The Nightingale Girls

CHAPTER Five



WHEN HELEN HAD gone, Dora quickly unpacked her belongings, shoving them into the empty drawer. She didn’t have much, just underwear and a couple of dresses, plus all the things she had been told to bring for training – black stockings and stout black shoes, blunt-ended scissors, pens and pencils and a watch.

She suppressed a shudder as she placed the watch carefully in the drawer. Alf had made a big song and dance about buying it for her. He’d presented it to her in front of all the family, and she’d had to pretend to be grateful and let him put his arms around her and listen to everyone say what a good, generous man he was.

It doesn’t matter, she told herself. You’re safe now. He can’t hurt you any more.

At eight o’clock prompt, she made her way to block three as Helen Tremayne had directed. She followed the sound of clattering crockery and excited chatter down the corridor, and found herself in the brightly lit, noisy dining room, reeking of overcooked cabbage and disinfectant. It was the size of a gymnasium, and laid out with several long tables. At the far end of the room, steam belched from a serving hatch where a large woman in a white overall was doling out loaves of bread, bowls and huge enamel jugs of cocoa.

Each of the long tables was crowded with young women in a different-coloured uniform – some royal blue, some striped, some purple. Over by the window, away from the hustle and bustle, a group of women in grey uniforms ate their meal in dignified silence, served by a maid.

Dora’s stomach rumbled in anticipation; she had been too nervous to eat the sausage sandwich her mum had made her at lunchtime.

Sister Sutton was waiting by the door. ‘You’re late,’ she greeted her. ‘And your cap is crooked. Go over there and sit with the other probationers.’

As she made her way across the room, Dora noticed Helen Tremayne sitting at a table with a group of other nurses in striped uniforms – second years, she guessed. Dora waved but Helen stared straight through her and went on eating.

Dora found a seat at the end of the probationers’ table, where a dozen or so nervous-looking girls sat casting sidelong glances around them. Unlike the other pros at the table, they all wore blue armbands, denoting they were in Preliminary Training and not yet let loose on the wards.

As she sat down, an excited-looking pro came back from the hatch bearing a bottle of Daddies Sauce, like a trophy.

‘Look what I’ve got,’ she grinned.

‘Quick, before the seniors get hold of it!’ The girls at the far end of the table passed it around eagerly, watched in bewilderment by Dora and the other new students.

‘The senior students get first dibs on everything,’ the girl opposite her explained. ‘The pros have to make do with whatever’s left. And being new, we’re right at the bottom of the pile.’

‘How do you know that?’ the girl beside Dora asked.

‘My sisters trained here. One of them is a staff nurse on the Male Orthopaedic ward now.’ The girl was plump and dark-haired, with a sweet, round face and a lilting Irish accent. Dora wondered what Sister Sutton had made of her.

Their food arrived in front of them. The girl next to Dora poked squeamishly at the contents of the bowl. ‘What is this horrible stuff, anyway?’

‘Dripping,’ the Irish girl said, digging her knife in and ladling a dollop on to her bread. ‘Try it, it’s delicious.’ She sank her teeth into the crust, her eyes closed in bliss.

‘It looks disgusting.’ The girl grimaced. ‘I’m sure my mother would just die if she knew I was eating such awful food.’

‘You’ll get used to it,’ the Irish girl mumbled, her mouth full. ‘My sister reckons you get so hungry you end up eating whatever they put in front of you.’ She filled her cup with cocoa and offered the jug to the student next to her, a timid-looking girl with spectacles.

Before she could move to take it, the girl beside Dora reached out and grabbed it, then filled her own cup. ‘Ugh, this is revolting too.’

‘We wouldn’t know. We haven’t had a chance to find out.’ Dora sent her a sideways glance. The girl was pretty, with neatly plaited shiny chestnut-brown hair and a disdainful expression. Her small nose pointed towards the ceiling, as if permanently turned up at the world and all it had to offer.

‘Sorry, did you want this?’ The girl offered her the jug. Dora took it and handed it back to the timid-looking girl, who smiled shyly across the table at her.

