Filip sat down again and folded his arms across his chest; clearly he didn’t like to be given orders. Ellen looked back anxiously and then followed the nurse.

The ward was long, with beds on either side and two tables set in the centre. Most beds had patients in them and Ellen glanced from side to side, looking for Harry. She saw two men in white coats with another nurse beside them, standing by a bed half hidden by a curtain. She began to tremble in anticipation of what she would be told.

One doctor, older than the other, frowned when he saw her. ‘Who is this?’ he asked the nurse who had brought her.

‘Mrs Randell, sir.’ The nurse was meek and deferential. ‘She asked to see her husband, who has just been brought in.’

‘It is not visiting time,’ he barked.

The other doctor viewed Ellen more kindly. ‘You’re anxious to know about your husband?’

‘Yes, sir.’ Her voice quavered. ‘I came straight away after ’explosion. No one knew if Harry was – is – alive or …’ She couldn’t bring herself to state the unthinkable and neither could she glance towards the bed.

He smiled at her. ‘He is alive, Mrs Randell,’ he said compassionately. ‘But he is in shock; he has some burns, and he also inhaled smoke and river water.’ His smile faded. ‘I’m afraid he will take some time to recover.’

Ellen felt herself crumpling with relief and both the doctor and the two nurses put out their arms to catch her. The junior nurse brought a chair for her.

‘I’m sorry,’ Ellen said, and bent low. ‘I’m with child, and I haven’t eaten this morning.’

The older doctor tutted and moved away to the next bed, but the other one raised his eyebrows at the junior nurse. ‘A cup of tea with sugar is the best medicine, don’t you think, nurse?’

‘It is not dinner time, Dr Lucan,’ the senior nurse said firmly, ‘and neither do we give food or drink to visitors.’

‘There are exceptions, Sister,’ he said coldly, ‘as you are very well aware. And I am not asking you to do it. I will make it myself if you can’t spare the staff.’

He ignored her then and, indicating that Ellen should rise, he took the chair and placed it by the bedside for her to sit down. ‘Now,’ he said. ‘Your husband; what is his name?’

‘Harry Randell,’ she breathed.

He nodded. ‘Mr Randell has been given laudanum to help him sleep and recover from the trauma of the accident. I understand that he was thrown from a ladder into the river when the grain exploded?’