Two days later, Hannah was on the ward as usual, on her knees, scrubbing the floor with soap and carbolic, while the patients chatted outside on the balcony with one of the governesses who schooled them, and a pair of lady volunteers assisting. Without them, Hannah didn’t know how they would manage to get all their work done.
She was aware that Mr Hunter was standing nearby with Charlotte, having expressly asked her to help him summarise Charlie’s condition and progress for a report he was writing for his studies. Charlie himself was out on the balcony continuing with his education.
‘You’d be better off asking Nurse Bentley,’ she heard Charlotte say, sounding rather exasperated at having been taken off her duties. ‘He’s her patient – she’s been looking after him the whole time.’
‘I wanted to ask you …’ Mr Hunter said in a low voice. ‘I thought … Oh dear, you have a loose thread on your apron – it’s about to unravel. Where will I find a pair of scissors?’
‘In the trolley over there,’ Charlotte said, ‘but it really doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with it.’
‘What’s the problem? Does Sister Trim object to gentlemen rifling through her drawers?’
‘Mr Hunter, you are a disgrace!’ Charlotte hissed. ‘Don’t you ever take anything seriously?’
‘I’m sorry. Sometimes, I don’t think before I speak.’
‘Well, you really should learn.’
Hannah heard footsteps before Mr Hunter spoke again. ‘May I?’
‘I’ll do it, thank you,’ Charlotte said sternly. ‘Now, what was it you wanted to know about Master Swift?’
‘Everything,’ he said.
‘Then you must read his notes – they’re over there in the box.’
‘Why have you suddenly taken against me?’
‘Because you’re immature and ungentlemanly, and you’re wasting my time – and Doctor Clifton’s. Leave me alone – I want nothing to do with you.’
‘Nurse Finch, you’re breaking my heart.’
‘Go away and write your report.’
Hannah almost put her cloth down to applaud the way Charlotte was dealing with his unwanted attentions. He might be privileged and handsome, but he was a fool.
As she heard Charlotte stalk away, her ears pricked at the sound of Sister Trim’s voice.
‘Your son is spoiled,’ she was saying. ‘He’s had my nurses running around like headless chickens, asking them to fetch this and that for him. You might not like this, Mrs Crowborough, but you really should teach him some manners.’
‘He says that you lost your temper with him, that you smacked him across the face.’ The cut-glass accent belonged to a woman in a sheer silk dress the colour of lilac – Hannah could see her skirts, the lace edging to her petticoat and the toes of a pair of elegant forest-green shoes from her vantage point.
‘Whom should you believe: a ward sister of many years, or a little tattle-tale who’s made up these lies because I sent his pudding back when he complained about lumps in the custard?’
‘How do you explain the bruise, the one on his cheek?’
‘He fell from a wall. One would expect a few bruises as well as the broken leg.’
‘I’m not happy about this. I’ll be raising a formal complaint with the matron here.’
‘Do as you wish,’ Sister Trim said, her tone like acid. ‘The boy is ready to be discharged – his boxes are beside the bed. I’ll call for one of the porters to help you. Good day.’ A few minutes afterwards, Sister Trim came over to speak to Hannah who redoubled her efforts at scrubbing. ‘Did you hear that? How dare she accuse me of assaulting her precious child?’
‘I did hear what she said.’ Hannah looked up to where Sister Trim was picking at her nails.
‘There’s no truth in it – you’ll speak up for me if it comes to anything?’
‘Of course.’ Hannah was comfortable with that – she hadn’t seen Sister Trim inflict any kind of violence on the boy. She had on occasion seen her box patients around the ears, and yell at them, terrorising them into submission for an unwanted procedure or high-spirited behaviour. Sister was a skilled nurse when it came to dressing wounds and managing a ward, but her bedside manner left much to be desired when it came to offering a few words of reassurance and comfort.
‘I’m very grateful for that. Are you done there?’
‘Almost,’ she said.
‘I have some paperwork to complete. You and Nurse Finch will change the bed that Master Crowborough has just vacated. It is to stay in readiness for the next patient.’
