Every morning, Ethel snuck into Ada's room to apply ointment to her chafed back, to listen to the baby's heartbeat, and increasingly, to help her into her corset.
"It's no good, Ada," Ethel admitted about two weeks after discovering her friend's secret, "this is not going on."
Ada looked down to the gaping hole between the hooks and eyes across her stomach and sighed.
"One more go, I'll try lying down."
Lying down enabled enough hooks and eyes to be closed in order for her to remain decent, but carrying out a day's work in so restrictive a garment was going to be impossible. As if to confirm her thoughts, as she tried to sit up, several of the fastenings popped open and a seam began to tear. Tearing if off, Ada slumped on her bed. Suddenly she had an idea.
"Get bandages from the Receiving Room store!" Ada exclaimed.
"What for?" Ethel asked.
"I need you to bind my stomach, wrap it up as tight as you can. Just until tomorrow, when I can buy a maternity girdle. And, could you find me some bigger uniforms?"
"What did your last slave die of?" Ethel quipped.
"I can't walk into the Receiving Room in my shift and drawers!"
"I'm joking!" Ethel apologised with a grin, "I'm going."
"How does that feel?" Ethel asked Ada as she pinned the tightly wound bandage around Ada's blossoming curve.
"Snug!" Ada admitted, "let me see how it looks under this uniform." Ada threw on her petticoats, dress and apron.
"You can't really tell," Ethel said, "at least not from the front, the side however, hmmmm, you're going to have to breathe in and stand up as rigid as Matron."
"Ethel!" Ada giggled "oooh!" she added clutching her right side.
"What?"
"That was a really good kick!"
A combination of excellent posture, carrying objects at waist level, and consciously breathing in whenever she was aware someone was watching her got Ada and her baby safely through the day. When Ethel came into her room as usual that evening, she handed Ada a small hinged box.
"What is this?" Ada asked.
"Open it," Ethel replied.
Ada obliged, and her eyes widened as she saw its contents. Inside were two rings, one plain gold band, another set with sapphires and diamonds. She looked between the rings and Ethel with some confusion.
"They were my mother's," Ethel began, "she died when I was young and I inherited them. I want you to borrow them for tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Ada replied, perplexed.
"To buy your maternity girdle. Oh goodness Ada," Ethel continued, slightly exasperated at her friend's lack of comprehension, "what sort of woman needs a maternity girdle when she doesn't have a ring on her finger?"
"Oh, um."
"Yes, exactly, a fallen one, a harlot, some toff's discarded mistress. You are none of those things Ada, and therefore, I want you to look respectable." She gesticulated to Ada to try them on. Ada slipped them on. They were a little tight, but she could explain that away with no problems
"Oh Ethel, how can I thank you enough?"
"My reward comes in the form of no longer having to squash you into your old corset!"
At first light the following morning, Ada, minus her corset, slipped out of the nurses home. She'd decided to go up West to buy the girdle, it would add a degree of anonymity, the last thing she wanted was to be recognised. The cool morning air whipped her hair and the morning light sparkled off Ethel's mother's rings. This morning, she was Mrs Ada Russell, her husband was a manager at the Dockyards, and she was very excited about her first pregnancy. Yes, she was a little old to be a first time mother, but her first husband had been killed in South Africa before any child could be conceived. She entered a promising looking haberdashery, her head held high, her heart as full as her abdomen with love and pride.
"How can I help you, Mrs?"
"Russell, I would like a maternity girdle for, well, obvious reasons."
"Yes, your uncorseted state was noticed," the haberdasher remarked, not kindly, "left it a little late have we?"
"It's my first, and I didn't know things happened so fast, my mother is no longer with us and I have no sisters," Ada lied through her teeth.
"Well, we'd better make you presentable before you leave here today, tape measure please."
A young attendant skipped forward with a box of assorted tapes, pins, and other odds and ends. The haberdasher flashed the tape around Ada's bust, waist, and hips faster than she could blink.
"How far are you along dear?"
"Twenty two weeks, nearly," Ada replied.
The haberdasher disappeared into the room behind the counter and appeared a moment later with a handful of girdles for Ada to try. Into each she was roughly trussed, wishing all the while that Ethel's gentle hands were on the other ends of the ribbons and strings.
"Are you keeping it on once you've paid for it?" the haberdasher asked when Ada had chosen the one which was the least fiddly to do up.
"Yes please," Ada replied, reaching into her bag for her purse.
"I'll lace it up a bit tighter then."
Ada took a sharp intake of breath as the bones of the girdle dug into her.
"Thank you for your help," Ada remarked curtly, tipping the necessary coins into the handerdasher's hand, and strolled out of the shop.
Ada arrived back at the nurse's home that lunchtime to find Miss Luckes stood outside waiting for her.
"Good afternoon Matron," she chirped, "how may I help you."
"Where have you been?" Miss Luckes asked.
"Shopping, up West," Ada replied, "it is my day off," she added.
"And what did you purchase?"
"A new corset, mine…"
"No longer fits!" Miss Luckes interjected.
Ada's heart fell to the pit of her stomach. "Oh no!" she thought, "now I'm done for."
"My office, now!"
