3rd Culprit

ISBN: 9780701162375

定价: 42.00

内容简介

The devil finds work for idle hands to do??? as Mrs
Gibson used to say to her daughter??? and Alice hadLfound~hat in her case
the devil (or her own mysterious inner compulsions) led her to violence.
As a child she would strike people who annoyed her and when she was
fourteen she attacked her sister with a knife??? though no harm was done.
But if her hands itched to injure??? they were also gifted hands and as she
was taught to occupy them with handicrafts??? the impulse to violence
grew less. Or was sublimated??? as she learned to say when she began
training to be a nurse.
Only her mother had opposed Alice s choice of a career. Perhaps it
was only her mother who understood her. But her objections were
overruled by Alice s father??? by her headmistress??? by the school careers
officer??? and by Alice herself. And certainly Alice did well. There were
no unfortunate incidents of the kind Mrs Gibson had feared.
Naturally??? in her new life??? she had had to abandon her handicrafts.
One cannot keep a loom or a potter s wheel in one s room in the nurses
residence. And there were many occasions when Alice w~ould come off
duty worn out??? not so much from lifting patients??? mal-~ng beds??? and
running to and fro??? as from the exercise of an iron se~. control. The
impulse to hit??? slap??? or otherwise manhandle a patient who had angered
her had to be constantly suppressed.