Agnes stared into her cup, afraid to allow Mrs Bannister to look into her eyes in case she gave herself away. She couldn’t imagine what the housekeeper would say if she told her she hadn’t seen or spoken to her mother in months.
‘It’s difficult to keep up with her … she’s always so busy,’ Agnes said vaguely.
‘Hmm.’ Mrs Bannister paused for a moment. Then she said, ‘Are you courting, Miss Sheridan?’
Agnes looked at her, taken aback. ‘I don’t understand?’
‘It’s a simple enough question, surely? Do you have a young man?’
Agnes looked down at her left hand, where she had once worn Daniel’s engagement ring. The imprint had faded long ago. ‘No,’ she said.
‘I’m glad to hear it.’ Mrs Bannister helped herself to another cup of tea. ‘We have a certain position to maintain here, Miss Sheridan. I wouldn’t want Dr Rutherford’s good name being put at risk in any way.’
‘Put at risk?’
‘Oh, you know. This isn’t London or Leeds, Miss Sheridan. Everyone knows everyone else’s business here. If you were to have all sorts of gentlemen callers, it might cause people to gossip.’
‘I think you’ll find I’m quite respectable,’ Agnes replied, tight-lipped. But even as she said it, she could see her mother’s look of scorn.
You have disgraced this family, Agnes.
’We shall see, won’t we? Although I must say, I am still not happy about the lodging arrangements. I can’t think why Dr Rutherford agreed to it without consulting me first. Aside from all the extra work, it hardly seems proper to have a young unmarried girl living under the same roof as a widower.’
Agnes glanced at the display of silver-framed photographs on the side table. Several of them seemed to feature an elderly, white-haired man, whom she took to be the mysterious doctor. Could Mrs Bannister seriously believe she might have designs on him?
‘I’m sure Dr Rutherford and I can maintain a perfectly respectable working relationship,’ she said, trying to stop herself laughing out loud.
‘Nevertheless, I would prefer it if we could establish certain rules from the start,’ Mrs Bannister said.
‘Such as?’
After five minutes, Agnes began to feel sorry she had asked the question. The housekeeper’s list of rules and regulations made her head spin. At what hours she could use the bathroom, which rooms downstairs she could occupy and which she couldn’t, which visitors to the house were considered suitable and when they could call.
Agnes listened carefully, but she could barely take it all in. Once again, she longed for Steeple Street, where Miss Gale had managed to keep a house full of district nurses in order with little more than mutual trust and good sense.
‘I would like you to eat in the kitchen as Dr Rutherford prefers to dine alone,’ Mrs Bannister was saying. ‘Meals are included in your board and lodging, as is cleaning your room, but if you want Jinny to do your laundry for you, then you’ll have to come to a separate arrangement with her. Please be clear, Miss Sheridan, that we are employed by Dr Rutherford. We are not here to skivvy for you.’
‘I wouldn’t expect it,’ Agnes replied, stifling a yawn. She longed to escape and retire to her room.
Sam Maskell’s words came back to her. Stay on the right side of her, miss, that’s all I’m saying.
‘I’m glad we understand each other,’ Mrs Bannister said. ‘Another sandwich, Miss Sheridan?’
Agnes looked at the plate that was waved under her nose. Are you sure I don’t have to pay for it? she was tempted to ask, but was saved by the sound of the front doorbell.
Agnes looked up hopefully. ‘Perhaps that’s the doctor?’ she said.
‘I very much doubt he would be ringing on his own front door,’ Mrs Bannister replied, nibbling at the corner of a potted meat sandwich.
The doorbell rang again.
‘I don’t mind waiting, if you need to go and answer it?’ Agnes said, but the housekeeper shook her head.
‘It is not my place to answer the door like a common maid,’ she dismissed. ‘Do calm yourself, Miss Sheridan. You’re as jumpy as a cat.’
A moment later they heard the sound of Jinny’s footsteps scuttling across the hall. Mrs Bannister was in the middle of instructing Agnes about when it was acceptable to speak to the doctor outside surgery hours, but her attention was tuned to the sound of the voices coming from the hall.
