‘I bet it won’t be as nice as my Ada makes, though,’ one man, whose head was swathed in bandages, commented, as Holly gave him a bed bath. She was so used to doing it now that it no longer embarrassed her. In fact, as she’d commented to Angela, ‘When you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.’

‘Even if it isn’t, it won’t be long till you’re home now,’ Holly comforted him. ‘Sister has you down for a place on the first hospital ship available. I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t home to see the New Year in with her.’

He gave a sigh of pure joy as he thought of it and after making him comfortable again, Holly moved on to the next patient. She had almost finished washing him when Sister appeared at the head of the ward to inform them all with a smile, ‘I’m delighted to say we shall be having a choir of French carol singers in to entertain you all later this afternoon. It’s very generous of them to give up their time and I hope you’ll enjoy it.’

There was a short burst of applause from the men and Holly was feeling almost happy until she reached the next bed and saw at a glance that there was something very wrong with the young man lying there. He had been brought in the day before with horrific burns to his face, he’d also had to have his right arm amputated from the elbow down but now he was lying strangely still and Holly knew immediately that he had passed away. She checked his pulse to be sure before hurrying off to inform the sister who would have his body moved to the morgue as discreetly as possible.

‘The poor boy. It seems that the grim reaper has no respect even for religious days,’ the sister commented sadly as they stared down at him before gently pulling the sheet up over his face. ‘Go about your business, Nurse Farthing. I shall see to this.’ And so Holly did but her heart was heavy. That young man had been someone’s son or possibly husband. Life could be very cruel, she pondered.

By lunchtime Holly’s jobs were done and the sister excused her for the rest of the day. ‘You’ve worked tirelessly, over and above what was expected of you ever since you arrived,’ the woman told her with a rare smile. ‘So you certainly deserve a few hours off.’

Holly smiled and set off back to the tent hoping to tidy herself up before going for lunch in the mess. Angela was already there and had boiled the kettle that stood on top of the stove and washed her hair. Now she was sitting in front of the fire wearing just her underskirt, rubbing it dry with a towel.

‘Ooh, not as good as a nice hot bath admittedly but I don’t half feel better for a thorough strip wash, and in warm water too.’ She grinned.