by Kate Eastham
Alice hadn’t entirely been able to keep Roderick Morgan out of her head in the last few days, and she tried to hide her delight in seeing him again.
‘Please, Alice, just as a token of my gratitude, I wonder if you would agree to accompany me on an afternoon out. We could take tea somewhere.’
‘Well, yes, but not now, I couldn’t …’
‘No, of course not,’ he said, stepping close enough for her to smell his cologne. ‘I’ve been in to see Sister Law, to thank her as well, and she told me that you have a half-day off tomorrow.’
How on earth did he get Sister Law to disclose that? thought Alice. He must have hypnotized her or something.
‘Yes, I do, but—’
‘Well, you could bring the baby along as well, or you could ask Marie to look after her … You’ve probably not had an afternoon out for a very long time, at least not since the baby was born.’
‘But how did you know about Marie?’
‘I have my sources,’ he said, fixing her with his dark eyes. To Alice, in that moment, he seemed like Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. She knew that there was probably no way that she was going to say no to this. It felt like she was under some kind of spell.
‘Meet me on Lime Street Station, under the clock, at two p.m.’
‘Yes,’ said Alice automatically.
‘Until tomorrow then,’ he said. And then he bowed, replaced his hat and strode towards the carriage that was waiting on the street.
‘I look forward to seeing you,’ he called, turning to her again before he climbed into the carriage.
Alice stood, unable to move.
She felt rooted to the spot. What had just happened? Should she have accepted his invitation so readily? Could she trust him? The questions raced through her head as she stood, transfixed, watching his carriage move away.
‘What’s up with you? You look like you’ve been struck by a thunderbolt,’ said Eddy, appearing from nowhere and linking arms with Alice.
‘Oh Eddy, it’s so good to see you, and you’ve turned up at just the right time.’
‘Crikey,’ said Eddy, after Alice had told her the whole story. ‘I’ve never heard of that happening before, but you deserve something special, Alice, you really do. Don’t go asking me if it’s the right thing to do. I’ve no idea. If it was me, and I liked a person, I would just go, without thinking about it, but that might not be the best advice. I can be, what you might say, a bit haphazard. I mean, for example …’
As Eddy chattered on, the two friends walked back through the city arm in arm. There was no need for Alice to speak; Eddy was more than happy to do all the talking. So, as they walked, Alice was able to think, and in the end, she decided it was all right to accept the invitation and have an afternoon out with a handsome man. She would, of course, speak to Stella and Marie when she got back, see what they thought. But, the voice inside her head was saying, why not, Alice Sampson? It’s time you did something different.
12
‘A sick person does so enjoy hearing good news: – for instance, of a love and courtship, while in progress to a good ending.’
Florence Nightingale
‘You should go, Alice,’ said Marie.
‘Well, is it all right with you, if I leave Victoria?’
‘Of course, she and I were made for each other, you know that. And what’s more, you haven’t had a single day off, Alice, not since she was born. You’re a young woman, a beautiful young woman, and you need to go and enjoy yourself. Even if it is for just half a day.’
Alice tried to keep her excitement under wraps during the morning shift on the ward, but by the time she got to Tommy’s bed, she’d already been told off by Sister Law at least three times for smiling.
‘You’re a ray of sunshine this morning, Nurse Sampson,’ said Tommy, with a twinkle in his eye. ‘Now I don’t know much about anything that goes on, especially on dry land, but I’m thinking that there might be some kind of romance in the air. Something that’s happened since I saw you yesterday?’
‘I can’t be telling you about that kind of thing, not at work,’ said Alice, feeling her cheeks flush red.
‘Maybe so, Nurse Sampson, but I think you’ve just answered my question. Now you make sure that the gentleman in question treats you with the proper respect, and if he doesn’t, well, he’ll have me to answer to, Tommy Knox. I’ll be on to him straight away.’
‘Don’t you worry about me, Mr Knox. I’ve always been able to look after myself, I grew up with three brothers,’ she said.
‘Even so,’ said Tommy, ‘you report back to me.’