She could hear a child, high-pitched and agitated, and Jinny, sounding as if she was trying to calm him. Agnes longed to go and find out for herself what was wrong, but she was pinned in her seat by Mrs Bannister’s steely, forbidding gaze.
Finally there was a knock on the door and Jinny appeared in the doorway.
‘Laurie Toller’s here, Mrs Bannister,’ she said, looking anxious. ‘He says his father’s having another one of his coughing fits and can’t breathe. He needs the doctor.’
‘Yes, well, the doctor isn’t here, is he?’ Mrs Bannister looked annoyed. ‘Besides, he should know Dr Rutherford never makes house calls on a Sunday.’
‘But he says his dad’s right bad—’
‘Perhaps I could go and see him?’ Agnes said, putting down her plate.
‘You’ll do no such thing!’ Mrs Bannister snapped. ‘Dr Rutherford wouldn’t like that at all, I’m sure.’ She turned back to Jinny. ‘Tell the child his father will have to come to the surgery tomorrow morning.’
‘But—’
‘You heard me, girl.’
The maid bobbed her head and left. Agnes tried to listen to what was going on outside, but she couldn’t hear for the sound of Mrs Bannister going on, complaining about people turning up unannounced outside surgery hours.
Finally, Agnes could bear it no longer. ‘Are you sure I shouldn’t go and see this man?’
Mrs Bannister’s lip curled. ‘Good heavens, no! If you do it for one, then the next thing you know we’ll have people lining up at our door at all hours, expecting to be seen. And without a penny in their pockets, half the time!’
‘As Queen’s Nurses, we are told never to withhold treatment from a patient in need, just because they can’t afford to pay us,’ Agnes said.
‘Then more fool you.’ Mrs Bannister sent her a narrow-eyed, assessing look. ‘I suppose you’re one of those modern women, full of ideas about how the world should be,’ she said. ‘If you are, I can tell you now you won’t get on very well in this village. The people here are cunning. They’ll take advantage of you as soon as look at you.’ She proffered the plate. ‘Are you sure you won’t have another sandwich? You’ve hardly eaten a thing.’
‘I’m not hungry.’ In truth, her stomach was gnawing, but Agnes would rather have starved than spend another moment in the housekeeper’s company. ‘I think I would like to go to my room, if you don’t mind?’
‘Already? But it’s barely six o’clock.’ Mrs Bannister frowned at the clock on the mantelpiece. ‘Oh, well, I suppose if that’s what you want … We’ll have to finish going through the rules in the morning,’ she said, putting down her plate. ‘Now please remember, breakfast is at eight o’clock sharp, and yours will be served in the kitchen. Morning surgery is at nine, and the doctor can’t be disturbed before then …’
Agnes left her talking, and went up to her room. She couldn’t hope to remember all the rules, so why listen to them?
At least her room seemed pleasant enough. Agnes took her time unpacking her suitcase. Most of her case was taken up with her medical equipment and supplies, with little space given over to her few personal belongings.
How her old room mate Polly would envy all the empty cupboards in her new room, Agnes thought as she hung up her clothes. But even with endless amounts of space, Polly would probably still have her things strewn all over the place as usual …
Agnes stopped, tensing herself against the painful memory. She had only been gone for a few hours, but she already missed Steeple Street dreadfully. The district nurses’ house had become her home during the six
months of her training. She longed for the steady routine of daily life there, the shared mealtimes gathered around the big dining table with the other nurses, telling stories about their rounds. No matter how badly the day had gone, there would always be sympathy and advice and someone to make her laugh off her troubles. The other nurses had become her family – Phil, Polly, old Miss Hook and her terrible poetry, and the entirely misnamed Miss Goode, the most spiteful gossip Agnes had ever known.
And then there was Bess Bradshaw, the Assistant Nursing Superintendent. She and Agnes had got off to the worst possible start, but over the months Agnes had come to appreciate her wisdom and her kindness.
It was at Steeple Street that Agnes had managed to rebuild her shattered life after her family abandoned her. She had made friends and found hope for a future she never thought she would have.
She pushed the thoughts from her mind. Bowden was her home now, and she had to start thinking of it that way. Once again, she had to put the past behind her and look to the future.
