I've had a very demanding week at work, which has knocked into my writing time. I'm sorry you've had to wait, but hope you enjoy the result. Please review if you have the time. It's so lovely to receive your comments & you are very kind. X
CHAPTER 53
All too quickly the hours swept by and Grace awoke to return to her quarters. She slipped from his embrace, thinking not to wake him, but he had beaten her to it, and had been lying awake for a while, watching her sleep, as he often did. He pulled her back to him, planting a kiss on her forehead. As she looked up at him, her lips almost touched his, and the ghosting contact broke her resolve. She brushed her mouth against his and he opened his for her kiss. His arms tightened around her as their lips locked passionately until, eventually, they pulled apart. With a heavy heart she said,
"I have to go, Roland."
"I know, but it doesn't mean I like it."
"I don't either, but at least you can stay here in the warm."
"I won't though. Whenever you're gone, I can't settle so I get up anyway."
"I'll get changed and come back with my paperwork and the rotas. We can work together. No one will question that."
"I'll make the tea. Hurry back, won't you? We also have to plan for the meeting with Sister Quayle."
She looked up at him from the safety of his arms and kissed him. "I love you. I won't be long, I promise, but now I must to go."
"Go on then. I'll get this place warm for your return."
Grace was careful not to be spotted as she quietly returned to her tent and, once there, she checked to make sure that everything was as she had left it. Nothing had been moved, as far as she could see, and there was no sound from adjacent quarters, beyond those of the slumbering occupants, nor lights. Feeling happier, she quickly washed and changed, braving the cold early morning air which penetrated the tent, and returned silently and unseen to Roland. She found him ready for the day, toast and tea waiting for her and a warm seat at the desk. She loved this time of day, when they could be together like any other loving couple, content in each other's company and enjoying the simple pleasure of having breakfast together. He bent and quickly kissed the top of her nurse's headdress. She looked up at him lovingly and they worked quietly and contentedly together until it was time for her first round.
"I'd like to see Sister Quayle at 10.30am," he said.
"I'll ask an orderly to pass on the message, Roland, and I'll be back after my round."
True to her word, Grace organised those areas she had promised to and, finding all in order on the ward, as she had expected to, under Sister Johnson's watchful gaze, she returned to the office.
"Right, now we come to the main event today; Margaret Quayle. When she's in here, I don't want you to say anything, Grace, no matter what she throws out at us; just stand with me and I'll deal with it."
"Of course, Roland."
"I am going to demote her, Grace. I must do so or risk being seen as weak. She's no fool and, in respect of anyone else behaving likewise, would know what was expected, given the appalling nature of the conduct, but I believe she fancies herself immune due to past events. If the roles were reversed, however, I imagine she would not hesitate to do likewise to you or I."
The meeting came soon enough and at 10.30am there was a knock at the door, signalling Sister Quayle's attendance.
Grace stood behind Roland, her hands clasped in front of her, unconsciously forming a defensive physical wall between Margaret and herself. The older woman had barely looked in her direction since she had entered the office, but she was acutely aware of her. Roland looked up from the paperwork he was completing and acknowledged Sister Quayle's presence with a nod. He placed his pen on the desk and stood up, offering her a seat, which she declined. He looked at her and saw dislike, bordering on hatred, reflected in her expression.
"Sister Quayle, I wish to make it clear to you that this meeting has been called at my instigation and it gives neither Matron Carter, nor I, any pleasure at all to ask you to attend this morning. Having said that, events over recent days have left us with no alternative, as you must surely recognise."
Margaret Quayle's complexion blanched. This was going to be every bit as bad as she had feared. Roland continued,
"We have already discussed the issue of you leaving your post, whilst in charge of the ward, in the early hours of Friday morning on an ill-judged and totally unnecessary errand to the Quartermaster's stores. This action prejudiced the safety of the staff and patients in your charge and resulted in disorder, which was only restored when Matron Carter was roused from her bed by Trevelyan and attended the ward. Do you dispute any of this?"
"No, Sir. I have already apologised."
"Yes, you have, Sister Quayle, which makes your subsequent actions even more disappointing in the extreme."
"I'm sorry, Sir, I don't understand."
"Let me clarify for you then. As I was saying, your subsequent actions have been profoundly disappointing. You have attempted to undermine the command team in this hospital by painting a crude and demeaning portrait of both Matron Carter and myself. This information was freely offered to us by members both of the nursing staff and patients."
"Sir, with respect, this is not an accurate picture. I have not spoken to staff in that way and the patients will say anything because they don't like me. I give them discipline and order, where the nurses and volunteers fail."
"Sister Quayle, do not insult my intelligence any further than you already have done. I dislike dishonesty with a passion. I have interviewed the nursing staff and the patients. They have no personal issue with you, but have all corroborated that you have spoken in disparaging terms about Matron Carter and I, encouraging a culture of insubordination within the hospital. Do you continue to deny this in the face of the freely given statements of these parties?"