Over supper, the new students chatted amongst themselves, swapping stories of their schools, their families, and how they had come to be at the Nightingale. Dora found out the Irish girl was called Katie O’Hara. She had come over from a tiny village in Ireland to train at the same hospital as her three sisters. ‘It was either that or become a nun!’ she laughed.

She also found out the girl with the turned-up nose was called Lucy Lane. She was an only child, her father had made a fortune manufacturing light bulbs, her mother did charity work, and she was simply the best at everything. Dora felt her eyelids begin to droop as Lucy listed the prizes she had won at her school, from needlework to Most Polite Pupil. If they’d given a prize for talking the hind legs off a donkey, she would have won that too.

‘Everyone expected me to go on to university after school, but I decided I wanted to be a nurse,’ she announced. ‘It’s such a worthwhile profession, isn’t it? And of course, once I’d decided on nursing, I had to come to the Nightingale. Everyone knows it’s the best teaching hospital in the country. Only the best will do for me, Daddy says.’

Dora stayed quiet. Apart from Katie O’Hara, who was very down to earth, the other girls seemed so posh, talking about their schools and their ponies and what their fathers did for a living. She felt out of place already.

She glanced across at Helen Tremayne who looked out of place too. She was surrounded by chattering nurses, but no one seemed to be speaking to her as she sat in silence, shredding a crust of bread between her fingers.

It seemed as if they’d barely started eating before the serving hatches clanged shut and the sisters rose to their feet. Instantly the room fell silent. Dora sneaked a look at the grey-uniformed women as they filed out of the dining room. Tall, short, thin, plump, they seemed a forbidding bunch, not a smile among them.

‘They look terrifying, don’t they?’ Katie whispered across the table. ‘Thank the Lord we don’t have to meet them for another three months. I hope I’ve managed to get some nursing knowledge in my brain by then!’

The silence held until the last sister had left. Then there was a stampede of nurses towards the doors.

Dora immediately began collecting up the dishes.

‘What are you doing?’ Lucy Lane said.

‘Tidying up – what does it look like?’ Dora scraped one of the plates and added it to the stack.

The other girls looked at each other and giggled. Except for Katie O’Hara, who whispered kindly, ‘They have maids to clear the tables here.’

Dora glanced around in confusion. Sure enough, women in overalls were gathering up the mugs and plates on to huge metal trays.

Embarrassment washed over her. ‘I thought we had to do it ourselves,’ she mumbled.

‘Someone clearly isn’t used to having staff,’ she heard Lucy Lane say to another of the girls as they walked off.

So what if I’m not? Dora wanted to shout after her. There was nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty.

After supper, they made their way back to the nurses’ home. The timid girl, whose name was Jennifer Bradley, went straight up to her room. Dora was tempted to turn in too, but she forced herself to join the others in the living room. After all, they were going to be together day and night for the next three years, so she should make an effort to make friends. Even if things hadn’t got off to a promising start.

The living room was big and high-ceilinged, with the kind of ornate plasterwork Dora had only ever seen in a church before, and a bay window shrouded in drab net curtains. Her mum would have those down and soaking in a bucket of Reckitt’s Blue in no time, she thought with a smile.

The room was filled with a haphazard arrangement of sagging settees and chairs that had seen better days. On either side of the empty fireplace were shelves filled with a random selection of tattered old books and boardgames.

‘Ludo?’ Lucy Lane said incredulously, pulling a battered old box off the shelf. ‘Do they think we’re five years old?’

Dora said nothing. After her embarrassment in the dining room, she didn’t want to admit that she often enjoyed playing boardgames with her sisters.

There were a few older students already in the living room, listening to the wireless and laughing together in one corner. Dora and the other new students gathered in the opposite corner, where once again, Lucy held court.

Dora wondered if any of the other girls were as bored listening to her as she was. But they all seemed very impressed, listening with rapt attention as Lane held forth in her clipped voice about everything, including the state of her room.

‘It’s just appalling,’ she declared. ‘It’s so cold, and the bed is like something you’d find in a prison. My mother would simply die if she knew about it.’