Chapter Four
The insistent clang of a bell woke Agnes up with a start.
At first she thought she must be dreaming. She had heard the pit hooter sound at ten, calling the men to the night shift, just as she had put away her book to settle down for the night. But the sound of the bell was different, an urgent clamour that had Agnes springing out of bed before she even knew what was happening.
She hurried to the window and looked out. Dr Rutherford’s house was on the other side of the village, but she could see a stream of bobbing lights heading off up the lane towards the colliery.
Agnes pulled on her dressing gown and hurried downstairs to find Mrs Bannister closing the front door. Even though it was well past midnight, the housekeeper was fully dressed, not a hair out of place, as if she hadn’t been to bed.
She turned to face Agnes, her brows rising. ‘Why, Miss Sheridan, what on earth are you doing up at this hour?’ she asked.
‘The noise woke me. What’s going on?’
‘It’s the calamity bell. It rings when there’s been an accident at the pit.’ She looked Agnes up and down, her mouth tightening in disapproval. ‘I must say, Miss Sheridan, I did mention in my rules that you shouldn’t wander around the house in your night attire. What if Dr Rutherford were to see you?’
‘I’m sure Dr Rutherford must have seen a woman in a nightgown before!’ Agnes snapped back. ‘Where is he now?’
‘Why, he’s gone down to the colliery, of course. I’ve just seen him off a minute ago. And I’m sure he has seen many women in their nightgowns, but not under this roof – Miss Sheridan? Are you listening to me?’ Her voice followed Agnes as she ran back upstairs to her room.
She dressed quickly, pulling on her blue dress and apron and jamming her feet into her stout black shoes. She hurried back downstairs a minute later, clutching her leather Gladstone bag in one hand and pushing her chestnut curls under her cap with the other.
Mrs Bannister was still in the hall, stiff with disapproval. Agnes hurried past her to fetch her coat from the hook.
‘Where did you put my bicycle?’ she asked over her shoulder.
‘In the shed at the back of the house. Why? Where do you think you’re going?’
‘To the colliery, of course. Dr Rutherford might need me.’
The housekeeper sneered. ‘I very much doubt that. What on earth could you do?’
‘I won’t know that until I get there, will I?’ Agnes moved to the front door, but Mrs Bannister stepped in front of her, barring her path.
‘You’ll only be in the way,’ she said. ‘If Dr Rutherford had wanted you there he would have taken you with him.’
Agnes sidestepped her and hurried outside into the cold, windy night. It took her a while to find the shed, stumbling around in the darkness, and even longer to unearth her bicycle from where Mrs Bannister had buried it deep under a load of gardening equipment. Agnes’ hands were scratched and filthy by the time she had dragged it out from underneath a wheelbarrow.
She didn’t need directions. All she had to do was follow the people streaming down the lane. In the distance, the stark shape of the pit winding tower was illuminated eerily against the night sky by the glow of dozens of lanterns.
A crowd of people had gathered around the pit gates when she arrived: mostly they were women with children and babies in their arms, wrapped up against the biting March wind. Some were talking quietly amongst themselves while others were silent, their attention fixed on what was happening in the pit yard. The light from the lanterns showed their pinched, anxious faces. All the while the bell clanged, filling the air with its discordant, ominous sound.
Agnes shouldered her way through the crowd and approached the stocky man who stood watch by the gates. As he turned around, she saw it was Sam Maskell.
He frowned when he saw her. ‘Now then, Nurse? What are you doing here?’
‘I came to see if I could help. What’s happened?’ she asked.
He glanced back at the men milling around in the pit yard, his face impassive. ‘Been an accident. The rescue team’s just gone down there. Fire damp, they reckon.’
‘Fire damp?’
‘Build-up of methane gas in t’pit. It only needs a single spark and the whole lot goes up.’
‘Is anyone injured?’
‘No one knows. There’s still a few men not accounted for. T’doctor’s down there now.’
‘Is there anything I can do?’
‘Not until they start bringing them up. Could be a while yet.’
‘Should I go down too?’
He shook his head. ‘The mine’s no place for you, lass.’
‘But I might be able to help.’
