Now thoroughly agitated, Ada begged, ‘Please, Ann, just tell me what’s going on.’

Looking her friend square in the face Matron replied, ‘The Reverend Mother has just heard that there’s a rumour circulating.’ She paused nervously before continuing. ‘Apparently the Army has expressed an interest in requisitioning Mary Vale.’

Ada was so shocked she literally flopped into the nearest chair.

‘They can’t do that!’ she exclaimed.

‘Oh, they most certainly can, my dear,’ Matron assured her. ‘You yourself know how many Army-training bases there are around here,’ she pointed out. ‘With the war raging, military authorities can snap their fingers and requisition property in a blink.’

Still in shock Ada murmured, ‘But we have new-born babies here, and vulnerable pregnant women – they can’t just up sticks and clear off just because the Army says so. Surely there’s some protocol to the procedure?’

‘I’d like to think so,’ Matron agreed.

Flabbergasted Ada asked, ‘But where would all the girls go if the Army went ahead, and the babies too?’

At this point Matron also sat down in the chair behind her desk. Stricken and on the verge of tears, she sighed. ‘God only knows. The Reverend Mother believes that the convent would be seized along with the Home. We’d be thrown out too.’

Seeing her dearest friend and strongest ally seriously upset, Ada jumped up and hurried to her side.

‘Our order was established here years ago,’ Matron continued, as she fretfully stroked the large silver cross that she wore over her dark habit.

‘I know there’s a war on,’ Ada soothed. ‘But the Army can’t just fling a whole community on to the streets!’

Completely distracted, Matron muttered miserably, ‘I don’t know what to say to the residents … it seems wrong not to notify them of what’s going on.’

Holding up one hand, Ada said firmly, ‘I’d hold fire, Matron,’ she advised. ‘Making an announcement at this particular time when, as you yourself just said, it might be nothing more than a rumour might alarm the residents unnecessarily. Give yourself a little time to find out more. Please don’t go sounding alarm bells until you have more substantial information.’

‘You’re right, but I need to be very careful here. If requisition goes ahead, we’re morally obliged to give our residents time to make their own plans, if it should come to that,’ Matron fretted.

With a sinking heart Ada couldn’t help but see her point.

‘And what about the ones that can’t go home, the girls that have been thrown out for bringing shame on their families?’ Struggling to hold back tears, Matron blurted out, ‘Oh, this is too awful for words.’