Lorimers at War by Anne Melville Read Free Book Online Page B

that God is on their side as we are that he’s on ours?’
    She tried to make the question sound light-hearted, almost a joke, but in her heart she too was frightened. Everyone in the family – everyone in England – was having to make plans for an emergency which stretched into an indefinite and unpredictable future. Only one thing must be reckoned as certain. The war would not, after all, be over by Christmas.
6
    Two days after her interview in Beatrice’s office, Kate learned that her offer to serve as one of the two doctors in the next women’s medical unit had been accepted. Perhaps her cousin, knowing her to be hard-working and conscientious, had recommended her, or perhaps she owed her success to her youth and strength and energy. Certainly Kate herself was as well aware as anyone else that although she was fully qualified she had not had a great deal of unsupervised experience of dealing withemergencies – and in work of this kind, most of the casualties brought to her were likely to be emergencies.
    Since it would be ten weeks before the unit was ready to leave, she took steps to improve her usefulness by volunteering for temporary hospital work. Doctors and surgeons were working round the clock to accept the flood of wounded soldiers sent back from France, and Kate was welcomed as a member of a team which inspected each man as he arrived, supervised the cleaning of wounds, made a detailed observation of the damage, performed the more straightforward operations or those which were necessary to prepare for major surgery, and kept a close watch for a few days afterwards to guard against complications. She worked four twelve-hour duties each week, and this allowed her the opportunity also to play her part in the upheaval which was taking place at Blaize.
    On her first visit she found Margaret already installed there. Lord Glanville had wasted no time in making his property available and pressing both the hospital governors and the army to accept his sister-in-law as its commandant. Alexa had cleared a corner room in the east wing to act as an office, and by the time Kate arrived, it had already taken on the appearance of an operations room at the front line. Plans of the various buildings on the estate were pinned to the wall and every piece of furniture was covered with papers listing equipment required or actions to be taken. Kate had already learned from Lord Glanville that Robert had had to report for training within two days of volunteering. The leisurely process which had carried Brinsley to the front was a thing of the past, and it did not require very much sensitivity to recognize the worry behind Margaret’s frown of concentration.
    Kate found it curious to walk through the house which she knew so well from holiday visits and to consider its amenities now in such a different light.
    â€˜The family will keep the whole of the west wing.’ Margaret told her. ‘That’s where the nursery suite is, and we don’t want to disturb Frisca and little Pirry. Most of the east wing will be made available for the medical staff. That means Alexa loses her drawing room and morning room, I’m afraid. They’re going to use the library as a drawing room instead. As for the Tudor part of the house, there are problems in converting it. We’ve had a surveyor in to look at the long gallery up at the top. It’s the perfect shape and size for a ward, but apparently the floor wouldn’t take the weight. There would be trouble with stretchers on the stairs as well. The ballroom is more promising, and reasonably straightforward because it’s empty. The decisions still to be made are about the opera house.’
    They walked together through the wood. The path down towards the river was not too steep, but rain the previous night had left it muddy and slippery. Lifting her skirt to keep the hem clean, Kate paused to look back.
    â€˜Do you expect to transfer any of the