‘Yes, Captain,’ said Alice, smiling at his weather-beaten, good-natured face. ‘Now, Mr Knox, let’s get this dressing done for you, otherwise Sister Law will be down here …’
It was a good job that Alice had an abundance of smiles inside her that morning, because when she took down the dressing, she was immediately concerned about Tommy’s wound. Trying not to let him cotton on to her concern, she told him that Sister had said she also wanted to look at the wound.
Sister Law pressed her lips firmly together as she leant over the bed, considering the wound on display. Then, looking up, she said, ‘Now, Mr Knox, this might not be anything to worry about, but there does seem to be some suppuration. We need to apply a poultice, to see if we can draw it out, but there is a risk that the wound might not be healing.’
‘I understand, Captain, I mean Sister,’ said Tommy, glancing at Alice.
‘Right, Nurse, make up a kaolin poultice straight away. Let’s do what we can to rescue the situation, and get out the thermometer, will you, you know how to use it. Check Mr Knox’s temperature, and then we have the recording for Mr Jones’s ward round.’
‘Yes, Sister,’ said Alice, covering the wound with the dressing pad, before going to prepare the poultice.
She had the warm poultice applied in no time and then she was there by the bed with the thermometer. Tommy was quiet, preoccupied, as she took his temperature, but he was still interested in watching the mercury going up the glass tube.
‘What’s it this time, Nurse Sampson?’ he said.
‘It’s one hundred.’
‘Mmm, that’s higher, isn’t it?’ he said.
‘It is, but sometimes a temperature can be elevated post-operatively, it’s all part of the healing process.’
‘My word, Nurse Sampson, you are very quick with all this stuff, aren’t you? You will go far in the nursing profession, I know you will.’
Sister Law was able to confirm that Tommy did have a mild fever, and she was straight-talking. ‘This could go either way, Mr Knox. It might well come to nothing, but if it does progress, as an experienced seaman like you will know only too well, it could mean that you become very sick, very quickly.’
‘I understand, Sister,’ he said, ‘and I appreciate you being direct with me.’
Across the ward at Mr Swain’s bed, Alice assisted Sister Law with re-dressing the large wound on the veteran’s leg. The man was very sleepy, after a large dose of laudanum, and still recovering from the chloroform as well. Sister told her that Dr McKendrick had repeated the drops many times, just to get the man under, and then topped it up during the course of what sounded like a grim and lengthy procedure to debride the wound, and thoroughly clean it down with iodine solution. What was left now looked like a piece of raw meat from knee to ankle. Alice had no idea how it was going to heal, if it healed at all. But Sister told her that if they’d caught it in time, nature would work its wonders yet again, and the area would heal.
‘Remember what Miss Nightingale said, Nurse Sampson: what we do here in the hospital is only to prepare the body for the work of nature. Nature will heal if the body is in the correct condition.’
Alice was so busy, she almost lost track of time, but this meant, at least, that the time sped by, and she was able to beat the constant distraction and switch her thoughts away from the afternoon that lay ahead.
Thankfully, she wa
s off duty on time and running through the streets with her nurse’s cape flying behind her, heading straight home so that she could change into her best gown before heading to Lime Street Station. Lizzie had been eager to help and she would be waiting.
First, Alice checked on Victoria – sleeping soundly with Marie sitting by the crib doing some mending. Then Lizzie helped her remove her nurse’s cape and hat and pulled her, giggling, into the bedroom. Her uniform was soon unbuttoned and discarded on the bed and Alice was slipping on her light blue gown.
‘Look at your hair, what a mess!’ cried Lizzie, immediately pulling out hairpins and then dragging Alice by the hand back into the kitchen.
‘Sit,’ she said, with a glint in her eye. Producing a box of hairbrushes and face paint, Lizzie then expertly set to: combing, brushing and neatly fixing Alice’s hair. Then, pulling Alice’s chair away from the table, she stood in front of her, studying her face for a few moments.
‘Stop laughing,’ Lizzie ordered, desperately trying to stop herself from giggling. ‘I’m just deciding what to do with you.’