The walk from the steps of the nurse's home to Miss Luckes' office was one that Ada had done hundreds of times, but on this occasion it seemed to take an eternity. The two women walked in silence until they were inside Miss Luckes' office. Ada was shown to a seat and Miss Luckes sat opposite her. The silence was deafening. Ada was frozen to the spot, willing her judgement to be as quick and as pain free as possible. Eventually, Miss Luckes broke the silence.
"How long have you been expecting?"
There was no point in lying. Of course Matron knew.
"My last menstrual bleed was twenty one weeks and six days ago. The act which resulted in me conceiving occurred, give or take a few hours, fifteen days later."
"You have had only one encounter with a gentleman, then?"
"A gentleman he was not!" Ada snapped.
"What do you mean?" Miss Luckes asked, her tone slightly softer, "who is the father of your child? One of the doctors? A patient?"
"A drunken docker who raped me against a tenement wall!" Ada snarled, the rage boiling inside of her, "that's who. A man who cornered me, held one hand over my mouth so I couldn't scream for help whilst he tore my undergarments off with the other, then violated me in the most heinous of manners. And when he was done with me, he dumped me on the ground like an old sack and walked away as if nothing had happened, as if I was nothing. He didn't even throw me a shilling like he would to a harlot. He left me there, bruised and bleeding, and as I found out subsequently, carrying his child."
Silence descended in the office. Ada was shaking with rage, her fists clenched into balls, biting into her lower lip so hard it drew blood.
Miss Luckes stared at Sister Russell, unable to formulate any words. Eventually, Ada broke the silence.
"How do you know? And when did you know."
"I only knew for certain approximately half an hour before you returned this afternoon, but I had my suspicions several weeks before you passed out in my office."
"What changed today, what gave me away?"
"A set of missing uniforms, which I had assigned to the new Sister of Charlotte Ward who has just arrived this morning. And in the subsequent inventory of the store cupboards I undertook personally this morning to check for further missing items, I noted several rolls of wide bandage, antiseptic, and most diagnostically, a pinard stethoscope all missing and unaccounted for. A search of your room located all four items."
"But," Ada squeaked, "how did you know?"
"I'm a nurse, I can recognise the symptoms of early pregnancy. That and you should have placed your bucket in a less conspicuous place."
"But none of the windows overlook that alleyway!" Ada protested.
"No, but the omnibus route does. I was unable to get a cab one afternoon, and given the inclement weather, rather than wait, I took the omnibus. And there you were, bent double in the rain. A right sight you looked too. I admit, I did make several subsequent inspections of the contents of the alleyway. You passing out in my office, and the emptiness of the bucket once you were assigned bed rest, simply added to the evidence. I assume you are showing under there?" Miss Luckers finished, shooting an icy glance at Ada's middle,
"Yes Matron, very much so."
"May I? Miss Luckes asked, pulling the confiscated pinard out of her pocket and pointing at the comfiest armchair in her office.
Ada nodded, speechless with shock. She settled in the chair and Miss Luckes loosened Ada's clothes and unhooked her girdle. She pressed the pinard to Ada's abdomen and listened intently.
"Heartbeat is good and strong. Put your things back on," she added abruptly.
Ada complied, and sat herself back on the chair at Miss Luckes' desk.
"You are aware of course, that from this moment onwards, whilst you have the child, you can not work at The London."
Ada's heart sank. The inevitable had occurred.
"I'll go and pack then," Ada murmured.
"I said you no longer have employment at The London, I didn't say you no longer had a home at The London."
"Does one not affect the other?" Ada asked.
"Did you go to the police after you were attacked?"
"Yes, with Anna Baker, the woman in the slums I used to visit. I was returning home from visiting her when I was attacked. She had also been attacked that night, but was rescued by a neighbour. The police didn't want to know. Neither of us could give a description or evidence."
"There is a dangerous man still on the loose then. Or men."
"Yes Matron."
"Who else knows about this?"
"Ethel, Nurse Bennett," Ada stuttered
"Hmmm, of course."
Another awkward silence descended, which Miss Luckes broke this time.
"Where were you going to go?"
"I don't know Matron." Ada finally cracked and began to sob uncontrollably. "I have nowhere to go. I expect my baby and I will end up in the Workhouse."
"You're determined to keep the child?" Miss Luckes asked, handing Ada a handkerchief.
"Yes," Ada retorted defiantly, dabbing her eyes "I have never wanted anything so much."
"You're aware that this will make your situation, and chances of re-employment after your confinement, almost impossible."
"Take my child and you'll kill me."
The room fell silent again, the two nurses flashing cold stares at each other. To Ada's great surprise, Miss Luckes stood up, pulled her gently to her feet and wrapped her in her arms. As Miss Luckes loosened her grip on Ada, she laid her hands on Ada's abdomen and placed two gentle kisses, one on Ada's forehead, the other on her abdomen.
"You may remain here until alternative arrangements can be made. Though, you are now simply Miss Russell. You may return any uniform and your cap at your own convenience."
"Thank you Matron."
Miss Luckes returned to her desk, opened the drawer and pulled out a purse. From it, she took two crowns and placed them in Ada's hand.
"Take this, buy yourself the necessary material, and use your time to make some maternity dresses."
"Thank…" Ada began.
"You may leave Miss Russell."
Ada nodded respectfully, and left Miss Luckes' office.
