The Nightingale Nurses by Donna Douglas Page A

to know such a lot. She’s a Romany, so she says. Makes her living telling fortunes with a travelling fair.’
    ‘So I’ve heard.’
    ‘She told that woman in the corner she could see a journey over water, and her sister’s just moved to Greenwich.’ Florrie Hibbert looked impressed. ‘How do you think she knew that?’
    ‘How indeed? Open wide for me, please, Mrs Hibbert.’
    She finished swabbing out the woman’s bald pink gums, and then carefully replaced her false teeth. ‘There, all done. That feels better, doesn’t it? I must say you’re looking a lot brighter, Mrs Hibbert.’
    ‘Oh, I am, Nurse.’ Florrie Hibbert beamed at her. ‘Mary Ann told me I’m going to be going home soon. That’s good news, isn’t it?’
    Millie frowned. Harmless predictions were one thing, but telling Mrs Hibbert she was going home when her chances of getting better were so slim seemed almost cruel.
    But then she looked at the woman’s shining, eager face, with more colour in her cheeks than she’d had in a long time, and she wondered whether there was really any harm in it. If it cheered her up and stopped her fretting, then perhaps a bit of hope wasn’t so bad after all.
    It wasn’t just the patients who were discussing Mrs Lovell’s powers.
    ‘There must be something to it, don’t you think?’ Katie O’Hara said, as they polished spoons in the kitchen ready for inspection. Every Tuesday morning, every piece of cutlery, plate, cup and saucer had to be taken out of the cupboards, washed, dried and set out on the table in the middle of the ward for Sister Everett to check. She would then inspect each piece closely, count them all and note the figure on a list which remained locked in her desk drawer, never to be referred to again.
    No one could work out why the inspection had to be done, but no one dared question it either. It was just put down as one of Sister Everett’s Little Ways, like her pet parrot and her custom of leading the patients in rousing spirituals on her harmonica every Sunday morning.
    ‘She definitely has powers,’ Katie went on. ‘I don’t like the way she looks at me, as if she can see right in here.’ She tapped her temple.
    ‘I’m surprised she can find anything going on between
your
ears!’ Amy Hollins snorted. She and the other third-year Sheila Walsh were emptying the cupboards, arranging cups and saucers on a tray. ‘Honestly, O’Hara, you should listen to yourself. You’re so silly and superstitious. I expect it’s that backward little village you come from.’
    ‘Take no notice of her,’ Millie whispered, seeing Katie’s hurt expression. ‘I suppose it would be nice to know what the future holds, wouldn’t it? I’d love to know when Seb is coming home from Berlin.’
    ‘I’d like to know if my Tom is going to propose to me,’ Katie said.
    Millie laughed. ‘Steady on! You’ve only been courting five minutes!’
    ‘Two months, actually,’ Katie replied primly. ‘And it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been together, if you know it’s true love.’
    Millie sent her a sideways smile. She wondered if Katie’s boyfriend Tom knew that she was planning their future so seriously. Millie had only met him once but he didn’t strike her as the type to settle down.
    ‘What about you, Hollins?’ Sheila asked. ‘Don’t you want to know if your mystery man is going to pop the question?’
    Hollins smiled enigmatically but said nothing. She picked up the tray and carried it out of the kitchen.
    ‘I wonder who he is?’ Katie whispered, as the door closed behind her. ‘It’s not like her to be so mysterious, is it? I’ve heard he’s a millionaire.’
    ‘I really don’t care,’ Millie shrugged. ‘She’s so spiteful, I’m surprised she’s even got a boyfriend.’
    Mary Ann Lovell was at it again that afternoon. As Millie finished the tea round, she was annoyed to see one of the other patients, Mrs Penning, perched on the edge of her bed, hand outstretched. Mary