He laid before Margaret Quayle the written statements of Haines, Sister Johnson and VADs Trevelyan and Marshall. She looked at them, unseeing, and when she raised her eyes, she fixed them on Grace with such utter hatred that Grace felt as if a hand of ice had punched her in the stomach.
"Very well, you leave me no choice. I don't deny that I spoke to them, but my comments were merely a statement of fact. Allow me to speak frankly, Colonel. I don't blame you, Sir. Men have needs, particularly in wartime, when separated from their wives and sweethearts. The brothels would not be overflowing, nor their occupants and customers riddled with disease, if this were not the case. Of course, a man of your standing would not frequent such places, but might look closer to home. You have nevertheless made a fool of yourself, Colonel, because she is not what you think. You have fallen under the same spell as others have done before you and given her my position in this hospital. It's true isn't it, Matron?"
Having not deigned to use Grace's name in her diatribe, she spat Grace's rank at her like a term of abuse. Grace was inwardly reeling at the attack on her, but knew that she had to remain unmoved. To react was to do what Margaret wanted.
"I beg your pardon, Sister Quayle," she said evenly.
"I'll tell him, shall I?" Margaret taunted.
"Tell the Colonel exactly what, Sister?" was Grace's measured response.
"About you and your Indian paramour, my dear Matron. Yes, she slept with an Indian soldier, Colonel. She's soiled goods and just how soiled even you, in the grip of whatever fever you have, could not have considered."
"How dare you, Sister Quayle. I would strongly advise you to still your tongue." Roland's tone was icy.
For the first time, Margaret seemed aware that his reaction was not as she had expected. He was too calm and collected. Grace seemed serene and the Colonel had not reacted one iota when she had acquainted him with Grace's past, save to admonish her. Panic set in as she realised that she had totally misjudged the situation. He continued,
"The only soiled or base elements, in this room today, are those which attach to you, Sister. You are eaten up by jealousy, aren't you, and will stop at nothing to undermine Matron Carter? I tell you once more for the avoidance of any doubt, that the reason I did not select you for the role, is that Matron Carter is the superior nurse and administrator. Both Matron and I have tolerated your behaviour for too long, allowed you to talk behind our backs because we felt sorry for you in your disappointment. That latitude was withdrawn last week and yet, still, you have persisted in your malevolence and used our absence to try to incite insubordinate reactions from our team of nurses and from the patients themselves. How is that of benefit to anyone? I told you before that if there was no improvement in your attitude, you would face the consequences. That time has now arrived."
Increasingly desperate, Margaret lashed out at Grace once more.
"Did you not hear me, Colonel? Whatever the nature of your relationship with Matron Carter, she is a woman of dubious moral character, of loose virtue, ill-suited to run a hospital alongside a man of your undoubted standing. Sir, you prejudice your own reputation through association with such as her. I repeat, she has slept with at least one other man out of wedlock; an Indian man, at that. In my opinion, and that of all right thinking people, she is no better than those women in the town brothels. Don't you see that? How does that fit her to police the moral rectitude of the young women in her care?"
Roland drew in on himself. The attack on Grace was wholly unprovoked and he saw for himself a depth of cruelty and wickedness in Sister Quayle that he would scarcely have believed possible. He cared nothing about himself, but he would move mountains to protect Grace.
"Oh I see very well indeed, Sister Quayle. I see a vindictiveness and warped view of reality in you, which will stop at nothing to punish those, whom you believe, have wronged you. You see yourself as a victim, as being thwarted in your ambitions, and have pursued your personal vendetta at the expense of our staff and patients. You have demonstrated a flagrant disregard for the disciplined running of this hospital during a time of war and national peril, both through your own failure to follow orders and through calling into disrepute the characters of the command team." He continued,
"You paint a deeply unflattering picture of Matron Carter and I. Your comments portray me as a man, who would use a woman for mere physical gratification, and Matron Carter as a woman, who could consent to such treatment. Your remarks represent a personal attack on us both and a directly insubordinate activity, at a time when we are at war with the enemy. As such, you leave me no alternative but to place a formal disciplinary warning on your service record and to demote you to the rank of Staff Nurse with immediate effect. You will no longer enjoy the privileges of your former rank and will share your quarters with the other Staff Nurses. Do not look any further than yourself for the cause of this. You are the author of your own misfortune and are lucky that I have not sent you back to England in disgrace. Dismissed."
Margaret shook from head to toe. This was her worst nightmare come true. How could she have misread the situation so completely? Her brain refused to process the information and she stared blankly at the desk before her.
"Dismissed, Staff Nurse Quayle. You are to report to Sister Johnson on the ward after you have collected a new uniform from the stores. I am sure the Quartermaster will be only too happy to assist you with that."
She turned and left the room without looking back, but Grace knew she would recover before long and she would not forgive the affront to her professional dignity.
