For King and Country (28 page)

‘Except that the war will take a lot of getting over for some people. And some will never get over it.’

‘You’re right. But all things considered, I don’t think you should be wandering about alone. I’ll walk back with you.’

‘But I like to walk on my own after dark,’ Sally said. ‘When I look up to the sky and see all those other worlds it makes me think that however awful things seem, nothing down
here matters very much. We’re all just specks of dust in this vast universe, but we’re all a part of it at the same time. It’s very mysterious, and comforting in a way. It’s
hard to explain, but when I look at the stars I understand eternity. I know that in the long, long run, everything will be all right.’

‘Don’t they make you feel frightfully romantic?’

‘No. They make me feel . . .’ she searched for the word, and found it. ‘Distant,’ she said, triumphantly. ‘That’s it. Daft, isn’t it?’

‘Oh, dear,’ Campbell said, ‘not “daft”, perhaps, but not quite what I was hoping for. You’re a strange girl, Nurse Wilde, a bit of a mystic. Not like any girl
I’ve ever met before.’

‘No girl you ever meet will ever be like any girl you ever met before unless she is one of the ones you’ve met before. It stands to reason. Everybody’s different, men and women
alike.’

‘And now you’re beginning to sound like your Irish friend.’

‘How do you know I’ve got an Irish friend?’

‘Hospitals are hotbeds of gossip.’

‘But not about probationers. We’re not important enough for anybody to gossip about.’

‘You’d be surprised how much doctors talk about probationers, especially the housemen.’

‘Maybe I wouldn’t be surprised at them talking about
some
probationers, but I’m surprised I’ve ever been mentioned,’ said Sally, thinking of the ones who
were good-looking, or who, in her mother’s words, had a bit of go in them.

‘Of course! You’re such a conundrum. Do you know how Dr Lowery described you? “A little sugar stick of a housemaid.” That’s what he said. I wonder what you’d
say about him? He’s quite a handsome chap, isn’t he?’

Was Dr Lowery handsome? Maybe she’d thought so once. Maybe in truth he was handsome, but then she’d seen an ugly side to him, and had begun to think of him as ugly, and had thought
of him as ugly ever afterwards. But she could hardly insult Dr Lowery to his cousin’s face.

‘Now why don’t you tell me what really happened in their household?’

‘It sounds as if you already know.’

‘But only something of their side of it – Dr Lowery and my aunt.’

‘And what was your aunt’s side?’

‘Oh, she feared for her husband, without a doubt. She told my mother she was convinced you were deliberately enticing him away from the bosom of his family – and succeeding. So
naturally, when I heard you were working here, I decided I must get to know this
femme fatale
for myself, and find out what the attraction is.’

‘And what is it?’

‘Not at all what I’d been led to believe, but there is something. Like your attachment to the stars, it’s hard to explain, but Lieutenant Maxfield seems to feel it very
strongly. I think he’s languishing for love of you. And how is it, Nurse Wilde, that with you I always start as inquisitor, and end by being quizzed?’

‘I don’t know, Dr Campbell,’ said Sally, turning to face him as they neared the hospital. ‘Do you?’

Campbell started. ‘Well, speak of the devil! See? Over there? I’m certain that’s Maxfield, standing with that woman. I say, what do you suppose they’re doing?’

Sally looked over to where Dr Campbell was pointing and saw Will deep in conversation with his mother. She felt her stomach lurch and her heart beat a little faster as they walked towards them
and the nurses’ home, but to change direction now would have seemed too odd. ‘I’m no wiser than you, Dr Campbell,’ she said. ‘What do men and women do when they meet
in parks?’

He chuckled. ‘Well, talk about the stars and the vastness of the universe, if the man is very unlucky,’ he said. ‘But sometimes they indulge in amorous dalliances, or so
I’m told.’

‘The sort of thing an old admirer of yours was fond of,’ said Sally.

‘An admirer of mine?’ he exclaimed. ‘And who was that?’

‘Well, you’ve had so many, haven’t you? But I was thinking of Rosie Ramsden,’ said Sally, all her nervous tension suddenly evaporating in a fit of the giggles.

‘Rosie Ramsden? Who’s . . .
Rosie Ramsden
!’ he exclaimed. ‘You’ve been talking to Nurse Armstrong!’

‘Not necessarily. But you said it yourself, Doctor. Hospitals are hotbeds of gossip.’

