She slipped off her coat and folded it into a pad, then drew a chair nearer to the boy’s bed, placed the coat on it and sat down. The bandages had been removed from Jim’s face and hands and she could see that his injuries were very severe. He must have taken the full force of the explosion and she wondered how he had survived at all.

She slipped one hand beneath his, her fingertips gently touching his palm; the skin on his hands and arms was blackened and blistered and she guessed that he had put his arms up to defend himself from the blast. She felt a slight movement on her hand, and with the gentlest touch she stroked his palm.

‘Hello, Jimmy,’ she whispered. ‘My lovely boy. I’m here to see you again. How are you today?’

‘Better, Ma.’ His voice was so low she could hardly hear the words. But then he went on quite lucidly. ‘I told Benny you’d been to see me. He asked if he … if he …’ He stopped; either he had forgotten what he was going to say or he hadn’t the breath for it.

‘You should tell him I might see him one day,’ Ellen faltered; she was so choked she could hardly say what she wanted to tell him.

‘I will … when I see him.’ He sighed, the breath catching in his throat. ‘I’m going to sleep now,’ he whispered on a breath. ‘I’m very tired. Will you stay … until … like you used to?’

‘I’ll stay until you fall asleep, just like I used to when you were a little bairn,’ she murmured.

She heard a slight sound behind her and put up her free hand to stop whoever it was. ‘Hush now, Jimmy. You’re quite safe; there’s nothing to harm you. Sleep well, my lovely boy.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

He’d gone. Ellen stood silently by the bed, unable to cry; there was only relief that the boy was at rest. No more pain, no embittered future or hiding in shadows because of his shattered face and body.

Someone touched her elbow and she slowly turned. Matron, by her dress, Ellen thought: a dark navy long-sleeved high-necked gown and a white muslin cap.

They gazed at each other for a second until the matron moved forward to cover Jim with a sheet. She held out her hand to Ellen and led her back through the screen into the ward and towards another chair.

‘I’m so sorry that you were alone at his passing,’ Matron said quietly. ‘Are you a distant relative, or a friend? I understood he had no close family.’