The angle. Miss Neff
did not always slap his instruments
into his hand at the proper angle.
There was almost always the compul-
sion to tumble and then straighten the
instrument to bring it into play.
Such thing never would have hap
pened had Miss Vadga been assisting
him. He remembered watching her
work with the great Georgias in Paris.
The smooth, firm precision Of all her
movements timed to the exact instant.
He remembered her working with him
in his offices. He never felt her pres
F,f-- ...-N l. ~Al l., H.. !
his two extra hands that slapped the
Instruments gently into his hands,
hammer, scalpel, needle. clamps. Who
was it said that a great surgeon was
no greater than his nurse?
He wished he could move Miss Vadga
into the hospital as his nurse. OF
course, it was out of the question. Even
his position as chief of staff could not
bring her through or over the wall of
precedent and customs. They demand
ed that a nurse trained in a hospital
should rise in time to the responsible
position of surgical nurse. No nurse
could be brought in from the outside.
If she were, the other nurses would
make it impossible for her. Sometimes,
he suspected that his own nurses did
not care for Miss Vadga.
This was turning out to be bad
day. He probably would not have time
for lunch. He had to make the rounds
of his patients here in the hospital. He
had to see Mrs. Sara Durand. And how
he dreaded it. Even if he saved her for
the last, she would overshadow his
other visits. A terrible old woman and
his best friend. Richer than Croesus'
widow. Years ago, out of the sheer
kindness of her heart, she had bluntly
advanced him the money to set him up
in his offices. For years, she had fin
anced his annual trips to Europes
medical capitals.
Saying. II think you're better than
the ordinary run of bedside manners"
she practically had made him: Yet he
feared her. Not her heart but her
tongue. She was 76 and refused either
to believe or act it. She was shreWd.
She saw eye-to-eye with him on many
things. She was excessively fond OF
Miss vadga. She never stopped prais-
ing him for bringing her to America.
Her hands, she said. were a born heal