Holly nodded and after flicking aside the curtains the sister had pointed to, she approached the bed. A very old lady lay there, her wispy grey hair spread out across the pillow. She was so painfully thin that her body hardly showed beneath the sheets and the hands that lay on the bedspread were knotted and gnarled.

Thinking that she was asleep, Holly quietly sat down only to find that the old lady had opened her eyes and was staring at her silently. One of her hands snaked out then and she clasped Holly’s as a smile spread across her face.

‘Oh, Dotty, me darlin’, I knew you’d come an’ not desert yer old mam,’ she said in a voice little above a whisper.

Before Holly could answer the curtains parted again and Dr Parkin joined her.

‘How is she?’

‘She seems to think I’m someone called Dotty,’ Holly whispered gently.

‘Ah, apparently Dotty was her daughter. She died of scarlet fever many years ago according to the neighbours and her husband died last year. Since then she’s been living like a recluse, barely venturing out of her rented room, the poor old soul.’

Tears sprang to Holly’s eyes at the sad tale and she gently squeezed the old woman’s hand. ‘Then if it gives her comfort I shall be Dotty,’ she told him solemnly and he stared at her for a moment thinking what a truly compassionate young woman she was. She was pretty too, which was another thing that attracted him to her.

He leaned over her and checked the old woman’s pulse before shaking his head and telling her in a low voice, ‘I don’t think she’s long for this world now.’

Holly smiled up at him. ‘I’ll stay with her,’ she assured him and as he slipped away he had a picture of Holly’s face fixed firmly in his mind.

The old woman slept for the next half an hour and Holly sat on through her break, reluctant to leave her. What the doctor had told her had touched her deeply. No one deserved to die alone and she intended to be there for the poor lady. Eventually the old woman’s eyes fluttered open again and instantly found Holly’s who stood up to lean over her and smooth the thinning hair from her forehead.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Better now you’re here, me darlin’,’ the old woman croaked, her every breath laboured. ‘But I wish yer dad would come. He’s late home from work this evenin’ an’ his dinner will be ruined.’

‘Don’t worry, he’ll be here soon,’ Holly comforted her. ‘And his dinner is keeping warm. It will be fine.’ Again the old woman drifted off to sleep and Holly sat on feeling stiff and uncomfortable on the hard chair. But nothing would have induced her to move. She had promised she would stay and she would do just that even if it meant sitting there all night.

The afternoon wore on and eventually the sister appeared to tell her that her shift had ended but Holly shook her head. ‘It’s all right. She’s holding my hand and I don’t want to disturb her by moving it,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll stay.’