Katie O’Hara caught Dora’s gaze across the room and rolled her eyes just a fraction towards the ceiling. Dora guessed she was one of the unfortunate ones sharing Lucy’s prison cell.

‘And it’s so small,’ Lucy went on. ‘Three people, sharing a room that tiny? It’s inhuman.’

Dora thought about the old days in Griffin Street, when she had shared a big double bed with Josie and Bea, but said nothing.

Then Lucy turned her attention to the other girls in their set. ‘Did you see that girl who was sitting across the table from me? The one with the glasses? What a funny little thing she was. Didn’t say a word all through supper.’

‘Probably because she couldn’t get a word in edgeways.’ Dora hadn’t realised she’d spoken aloud until she caught the venomous look Lucy gave her.

‘I beg your pardon?’ she said in her clipped voice.

The other girls were looking at Dora expectantly, so she felt she had to say something. ‘I don’t know what they taught you at that posh school of yours, but where I come from it’s not considered polite to talk about people behind their backs,’ she said bravely.

Lucy’s simpering smile didn’t meet her eyes. ‘I’m sure I don’t need a lesson in manners.’ Especially not from the likes of you, her glacial look said.

The other girls giggled, but Dora and Lucy regarded each other across the room. Dora had the bad feeling she’d made a nasty enemy.

Opposite them, one of the older girls was twiddling the wireless knobs, trying to tune it in.

‘Wretched thing hasn’t worked properly since Gordon dropped it,’ she muttered.

‘Give up and put a record on instead,’ another suggested. They pulled a box out from behind the sofa and rifled through it while another wound up the gramophone. After much bickering, they finally decided on one. A moment later the crackly sounds of ‘You Are My Lucky Star’ filled the room. The girls all began twirling around the room with imaginary partners, laughing and swooning over Eddy Duchin.

But the laughter stopped abruptly when Sister Sutton burst in and turned off the gramophone, scratching the needle carelessly across the record.

‘Lights out at ten,’ she reminded them briskly, as Sparky rushed around their feet, rounding them up. ‘You should be studying, not being frivolous. You have exams to pass, if you want to be nurses.’

‘Who says we want to be nurses any more?’ One of the girls, a slim blonde, made a face at the door as it closed, while another mournfully examined the record for scratches.

‘Look at it. It’s ruined. She did that deliberately.’

One of the older girls caught up with Dora as they made their way up to their rooms.

‘I’m Amy Hollins,’ she introduced herself.

‘Dora Doyle.’

‘I suppose this must all seem very strange to you? I know I was scared at first. But you’ll get used to it.’

‘I hope so.’

‘Just stay on the right side of Sister Sutton, at least until you’ve got to know the ropes a bit better.’

‘Thanks.’ Dora smiled back uncertainly. It was a relief to meet a friendly face at last.

As they headed towards the stairs, Amy said, ‘Who are you sharing with?’

‘Helen Tremayne and a girl called Benedict. I haven’t met her yet, but—’ Her voice trailed off as she saw Amy’s expression change. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘You’re sharing a room with Tremayne?’ Amy Hollins gave a hard laugh. ‘Good luck to you, then. You’ll need it.’

Dora shrugged. ‘She seems all right.’

‘You reckon?’ Amy smirked. ‘Maybe you’ll change your mind when you’ve got to know her better.’ She leaned towards Dora confidingly. ‘A word of advice. Don’t trust her an inch.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because she’ll be watching you. And every word you tell her will get reported back to her mother. You do know Constance Tremayne is on the Board of Trustees, don’t you?’

‘The Board of what?’

‘Trustees. They’re the ones in charge of the hospital. That’s why Tremayne thinks she’s so much better than the rest of us. She’s always running to her, telling tales about the rest of us. She’ll stab you in the back as soon as look at you. Trust me, I know,’ Amy said. ‘Why do you think none of the other girls speak to her? If I were you, I’d steer clear of her.’

