“I am well, thank you.”
“Oh yes. There is so much to do. It was the cholera epidemic which made it as you see it now. We could have managed the casualties, although supplies are grossly inadequate. It makes one feel quite helpless.”
“Something will be done now Miss Nightingale is here. She is determined that this state of affairs shall not continue.”
He smiled.
“There is prejudice against her. Oh, we are bedevilled by the authorities, Anna. People who know nothing of conditions here .. people at home in Whitehall are giving the orders. It won’t do.” He looked anxiously at me.
“Anna, are you going to be able to endure this?”
“We have come to do a job and we shall do it.”
“You and Henrietta will. I wonder about the others. It was spartan at Kaiserwald, I know, but nothing like this. That was minor discomfort.
This is real hardship. And the winter will be coming on. “
“Oh dear, this is not a very happy welcome, is it?”
“I do not like to think of you and Henrietta here, seeing the sights you will see.”
“Charles, we have come here to nurse the sick and we shall do it.”
“And Henrietta … she will never be able to endure it. She is not as strong as you are, Anna. Not so determined.”
“She will stay here, I believe,” I said.
“I must find her. You will want to see her.”
I brought her to him.
He took her hands and gazed at her as he had at me. I smiled at them fondly. I believed he was attracted by her and that seemed inevitable to me. Everyone must be attracted by Henrietta.
“Charles!” she cried.
“How wonderful to see you! This is like old times. I could expect the H.D. to come bustling in at any moment and give me one of those withering looks of hers.”
“It is very different from Kaiserwald, Henrietta,” I said.
“I can see that already. There is work to be done here.”
“I was saying to Anna that it is going to be hard for you. Women should not be here.”
“We get very cross with men who say things like that, don’t we’ Anna.
“Very,” I agreed.
He said: “God bless you both. But I am truly concerned for you.”
“What about all the men out here? We haven’t seen the wards properly yet, but…”
“It will distress you,” said Charles.
“Then it is time we came to help,” I replied briskly.
“We … heard that Dr. Adair was here,” said Henrietta.
“You know … the one who has written those books.”
“Oh yes,” said Charles, ‘he’s here. He’s mostly in the General Hospital. “
“Where is that?” asked Henrietta eagerly.
“It’s all part of the same place, really. It’s about a quarter of a mile away in fact.”
“Perhaps we shall meet the famous gentleman one day,” said Henrietta.
“I dare say you’ll see him about. He’s here quite often. Usually he’s in a rage about the lack of vital supplies … as we all are.”
The mention of his name affected me emotionally although he had never been far from my mind.
I said: “Miss Nightingale will do something, I am sure. She will be sending despatches to London. Something will be done now she is here.”
“It’s like getting blood out of a stone. These senseless people at home! I mustn’t go on about them but they do make me angry.”
“I can well understand that,” I said.
“Now we shall have to be getting on with our work. We shall see you later, I hope.”
“Often, I hope,” said Charles.
“If you are in any difficulties come to me. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Isn’t that a comfort?” cried Henrietta, giving him one other languishing smiles.
He said: “It’s wrong of me … but I am glad you are here.”
“Wrong?” queried Henrietta.
“Why wrong?”
“Because of what you will go through.”
“You forget we chose it,” I reminded him.
“It is what we want.”
He smiled at me.
“I know,” he said.
“I think you are wonderful.”
We went back to our scrubbing.
Henrietta said: “I have a feeling that soon we are coming face to face with the demonic doctor.”
She was right.
I knew that Charles would be coming out of the ward at a certain time and if he were in the vicinity he liked to have a word with us. We had not been allowed to do any nursing yet. There was some conspiracy among the medical staff to keep us out, as incompetents. But, as Miss Nightingale said, no nursing could be of any use without fundamental cleanliness so there was plenty for us to do meanwhile until we could prove ourselves worthy of professional trust.
There was a small room close to the entrance of the ward and I expected Charles to be there. As I approached I was aware of the sound of voices. I hesitated and then I heard a man speaking in deep resonant tones which made him very audible: “I want supplies … not a parcel of these Nightingale women. What good are they going to be?
None at all! Just a damned hindrance. We shall have them fainting all over the place . having the vapours . going into hysterics . demanding feather beds. I want supplies and they send me these foolish women. “
I was so enraged that I stood there stunned.
Then I heard Charles’s voice: “You are wrong. There are some very good girls among them. You will have to change your opinion.”
“I doubt it. Oh, I know some of these women like the idea of playing nurse. The reality will be quite another matter. You know what’s wrong. The Army is being decimated. Not by the Russians but by disease and neglect. Because there is nothing here … nothing with which to cure them. Nothing, nothing … and they send us a parcel of Nightingales. Shortly we shall be getting the wounded in from Balaclava and what have we got? Medicines? Dressings? No! A gaggle of useless women.”
I acted on impulse. I opened the door and went in. My eyes were blazing, my cheeks scarlet.
“Anna!” cried Charles.
“I overheard,” I said.
I was looking straight at him and I knew at once who he was. He was tall rather leaner than I had imagined; his hair was black; his eyes were such a dark brown that they looked black also; they were deeply set and luminous. His high cheeks gave a lean look to his face; his nose was long and straight; his mouth was curved into a smile which I think meant he was amused. His appearance had not disappointed me. He was almost exactly as I had imagined him.
“Ah,” he said.
“A Nightingale herself. Well, they do say that listeners never hear any good of themselves.”
“This is Dr. Adair, Anna,” said Charles.
“Adair, Miss Pleydell.”
He bowed almost ironically.
I said: “I have read some of your books.”
“How gracious of you to mention it.”
He was waiting for eulogies and got a cool silence.
Tm. sorry you have such a poor opinion of us,” I said.
“I do not think we are going to be a hindrance.”
“Miss Pleydell was at Kaiserwald,” said Charles.
“I believe she made quite an impression there. They thought she was an excellent nurse. Miss Marlington was with her. I am sure you will change your opinion . at least of these two. “
I was trembling. Here he was standing before me. In my imagination I had put horns on his head and given him cloven feet. I pictured him in Aubrey’s Temple of Sin. I was trying to calm myself, but my emotion was overwhelming me. After all, this meeting was what I had been working for; it was the thought of revenge which had sustained me during my months of mourning. And here I was. I had tracked down my quarry. Who would have believed it would be in a hospital in Scutari?
I realized at once that he was formidable.