‘Not too much,’ Alice warned, ‘I’ve never worn any make-up.’
‘Oh, you’ll look like a painted puppet when I’m finished with you,’ teased Lizzie, turning to her wooden box and producing a small brush and a pot of powder.
Alice covered her face with both hands.
‘Of course you won’t,’ laughed Lizzie. ‘I can do daytime make-up as well, you know …’
So there sat Alice whilst Lizzie applied a bit of powder to her cheeks and some paint to her lips. ‘Not too much,’ she said. ‘We don’t want you to look like a whore.’ And then, she picked up a stick of kohl. ‘Your lashes are pale; this will make your eyes stand out … Nah, I think we’ll leave it,’ she said, after a few more moments of study. ‘Your pale face and lashes make your face look fresh and open. And more beautiful.’
Standing back to scrutinize Alice with her eyes narrowed, Lizzie declared that she was done and whisked a hand mirror in front of her face for her approval.
‘Yes,’ said Alice, amazed at the difference that a bit of lip colour made. ‘Thank you.’
‘No time to lose,’ shouted Lizzie, pulling her up from her seat and draping the nurse’s cape around her shoulders.
‘You look lovely,’ smiled Marie, glancing up from her mending. ‘You go and have a good time. Don’t be worrying about the baby.’
Alice ran to the crib and gave Victoria a peck on the cheek, leaving a tiny smudge of lipstick on her soft skin.
‘Come on, come on,’ cried Lizzie. ‘No time for snuggling with babies.’ She picked up Alice’s paisley pattern shawl.
For safety the girls had planned for Alice to wear the district nurse cape and hat on the way to the station and Lizzie to wear the shawl. Then they’d swap and Lizzie would come back on her own wearing the cape. Even though they were only going around the corner, they knew that they had to be careful. Plain-clothes police were still being sighted in the area. Besides, Alice knew that Lizzie was desperate to wear the cape and hat, even if it was only for five minutes.
At two p.m. sharp, Alice was looking up to the clock on Lime Street Station. As she stood, people swirled around her, some running by, one knocking into her. And then she heard the hoot of a whistle, and a cloud of steam and smoke came billowing across, engulfing her. She couldn’t even see the clock, but when the time showed, it was three minutes past two. She was certain, now, that this had been a big mistake. The man wasn’t even going to show up.
It was five minutes past two now, that was it, he was definitely not coming. Alice turned on her heel, full of disgust, and bumped straight into him as he reached out a hand to tap her on the shoulder.
‘Oh, sorry, I thought you … might have said outside the station and not under the clock,’ she said, not wanting him to know that she’d been concerned.
‘Sorry I’m a little late,’ he said. ‘I had to see someone, and it went on longer than I expected.’
‘Oh no, don’t worry about that,’ said Alice, flushing pink to the roots of her hair. ‘I’ve only just got here myself.’
‘Shall we go then?’ he said, and Alice realized that she was still just standing there, staring at him, her heart bumping in her chest.
‘Yes, of course,’ she said.
‘Do you want to take my arm?’ he said. ‘I thought we could go over the river to Birkenhead Park and take tea by the lake. Is that satisfactory?’
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘thank you.’ And as she walked down the steps of Lime Street Station, on Roderick Morgan’s arm, Alice thought that she was, most certainly, one of the finest ladies in the whole of Liverpool.
‘I have a boat waiting,’ he said, as they turned away from the station, and even before he finished the sentence, Alice was sure that she could feel the breeze off the Mersey on her face. He continued to make gentle conversation as they walked, but the words seemed to get jumbled up in her head, and somehow she couldn’t concentrate. It felt like she was walking in a dream.
It seemed like no time at all before they were going in through the harbour gate. Alice felt the excitement of it straight away. She realized that she hadn’t really seen the place on the day that she’d come here to say goodbye to Maud. She’d been too sorrowful and too distracted. This time she could properly smell the salty air and hear the cry of the gulls. And the closer they got, the more she was caught up in the energy that emanated from the place. She felt excited now; she wanted to see the water and the ships.
