‘It seems you’re a young woman of many talents,’ he commented admiringly after Holly had told him all about the work she did in Miss May’s shop, and she blushed becomingly.

‘Are you from around these parts?’

‘Actually I came here from my home in Nuneaton in Warwickshire.’

‘Ah, the home of George Eliot, the novelist,’ he remarked. He seemed so genuinely interested in everything she had to say and was so remarkably easy to talk to that the time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

Sadly, however, much as Holly would have liked to sit talking to him all day, she had to get back to the ward. ‘I really ought to go,’ she told him eventually after glancing at the large clock on the wall. ‘Sister is a stickler for timekeeping.’

‘From what I saw of her she’s a stickler for everything.’ He grinned, revealing a lovely set of white teeth. ‘Goodbye for now, Holly. I’ll see you tomorrow when I come to take Mrs Batty’s stitches out.’

‘I don’t work on Thursdays so I won’t be here,’ she told him, crestfallen, wishing that she was going to be there.

Ivy was already in the flat when she got home that evening and she seemed to be rather down in the dumps.

‘Is anything wrong?’ Holly asked as they sat down to their meal of sausage and mash some time later.

Ivy shrugged. ‘Not really, Jeremy is busy again tonight so I’m going to a suffragette meeting. He’s started working for the Daily Telegraph now, it pays slightly more than the Daily News did.’

Holly casually mentioned the new doctor she had met that day then and for the first time that evening, Ivy grinned.

‘Do I detect a hint of romance in the air?’ she teased.

‘Of course not. I was merely commenting on how pleasant he was,’ Holly retorted and quickly changed the subject.

‘Actually, I was thinkin’ of leavin’ my job,’ Ivy informed her. ‘I’ve almost finished my evening course now and Emmeline Pankhurst has offered me a job in Poplar at their headquarters. I’d be seein’ to the printin’ of the magazines and doing the clerical work. What do you think?’

‘I think it would be much safer for you than working in the match factory,’ Holly said enthusiastically. She’d noticed that Ivy’s skin had taken on a yellowish tinge lately and she was sure it was because of the job she did. She couldn’t help but worry about her. ‘Will it be more money?’

‘Not an awful lot more,’ Ivy admitted. ‘But I think I’d enjoy it.’

‘Then if you get the chance do it,’ Holly advised and Ivy nodded. ‘Er … where did you say Jeremy was this evening?’ she asked.

Ivy shrugged. ‘Off chasing some story or other for the newspaper,’ she grumbled. ‘That’s the trouble with a journalist’s job, they have to chase stories no matter what time of the day or night it is.’