‘Yes, Sister.’ Hannah wrung out her cloth into the bucket and got to her feet as Sister Trim made her way to the end of the ward where she sat down to work. She emptied her bucket, washed out the cloth and put them away, before joining Charlotte.
They stripped and made up the bed and continued with their chores until Mr Mordikai turned up to request Hannah’s presence in Matron’s office. Sister Trim looked worried when she excused herself from the ward.
‘How is the situation on the Lettsom, Nurse Bentley?’ Mrs Knowles asked.
‘To what situation are you referring?’ Hannah chose her words carefully.
‘There’s more than one?’ Matron raised one eyebrow before smiling. ‘I want to know how having an extra bed on the ward is affecting you and the other nurses. I need as much ammunition as possible for the next meeting of the Board. Mr Cumberpatch is preparing his weapons and I must do the same.’
‘We have coped as you would expect, but this situation can’t continue long-term because it will wear us all out.’
‘I have high hopes for at least two, if not three extra nurses,’ Mrs Knowles said. ‘And I’m about to make some other changes, which I can’t reveal at present. Suffice to say that with Sister Murch talking of moving to Brighton to be near her invalid mother, there will be a vacancy on one of the men’s wards, and I’m thinking that, after my visit from a rather irate Mrs Crowborough, Sister Trim would be well suited to it … Her tact and diplomacy would keep the gentlemen in line.’
She was being sarcastic, Hannah realised, her heart beating a little faster at the prospect of promotion, or was Matron intending to promote one of the new nurses to Sister of the Lettsom?
‘Please, don’t say anything to her,’ Matron continued. ‘I haven’t quite made up my mind.’ She changed the subject. ‘How is your sister?’
‘She is well, thank you.’
‘I don’t like to interfere or seem presumptuous, but if she’s looking for occupation, we’re always in need of lady volunteers here, as you know.’
Hannah wished she’d thought of it before. It seemed the perfect solution to Ruby’s complaints that she was alone all day.
‘I’m sorry about your friend and colleague, Miss Huckstep. I hope she makes a full recovery very soon.’
Hannah thanked her and returned to the ward where a new boy was already sitting up in the additional bed.
‘What was it? What did Matron say?’ Sister Trim asked, rushing across to meet her.
‘She wanted to find out how we managed with the extra patient.’
‘Why didn’t she ask me? I’m Sister of this ward. Oh, don’t say – you are Matron’s pet.’
‘It’s to our advantage,’ Hannah said. ‘I told her what I thought, that we’ll struggle if it continues.’
‘Oh no, that won’t do, Nurse Bentley. That won’t do at all. You are making me appear in the worst possible light. I’ve explained to her that we are coping magnificently. There are moves afoot to bring in new staff, and I don’t want Matron thinking that I can’t run this ward to the standard she expects.’
Hannah didn’t want to argue with her, but she was wrong.
‘Hasn’t it occurred to you that they’re taking advantage of our good nature and willingness to help our patients?’ she began. ‘If we say everything is well, what is to stop them bringing another two or three beds on to the ward? We should stand up for ourselves, our working conditions and our standards.’
Sister Trim’s nostrils flared, and her eyes narrowed. If she could breathe fire, she would, Hannah thought, but she refused to back down.
‘We’re on the same side,’ she added.
‘You’re right about that,’ Sister Trim agreed. ‘We shouldn’t be standing around here talking politics – as you can see, they’ve already filled the extra bed. I’ll introduce you to Master Darke.’
Samuel was eleven and suffering from scrofula of the right elbow. Hannah read through the notes that one of the physicians had made while admitting him through outpatients.
‘I see you’re from Canterbury,’ she said when Sister Trim had gone.
‘My father has a shop, selling high-wheelers and tricycles – you can buy one, if you like.’
‘They are for young men who wish to show off,’ Hannah smiled, recalling how she’d seen someone come a cropper, falling from his bicycle headfirst. ‘It would be most unladylike and impractical.’ How would one stop one’s skirt becoming entangled in the wheels?