They were passing Will and his mother now and, seeing them, he pulled his mother back into the shadows. With laughter in his own voice Campbell protested, ‘Sally, you shock me! I begin to
see it now. There’s a decidedly wicked streak in you that only becomes apparent on closer acquaintance. And you’ve got a sense of fun. I never suspected that.’

Nerves tickled her stomach again, and another gurgle of merriment was his only reply.

‘And what do you think of your admirer, Sally, now you’ve seen what sort of company he keeps?’ he asked, as soon as they were safely out of earshot. ‘I must say, if he
wanted a lady of the town, he could have chosen a better example. Beside her, even Rosie Ramsden would look healthy.’

‘Nurse Wilde to you, Dr Campbell. I’ve got a living to earn, and I can’t afford to be sacked for familiarity with the doctors. And anyway, maybe he didn’t choose her.
Maybe he was just asking the time.’

‘But how could he, if he can’t talk?’

‘Ah,’ said Sally, realizing her mistake and suddenly sobered. ‘Why, you’ve got me there, Dr Campbell.’

‘I have, haven’t I?’ he said, and in such a thoughtful way that shivers ran down her spine. ‘It begins to look as though the chap’s a fraud, doesn’t it? I
shouldn’t be surprised. Shocking reputation for desertion and indiscipline some of these Australians have got.’

They left the park and walked on in silence for a little way, then Sally said, ‘But he’s got the DCM or something, hasn’t he?’

‘Yes. Quite a puzzle. His physical wounds put any return to active service out of the question, and there’s some nerve damage to the right arm as well as the head injury, but even so
. . . Do you know, I’m more and more convinced that the mutism is nothing to do with the head injury. It’s voluntary. I wish we’d listened as we passed them; I’d like to bet
that he was talking to that woman all right. So! just as the enigma of Nurse Wilde begins to unravel we have another enigma in Lieutenant Maxfield,’

‘Well, it’s not worth bothering about now, is it?’ she said as they crossed the road to the nurse’s home. ‘He’s not fit for active service, and the
war’s over in any case. Anyhow, I’ll have to go in now.’ She hastened towards the nurses’ home, leaving him standing.

‘Wait a bit!’ he called. ‘I’ve only just realized – you still haven’t told me your side of the Lowery business. I haven’t solved the enigma at
all!’

She gave him a brief wave and escaped through the door, closing it thankfully behind her, hoping to God she’d managed to deflect him from any more unravelling of Will. But the look on his
face when she’d mentioned Rosie Ramsden had been something to behold, and she smiled. That was another thing about Dr Campbell that redeemed him a bit. At least he could take a joke against
himself.

‘Sorry.’ The lad from Blyth had kept being sick ever since he’d come round from the anaesthetic.

‘I’m sorry to be such a nuisance,’ he repeated, as Sally removed the vomit bowl. ‘I’m sorry. Oh, Nurse, I’ve such a pain in my leg, it’s
unbearable.’

‘It’s nearly ten,’ she said, taking a cloth to wipe beads of sweat from his forehead. ‘Sister’ll be along in a minute to do her round. I’m sure she’ll
give you something for it. Can you wait till then?’

‘Aye,’ he said. ‘I can wait till then.’

Sally left him to empty the vomit bowl and on her return found Will there, very subdued. He took the clean bowl from her with a nod towards the lad from Blyth, meaning that he would keep a watch
on him. She left them to get on with the rest of the work knowing that the lad would be well looked after, but worrying about Will’s recklessness in leaving himself wide open to
discovery.

Two o’clock, and all the patients were quiet. Even the lieutenant from Blyth had fallen into a drugged doze when the night sister came to do her second round, and
Maxfield had gone back to bed.

‘He seems all right, now, Nurse.’

‘Yes, Sister,’ said Sally, easing her shoulders. ‘He stopped vomiting about an hour ago. He must be worn out.’

‘Are you all right, Nurse?’ asked Sister, watching her pull at the muscles of her neck.

‘Yes, Sister. Just a bit of an ache. I slept like the dead before I came on duty, and I think it must be the way I was laid.’

Sister nodded. ‘Send for me at once, if he complains again.’

‘Well, I take it all back, Sal,’ Maxfield told her, intruding on her peace as she stood in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil for her well-deserved cup of
tea. ‘I didn’t give you enough credit. Maybes you’re not going to end up an old maid after all. Dr Campbell likes your wicked streak and your sense of fun, and you like his, by
the sound of it. You were just about splitting your sides when you passed us.’ A frown darkened his face. ‘You want to be careful, though, and make sure you get that ring on your finger
before you let him get too wicked. And be careful of Nurse Dunkley, an’ all, or you might not live to see your wedding day. There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip,
hinny.’

