The Nightingale Girls - By Donna Douglas Page 0,42

happened?’

‘I’m not sure. One minute I was crossing the road, the next you came out of nowhere and nearly ran me over.’ Millie cautiously inspected herself for damage. Her stockings were torn and her knees were skinned and muddy. But her pride was what hurt most of all.

She started to struggle to her feet but the young man grasped her shoulders with his bony hands, holding her down.

‘No, don’t get up. You might have hurt yourself. I’m a doctor,’ he said. ‘I should examine you, make sure you’re not injured.’

‘I’m a nurse, and I’m telling you, I’m quite all right.’ Millie shook off his hands and scrambled to her feet. ‘No thanks to you,’ she added, brushing mud off her coat. ‘What were you thinking, driving like a maniac?’

‘You stepped out in front of me!’

‘You might have been able to stop in time if you hadn’t been speeding!’

They glared at each other. In spite of her anger, Millie wanted to laugh at the young man’s comically furious expression, and the way his hair stuck up, as if he’d just tumbled out of bed.

‘You ought to be more careful,’ he said. ‘You’re not safe to be out on the street.’

‘And you’re not safe behind a wheel.’

‘Is that so? Well, let me tell you I happen to be—’

His words were drowned out by a sickening crunch of metal, so loud Millie almost jumped into his arms. The young man swung round and gave a cry of despair.

‘No!’ he moaned. ‘Oh, no! Bessie!’

Another car door slammed. ‘What’s going on?’ a man’s irate voice yelled. ‘What idiot has parked their car in the middle of the road?’

The young man forgot about Millie and rushed off to inspect the damage to his rear bumper.

‘Serves him right for being such a dangerous driver,’ she said to Katie and Lucy as they watched the two men arguing in the middle of the street, all raised voices and pointing fingers.

‘He must be a doctor at this hospital.’ Katie glanced back at him over her shoulder. ‘I wonder who he is?’

‘Whoever he is, he owes me for a new pair of stockings,’ Millie replied.

Dora was waiting for them in the sitting room. She was perched on the edge of the settee, arms wrapped around herself, staring into the empty fireplace. She got to her feet when she saw Millie.

‘Jennifer Bradley’s going home,’ she blurted out.

Millie frowned at her. ‘But Christmas isn’t for another week?’

‘No, I mean she’s leaving. For good. Her parents are here. They’re waiting in the car while she packs. They wanted to come in but Sister Sutton wouldn’t let them. “Strictly no visitors allowed in the nurses’ home”,’ she parroted the Home Sister’s instructions in disgust.

‘Poor Bradley.’ Millie glanced up at the ceiling. ‘Maybe we could talk to her, try to change her mind?’

‘I’ve tried.’ Dora shook her head. ‘She’s got the idea she’s not good enough to be here.’ Her eyes shifted past Millie to fix coldly on Lucy, standing in the doorway.

Half an hour later Jennifer left. They watched her from the sitting-room window as she trailed miserably to the car, her head hanging low in shame. She didn’t even look back as her father loaded her trunk into the boot.

‘What a pity,’ Katie sighed. ‘She was a grand girl, once you got to know her.’

‘And she tried so hard,’ Millie put in.

‘I really don’t know why you’re all looking so long-faced,’ Lucy said. ‘She was never cut out to be a nurse here. Surely it’s far better she goes now than wastes her own time and everyone else’s.’

‘You’re all heart, aren’t you?’ Dora said in a low voice.

Millie glanced warily at her. She was standing at the window, green eyes blazing in her pale, set face. Her very stillness was menacing.

Lucy didn’t seem to notice. ‘I’m just telling the truth, that’s all,’ she said, flipping her plaits haughtily. ‘I can’t help it if some people just aren’t supposed to be here, can I?’

‘I suppose that includes me?’

Lucy shot her a superior look. ‘If the cap fits,’ she said.

‘Now, girls, what’s going on in here?’ Sister Sutton bustled in, Sparky wriggling in her arms. ‘I don’t know why you’re all standing around being idle. There’s always studying to be done and I’m sure none of you is so clever you couldn’t benefit from a few extra hours with your books.’

‘If some of us had books,’ Lucy murmured under her breath. Sister Sutton didn’t hear her, but Dora did. Millie saw the colour rise in