Dora frowned, trying to take in what she was hearing. Helen was a bit quiet and stand-offish, but she didn’t strike Dora as the untrustworthy type.

‘I’ll choose my own mates, thanks very much,’ she said.

Amy Hollins shrugged. ‘Please yourself. I’m only warning you, that’s all,’ she said huffily. ‘But you really don’t want it to get around to the others that you’re a friend of Helen Tremayne’s or they might start thinking you can’t be trusted either.’

Back in the room, Helen was sitting up in bed, writing. She looked quite different in her flower-sprigged nightgown, her hair falling in a dark, silky curtain around her face.

Dora stepped carefully over the tumble of sheets and blankets on the floor. ‘Still no sign of Benedict?’

‘She won’t get in until after lights out. She never does.’

‘Won’t Sister Sutton mind?’

‘Probably. But she’ll have to catch her first.’

She went back to her writing. Dora got changed quickly into her nightgown, shivering in the chill of the room. Back in Griffin Street there would be a fire blazing in her bedroom on a cold night like this.

‘What are you writing?’ she asked.

‘Just a letter.’

‘To your boyfriend?’

‘I don’t have a boyfriend.’

‘A friend, then?’

‘If you must know, I’m writing to my mother. And I want to finish it before lights out, so if you don’t mind?’

‘Sorry.’ Dora watched her scribbling, her hand moving quickly over the page. Amy Hollins’ words came back to her. Was she telling her mother about her new room-mate? Dora wondered.

She slipped into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. The mattress was hard and lumpy, and the starched sheets felt cold and stiff against her skin. But it wasn’t just the bed that didn’t feel right. She missed brushing her teeth at the kitchen sink with Josie, whispering and laughing as they got ready for bed, with Bea hanging around, straining her ears to hear their secrets. She missed her mother singing Little Alfie to sleep. She even missed Nanna’s snoring.

The only one she didn’t miss was Alf Doyle. She shivered under the sheets, relieved that for once she didn’t have to sleep with one eye open and a chair wedged up against the door. A few minutes later there was the sound of creaking floorboards from below them, and Sister Sutton’s voice rang out.

‘Ten o’clock. Lights out, Nurses.’

Helen put away her letter and pattered across the room to turn off the lights, then hopped back into bed.

‘’Night,’ Dora said.

‘Goodnight.’

Within a few moments, soft breathing from the other side of the room told her Helen was fast asleep. Dora lay on her back, staring into the darkness. The silence seemed to close in on her.

She had never been away from home before, not even for a single night. She felt a sudden, sharp pang of longing to see her mum again.

But slowly, gradually, the weariness of the day took over. As she fell into a fitful sleep, Alf Doyle crept into her dreams just as he had on so many nights, his bulky body looming over her, big clumsy hands groping for her in the dark . . .

She opened her eyes, saw the shadowy shape at the end of her bed, and let out a scream.

Immediately a hand was clamped over her mouth, pinning her against the pillows.

‘Shut up, for God’s sake, before you bring everyone running!’ a female voice hissed.

But there were already footsteps and voices in the corridor as the other girls gathered outside.

‘What’s going on?’ someone called out.

‘Nothing. Just the new girl having a nightmare.’ Helen’s voice was sleepy in the darkness.

‘It sounded like someone was being murdered,’ one of the students grumbled.

‘She will be murdered if she wakes me up again,’ muttered another.

No one inside the room moved as the footsteps shuffled away. Then the weight rolled off Dora’s chest and sat up. In the gloom, she could just about make out a figure at the end of her bed.

‘That was a bit close for comfort,’ the other girl said, taking off her beret and fluffing up her hair.

‘I don’t know why you can’t just get in on time like everyone else,’ Helen grumbled, turning over and pulling the covers up around her ears.

‘Where’s the fun in that?’ The newcomer looked down at Dora. ‘Sorry, did I give you a frightful shock? You mustn’t mind me, I’m always doing it.’ She peeled off a glove and held out her hand. ‘How do you do, by the way? I’m Millie Benedict. We’re going to be sharing a room, won’t that be fun?’