‘What could be better to impress one’s friends and acquaintances?’ the boy went on, his hazel eyes glittering in his thin, pixie-like face.
‘I for one would rather not break my wrists, falling from a velocipede,’ Hannah said, ‘but I admire your sales patter.
‘Charlie,’ she called. ‘Would you come and sit with Samuel here? Perhaps you’d like to read to him.’
Pleased to be wanted, Charlie came over, carrying one of the books from the bookshelf. He perched on the edge of Samuel’s bed and the next thing Hannah heard was the two boys chuckling together, as thick as thieves, while the book lay unread on the blanket.
The following day, Ruby agreed to volunteer at the infirmary, but her enthusiasm was short-lived. She insisted that children enjoyed being frightened, but boys like Charlie and Samuel didn’t want to hear talk of dying when they were trying to get better. They needed tales with happy endings, not to listen to the terrible fate of the gingerbread man crossing the river, only to be eaten by a fox. When Ruby decided after three hours of reading that she wouldn’t continue, Hannah had to admit that she was relieved. Perhaps now Ruby would relish the solitude she had when she was alone at home, rather than make a fuss about it.
Having decided to dine with her sister later to make up for her long absences, Hannah called in on Alice before leaving the house that evening.
‘Doctor Clifton said that my pulse was steadier and my chest much improved today,’ Alice said.
‘I’m glad to hear it. Have you heard from Mr Fry?’
‘I think his letters must have got lost in the post.’
‘He knows you’re here – he could have come to see you.’
‘Oh, stop this. Why do you always doubt him?’
Hannah shrugged, knowing that any explanation would only hurt Alice’s feelings further. Everything felt wrong: the way they’d met; the way they’d had to enlist her in their secret meetings; his claims that he was too busy feathering their future nest to consider an engagement. Six months to a year was more than long enough to wait, in her opinion.
‘Write to him again and tell him to come immediately.’ These things were not best left. Better to foment them, apply heat to bring the poison of doubt and uncertainty bursting to the surface, then Alice’s heart could heal – with or without Mr Fry.
Alice changed the subject. ‘I keep meaning to ask – have you changed your mind on marriage?’
‘Oh no. Matron’s raised my hopes for promotion, but I’m not going to let myself think too much of it in case it doesn’t work out.’ It was a fib because she’d thought of little else since her last meeting with Mrs Knowles. ‘Alice, I have a confession to make. I haven’t told anyone, not Charlotte, nor Ruby.’
Alice smoothed the bedsheet with the palm of one hand. ‘Your secrets are safe with me.’
Hannah lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Doctor Clifton asked me to marry him and I turned him down.’
Alice’s eyes widened. ‘Are you sure you weren’t being too hasty? He’s a wonderful man – he’s been so kind. He’s no ordinary doctor.’
‘I know, I know. I was torn, but I’ve made the right decision. I haven’t worked this hard only to give up nursing for the restrictions of marriage.’
‘I think you’ve made a mistake,’ Alice maintained.
‘Nursing is my life.’
‘What about love?’
‘I love my work.’ She had to clear her throat before she could continue. ‘I love Doctor Clifton as well, but I can’t have both. It’s a cross that we women have to bear.’
‘How does he feel about this?’
‘Hurt and upset, but he understands my situation. He will recover, I’m sure, and eventually he’ll find happiness with someone else.’
‘What about you?’
‘I look upon this as a test of my resolve. I’m fortunate that I find joy on the ward with my young patients – it was enough for me before I met him, and it can and will be again.’ She forced a smile. ‘When I’m matron of a great hospital, I’ll look back without regret. Now, I mustn’t tire you. I’ll leave you to write that letter.’
Hannah hurried home to find Ruby sitting on the chaise, reading a library book.
‘Have you done anything in the way of housework today?’ she said, aggrieved as she looked from the basket of rumpled laundry on its side on the floor to the dirty plate on the mantelpiece.