‘It will be busy today, there’s a ship going to New York,’ said Morgan.
‘Is it the Oceanic?’ asked Alice.
‘It is, yes,’ he replied, clearly impressed.
‘Oh, it’s just that my friend, Maud, she went on that, she sailed to New York after she got married.’
‘A wonderful city,’ said Morgan. ‘I’ve been there many times. I would love to take you there, Alice, to see your friend.’
She glanced at him sharply, thinking that even in her wildest dreams, no man should be suggesting such a thing on a casual acquaintance.
‘When we get to know each other a little better, of course, and that’s if you do want to go,’ he added, immediately sensing her disquiet.
Alice nodded, satisfied that the man had at least some foot in the real world. Nevertheless, she had to admit, the thought of going on a ship across the Atlantic Ocean sent a thrill right through her body.
‘This is where I work,’ said Morgan, waving his hand in the direction of a huge, brick-built warehouse on the harbourside. Alice would have liked to slow their pace a little, to take it all in, but he swept past with her on his arm. She could see the ships jammed in side by side, and when she looked out to the estuary, there were more there, waiting to come in. The unmistakeable buzz of it all, on top of her own excitement, was starting to become a bit too much to bear, so she was relieved when he stopped and asked her to wait for a moment, whilst he disappeared from view, down some stone steps.
As Alice stood with the world of the harbour flowing around her, she had time to get her breath back, and she knew that, even if she didn’t get any further, or get to go out on a ship today, this was enough, simply being here, today, with a beautiful man. Even if it was just for one day. She hadn’t liked to leave Victoria – she had so little time with her now, with working at the hospital – but Marie was right, a woman needs a bit more in her life than looking after babies and doing the laundry. This was wonderful.
She was still gazing out across the harbour, when Morgan’s head bobbed up from the stone steps. ‘We’re all set. This way, Alice,’ he beckoned.
‘Down here,’ he indicated, waiting to take her hand and guide her.
Alice picked up her skirt, wondering what the boat would be like and how many men would be rowing, or maybe it would have a sail …
At the bottom of the steps, Morgan told her to stand still, while he leant down to say a few words to a man who sat bobbing up and down in a very
small boat. He looked remarkably like Tommy Knox, with his weather-beaten face and grizzled chin. The man was holding an oar in each hand. Alice had been expecting something much bigger and in her mind’s eye it had a padded velvet cushion. If this was their boat, she could see that they would be squeezed in and they would be very close to the water.
After Morgan had brought his conversation to an end, he straightened up and offered her his hand. Alice hesitated, and looked him straight in the eye. ‘Are you sure that we’re all going to fit in there?’ she asked.
The man in the boat started to chuckle and he was shaking his head.
‘We’ll be fine,’ said Morgan, still holding out his hand.
‘It’s just that I’ve never been in a boat before … Does it rock around? Is it safe?’
‘Safe as houses,’ laughed the man with the oars.
‘It’s perfectly safe,’ said Morgan, smiling and stepping into the boat, which immediately lurched from side to side. ‘Come on, Alice,’ he said, ‘I’ll hold it steady for you.’
‘But I can’t go in there,’ she stammered.
‘Of course you can,’ he said with a grin.
Alice stood momentarily terrified. What if she fell out of the boat and drowned, leaving her child an orphan? She was still shaking her head, her feet planted firmly on dry land.
‘Honestly, Alice,’ Morgan said. ‘Look,’ and he wobbled the small boat from side to side with his feet. The old sailor with the oars was laughing his head off.
‘It’s more than safe, miss,’ shouted the old salt. ‘You’ve no need to worry.’
Alice was terrified, but seeing Morgan, still smiling and reaching a hand out to her, she made her decision; she would go.
‘If you’re not happy when you sit down, here on this seat next to me, we won’t set out. I promise you, we will go back up those steps. But Alice, to go out on the harbour and see the ships from here, there’s nothing like it. I promise you, you will love it. And these small boats, they go to and fro all day between the big ships. They’re as safe as houses.’