‘Very well.’ Holly reluctantly turned back to the door. She supposed that she should feel flattered that Matron had asked her, and she was probably just being silly regarding Dr Phillips. He could have had his pick of any of the nurses and even if he did like her she had no interest in him whatsoever so what did it matter if she spent the night helping him with sick children? With a sigh she set off for the workhouse.

Chapter Thirty-Two

When Holly arrived at the workhouse she removed her cloak and was shown up the stairs to the children’s nursery. It was a large room with small beds and cots down either side of it. Most of the children were fretful and crying as some of the workhouse staff moved amongst them offering cold drinks and words of comfort. Dr Phillips was leaning across one bed containing a little girl who looked to be about one and a half to two years old. At a glance Holly could see that she was burning up with fever and her feelings towards the young doctor softened a little as she saw the genuine concern on his face.

‘Ah, thank goodness, reinforcements.’ He smiled with relief as he saw her striding purposefully towards him and rose to rub his aching back. ‘Thank you for coming, nurse, I’ve been here since one this afternoon and if you wouldn’t mind holding the fort for a while I could really do with a cup of tea.’

‘Haven’t you had a break?’ she asked.

He smiled ruefully. ‘Chance would be a fine thing. Some of these poor little mites are in a really bad way and I haven’t felt able to leave them, but if I could just have half an hour …’

‘Take as long as you like,’ she told him, lifting a cloth to sponge the child’s forehead. ‘I’ll do what I can for them while you’re gone.’

‘Thank you.’ He looked at her for what seemed like a long moment then turning abruptly he left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

As promised he returned half an hour later looking slightly better for his short rest and for the remainder of the night they moved amongst the children doing whatever they could to make them as comfortable as possible. Sadly it was very little and as the night wore on and dawn kissed the sky, Holly was afraid that some of the weaker children would not survive.

‘You look tired,’ Dr Phillips remarked.

Holly smiled. ‘I could say the same about you. You’ve been here much longer than me.’

They worked on in a companionable silence and she couldn’t help but be impressed as she watched the compassion he showed to the young patients. At one point he even lifted a small baby from his cot and tenderly rocked him in his arms.

Eventually another of the nurses arrived from the hospital to take over and they made their way to the staff room for a well-earned cup of tea before heading for home.