It was early afternoon, and Jessie Calvert, loaded with bundles, came through the outer door and started up the stairs toward the nursery. Miss Thorndike, the registered nurse Ben Calvert had imported from Chicago for his baby grandson, was busy preparing the child's afternoon feeding. Miss Thorndike was a slender, neat woman of about thirty, with a pale face, and she wore her dark hair tucked away beneath a stiff white cap.