‘I’m tired. I’ve been volunteering all day.’
‘Only for a couple of hours,’ Hannah pointed out. ‘Are you unwell?’
‘No …’
‘Then you must pull yourself together and put your best foot forward each and every day. It’s wonderful, when you’re feeling a little under the weather, how a change of scene or some physical exertion can take your mind off it.’
‘It isn’t as simple as that …’
She was determined to shake Ruby out of her low mood. Her sister needed jollying along.
‘It’s bound to take you a while to recover from what Pa did to you—’
‘Don’t mention it,’ Ruby said sharply.
‘All right. I’m sorry. You’re bound to feel homesick – I was when I came to Margate.’
‘What do you know about anything anyway?’ Ruby flared up. ‘You’re just a nurse.’
‘I can arrange for you to see one of the doctors if you wish.’
‘I don’t need a doctor and I don’t need you to keep going on at me. I need to rest, that’s all.’
It was like they were eight and five again, and arguing over their dolls and the pram, and Nanny would come and separate them and tell them to behave with decorum as young ladies should, not fight like alley cats. Hannah wanted to shout at her little sister and point out that it was her who’d been on her feet for fourteen hours that day, but she took a deep breath and kept her temper.
‘I’ll do the laundry tomorrow, I promise,’ Ruby said.
‘Did you go to the market on your way back from the infirmary?’
Ruby shook her head.
‘There is nothing for supper?’ Hannah’s stomach growled as she looked in the meat safe, the tiny larder with the grille across the front where they kept their staples away from the rats and mice. It was empty, apart from a morsel of hard cheese wrapped in waxed paper. ‘Is there any milk or bread?’
‘I thought we’d go and buy something from one of the stalls, or dine out,’ Ruby said, her expression brightening.
‘I’m not made of money. Where’s my purse?’
‘I’m afraid I don’t know.’
‘I left it here this morning.’
‘I’ve … I seem to have mislaid it.’
‘You’ve been out again then?’
Ruby nodded, her cheeks reddening. ‘After I got back, I went out to take the air – I thought you’d be pleased that I’m looking after my health.’
‘You’ve lost my purse!’ Hannah exclaimed, her blood hot with anger. ‘How could you be so careless as to lose my hard-earned money?’
‘I didn’t do it on purpose.’
‘Did you retrace your steps to see if you could find it?’
‘I had a look, but someone must have picked it up.’ Tears began to roll down Ruby’s cheeks. ‘Please, don’t send me back to Canterbury. Pa will lock me up again.’
At the sight of her remorse, Hannah’s fury began to melt away.
‘What am I going to do with you?’
‘I’ll make it up to you,’ Ruby sobbed. ‘I’ll go out to work, so I can pay you back.’
‘You’ll have to stick at it, not give up on the first day like you did with the volunteering. I’ll ask at the infirmary – you could apply for a position as a maid.’
‘I don’t want to be a scrubber,’ Ruby said, aghast.
‘What about nursing, then?’
‘You’re at work even when you’re at home, worrying about your patients. You do as much as a doctor, yet you aren’t paid like they are. How can Doctor Clifton afford that lovely house while we sit here in rented rooms?’ Ruby’s words stung like a swarm of angry wasps.
‘Doctor Clifton has nothing to do with this. What about teaching, or nannying? You were always good with Christopher and—’ Hannah broke off.
‘I’ll enquire at the Hall by the Sea and the hotels along the front.’
‘I’m not sure about that. You’d meet all sorts at those places.’
‘I know how to behave, if that’s what you mean. Don’t you trust me?’
‘I do, but I don’t want to talk about this any further tonight. I’m dead on my feet – I’m going to bed.’
‘It’s early yet.’
‘Goodnight, Ruby,’ Hannah said firmly before making her way into the room they shared. She sank down on to the mattress and closed her eyes for a moment, wondering if she was going to regret having her sister to live with her. She was being harsh, she thought. They were both weary.
Tomorrow was a new day and they would feel better in the morning.