The Silver Locket by Margaret James Read Free Book Online Page A

take no notice when certain people grumbles. They’re only jealous ’cos you’re a looker an’ they ain’t.’
    Rose blushed, but was encouraged. She told herself she would stick it out.
    Later that same day, towards the end of what had turned out to be a gruelling shift, she heard somebody call her name. She turned to see what she’d done wrong.
    But Staff Nurse Gower wasn’t glaring angrily, and Rose breathed again. She liked Maria Gower, who never nagged or scolded. The men all liked her too, for she was pretty. She had soft, fair hair and mild, grey eyes.
    ‘I know you’re due to go off duty soon,’ said Staff Nurse Gower, ‘but before you leave, I’d like some things brought up to Stafford Ward.’ She pointed to a tray, piled high with kidney bowls and shaving mugs and a jugful of thermometers.
    Rose picked it up, then followed Staff Nurse Gower. She was so very tired, and her feet and ankles ached so much she could have cried. But after she had taken up this tray, she could go home to Heston Terrace, where Mrs Pike would have her dinner waiting, and she tried to concentrate on that.
    She turned the corner into Stafford Ward, and then disaster struck. She didn’t know how it happened, for her boots had rubber soles and usually kept their grip, even on these highly-polished floors. But she had still lost her balance. The contents of the tray flew up like missiles, and she was sitting sobbing amidst a heap of broken glass and china.
    The staff nurse was ahead of her, and when she heard the crash she came to help Rose to her feet. Then they began to gather up the broken crockery.
    ‘Be careful with the glass, you’ll cut your hands,’ the staff nurse warned. ‘Go and fetch a broom. There’s one in the ward cupboard.’
    ‘I’m so sorry!’ Rose began to brush the mess into a dusty heap. ‘I just seemed to slip–’
    ‘Don’t worry, these things happen. That wretched floor’s a menace.’ Staff Nurse Gower handed Rose a clean white handkerchief. ‘Come along, dry your eyes.’
    But Rose could not stop crying, even though the men could see her through the open doors of Stafford Ward, even though she knew she’d be sent home and told not to come back.
    ‘Come in here, Miss Courtenay.’ Staff Nurse Gower led Rose into the ward sister’s office and shut the door behind them. ‘Do sit down,’ she said.
    Rose sat on the edge of a hard chair.
    Maria poured her a small brandy, then made her choke it down. When Rose was merely gulping as opposed to sobbing as if her heart was going to burst, she fixed her with grey eyes in which Rose could see a hint of steel.
    ‘Let’s have the truth,’ she said.
    ‘I beg your pardon?’
    ‘You’re no more a governess than I’m the Queen of England. So who and what are you? A German spy?’

Chapter Four
    ‘I was only joking,’ said Maria, as Rose stared in horror. ‘But I’ve been watching you. It’s obvious that before you came to work here at St Benedict’s, you had never fed an invalid. You’d never washed anybody in your life. I don’t suppose you’d even washed yourself. You had a maid to do it.’
    ‘No, you’re wrong!’ Panic-stricken, Rose gaped at Maria with wide, scared eyes. ‘I know I’m sometimes clumsy. But that’s because I’m nervous. Some of the men have dreadful wounds, and I’m afraid of hurting them.’
    ‘This kind of nursing is new to all of us. We’re all seeing terrible things we’ve never seen before. But you can’t slice the top off a boiled egg. So unless you’ve come from somewhere where they don’t have eggs?’
    Rose saw it was no use. She’d been found out. She hardly ever cried, but tonight she was so tired and so unhappy she couldn’t help herself.
    Maria let her sob for a minute, then offered her a fresh, clean handkerchief. ‘Where’s your home?’ she asked.
    ‘In Dorset,’ Rose replied.
    ‘What do your people do?’
    ‘My father is a farmer.’ This was true enough, thought Rose, for Sir