‘Nay,’ he said kindly. ‘If tha wants to help, go over there and see to t’women. There might be bad news for some of ’em before too long,’ he said grimly.
Agnes looked past him. Beyond the gates, she could see men going to and fro, the light from their lanterns bobbing in the darkness. She had seldom felt so helpless.
‘Let me know if you need me,’ she said, her voice lost over the clanging of the bell.
‘Aye,’ Sam said. But he had already turned away from her.
She returned to where the women were standing, more of them now, pressed close to the gates, shoulder to shoulder. Babies were crying, the sound mingling with the toll of the bell.
Suddenly she spotted a familiar face in the crowd. Dr Rutherford’s maid, Jinny, was standing by the gates with an older woman who had a baby wrapped up in her arms and three more small children clinging to her coat. But she barely seemed to notice them as her anxious gaze scanned the yard beyond the gates.
Agnes pressed her way through the crowd towards them, calling to the girl. Jinny swung round.
‘Miss? What are you doing here?’
‘I came to see if I could help.’ Agnes nodded past her to where the other woman stood. Close to, she could see that they must be related. They had the same narrow, colourless faces and pale eyes. Even bundled under a thick coat and layers of shawls, Agnes could see the woman was as thin as the girl. ‘Is that your mother?’
‘Aye, miss. My dad and two of my brothers are down there.’
Agnes looked at her closely. Jinny’s face was as impassive as her mother’s. ‘I’m sure they’ll be all right,’ she said.
‘Yes, miss.’
Agnes glanced towards the gates. ‘I tried to go down there myself, but they wouldn’t let me.’
‘Down the pit? I shouldn’t think they would, miss.’ Jinny paused for a moment, then said, ‘You can come and stand wi’ us, if you want to?’
Agnes followed the girl over to where her mother was standing. The baby in her arms was howling, but she seemed utterly oblivious to it. Jinny took the child from her, rocking it gently. ‘Ma, this is t’new nurse, come to lodge with Dr Rutherford,’ she said.
Some of the other women regarded Agnes with interest and started murmuring amongst themselves, but Jinny’s m
other didn’t register her presence at all. Her gaze was still fixed beyond the gates.
‘I don’t like it,’ she muttered. ‘They’ve been down there too long. It must be bad.’
‘You mustn’t mind Ma,’ Jinny whispered. ‘She’s always like this when there’s an accident down t’pit. My uncle died there, not three years since, and she’s never forgotten it.’
‘Sent him home to his missus on the back of a cart, wrapped in an old bit of sacking wi’ “Property of Bowden Main Colliery” printed on it,’ Jinny’s mother spoke up, not looking at Agnes.
The baby cried in Jinny’s arms. As she tried to shift its weight, the shawl slipped, and Agnes caught a glimpse of a little head in a knitted bonnet.
‘And who’s this?’ she started to say, but Jinny’s mother seemed to come to life, snatching the baby from her daughter’s arms and swaddling him back in the shawl.
‘Cover him up,’ she snapped. ‘He’ll catch cold.’
Close by Agnes, another child began to whimper.
‘I’m n-nithered, Ma,’ the little mite cried, tugging on his mother’s sleeve.
‘Aye, well, there’s nowt I can do about that,’ the woman replied briskly. She put her arm around the shivering child, pulling him closer to her. ‘It won’t be long now,’ she said, gazing towards the gate.
‘Here.’ Agnes took off her coat and slipped it around the child’s shoulders.
‘Nay—’ His mother started to protest, but Agnes shook her head.
‘Please,’ she said. ‘I might as well be of some use, as I’m here.’
The woman gave her a quick, unsmiling nod. ‘Much obliged, I’m sure,’ she muttered.
There was a sudden flurry of activity from beyond the gates, and all the women surged forward, craning their necks and pushing to see what was going on.
‘They’re bringing them up!’ someone said.
Over Jinny’s shoulder, Agnes saw figures emerging from the main building, silhouetted against the pool of light that spilled from the open doorway. A moment later a set of metal doors clanged open and two men emerged, carrying a stretcher between them. Agnes could feel the tension of the women around her as they strained to see.
District Nurse on Call Page 3