‘Would you like a cup of tea when the kettle boils, Lieutenant Maxfield?’

‘Aye, I would. So, he’s got a nice little routine going. He spends his days ogling Nurse Dunkley on the ward, and his evenings getting wicked with Nurse Wilde.’

‘Hardly that, Lieutenant Maxfield. I’m a shrivelled old maid, remember?’

‘You won’t be a maid of any sort for long, if he has anything to do with it.’

She leaned against the sink and looked him up and down. ‘It sounds as if you’re jealous.’

‘Of course I’m bloody jealous. You’ll go walking on the Leazes with him, but you won’t go with me. I don’t know why not. Nobody can see my ugly face after
dark.’

‘I didn’t go walking with him, Lieutenant Maxfield, I went for a walk on my own. I just happened to bump into him. And you want to be careful, yattering to people where other people
might hear you. You’ll get yourself gaoled before you’ve finished.’

‘Well, it’s a chance I’ll have to take, isn’t it? I’m surprised the bloody Australian Army haven’t cottoned on to me before this time. It’s a miracle. I
wish this bloody arm would heal. You wouldn’t see my backside for dust if I knew it would be all right; I’d be out of the way altogether.’

‘Where to?’

‘Staffordshire, maybe. The darkroom beckons, and there’s nowhere else I can go. I’ll crack on I’ve been a prisoner of war in Germany.’

‘That might be all right, as long as you don’t come across somebody who really has been one, and realizes you weren’t. What then?

‘I’ll refuse to talk about it. Plenty do. The sooner I’m off, the better. I’m fed up of hanging round here watching you with Campbell. My mother got a good look at him.
“She’s got herself a good-looking lad,” she said, “but he’s not half as bonny as you used to be.”’

She took a couple of steps towards him. ‘Get this straight, Will. Dr Campbell’s not interested in me, and I’ve got no interest in him at all.’

‘Haven’t you?’ said Maxfield. ‘Swear it, then. Swear it on your mother’s life.’

There was a shout of alarm, followed by a crash. ‘Sounds like your cue to rescue the corporal again,’ he said, tilting his chin towards the ward.

Damn, and the kettle had just begun to boil. If he’d been in a better mood she might have asked Maxfield to go and see what was wrong, but not now. With a sigh of regret for that delayed
cup of tea she turned off the heat and an instant later was beside the dreamer from Benwell. He was in the trenches again – and stretching Lieutenant Raynor’s nerves to breaking point.
Sally soothed and calmed them both, picked up the spilled urinal and mopped the floor. After that, the lieutenant from Blyth started calling for her.

‘She could have done this herself, instead of dragging me out of bed,’ said Dr Campbell, tossing the empty syringe into the receiver, in none too pleasant a
temper.

No doubt Night Sister would have done exactly that on any of the other wards, Sally thought, but this was the officers’ ward, a different kettle offish entirely. ‘I suppose she had
to be sure there was nothing really wrong, Doctor,’ she said.

‘Hm. Well, there isn’t. But now I’m up, I think a cup of tea would be in order, Nurse. Bring one for yourself, as well,’ he ordered her, and snatching up the
patient’s notes he disappeared in the direction of the office.

She turned to the patient. ‘You’ll be feeling a bit better before long,’ she assured him.

‘I am, Nurse. I’m feeling a bit better already.’

‘Pain always seems to be worse at night, you know, when you’ve nothing to take your mind off it. That’s what the Doctor thinks, anyway. You should be able to get some sleep
now.’

She left him and made for the kitchen. Tea, at last. She’d be glad to get a drink and sit down for two minutes. Her shoulders were stiff, and her head was beginning to throb.

Dr Campbell had finished writing up the patient’s notes when she went into the office. He cleared a space on the desk for her to put the tray on.

‘I’ll have to go in a minute, and make a start on the ward,’ she said.

‘Sit down and drink your tea.’

She poured the tea and sat down.

‘Thanks for this,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry if I seemed churlish, but I’d just got back to sleep after going to see an admission on women’s surgical, a rather
lovely young thing, and thinking about her had kept me awake for quite a while.’ He leaned towards her a little, and grinned. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t tell you this, but it’s
such a gem I can’t keep it to myself. I was sitting beside her bed taking a careful history, and I asked her, as one does with young women, “And tell me, my dear, when you’re
having your monthly period, how much do you lose?” She looked at me as if I were talking Greek, and then the light dawned. You’ll never guess what she said.’