‘I dare say everything will sort itself out in the end,’ she said.

Ivy sighed. ‘Hmm, I dare say it will.’

When Holly arrived at the hospital the next day she found Matron waiting for her. ‘Ah, Nurse Farthing, could I have a word, please.’

Holly followed her into her office where the matron asked her, ‘I was wondering if you would do some of the house calls that Dr Nason and Dr Phillips usually do? As you’re aware we are having to limit the number of people we admit to keep the beds for the military wounded and both Dr Nason and Dr Phillips are having to spend so long in theatre they simply don’t have time to visit people. Most of the calls would be dealing with coughs and colds, childhood illnesses like chickenpox and measles, and boils that need to be lanced. I know you are more than capable of handling things like that, although I would of course expect you to use your discretion, and if you thought that someone really needed to be admitted you must report back to me immediately. I think by doing this it would give you far greater experience in the practical side of nursing because I know when you are on the wards a lot of your time is spent giving bed baths and emptying bedpans. What do you think, nurse? Would be prepared to give it a trial? It would help enormously.’

Holly stared at her warily. ‘But what if I went out to someone and I wasn’t sure what was wrong with them? I’d hate to give a wrong diagnosis in case anything went wrong.’

‘In that event you would of course consult with myself or one of the doctors and if need be they would go out with you. In fact, until you are feeling a little more confident I would prefer that you erred on the side of caution. And of course we wouldn’t dream of sending you out on your own to a patient who we thought was seriously ill.’

‘In that case I suppose I could see how I go on,’ Holly agreed cautiously.

Matron beamed. ‘Excellent. As it happens I’ve already made you a list of the people I wish you to visit and they all appear to have fairly straightforward symptoms. Come along with me and I’ll make you up a bag of things you may need.’

Holly dutifully followed Matron to the medicine cabinet and listened carefully as she explained what each of the drugs she placed in the black bag were for.

‘Now, when you’ve completed the house calls I’d like you to report back to me with the symptoms of each of the patients you have seen. I am quite aware that you are on foot so it will take you some time to get from one patient to another, so I shall leave it to you to work out your own route, but I thought that if you are happy doing this for now we might be able to find you a bicycle to speed things up a little for you. Have you ever ridden a bicycle, nurse?’