Dulcie and Miriam looked at each other. ‘Why, Staff?’ Dulcie asked.

‘I don’t know!’ Hanley snapped back. ‘I daresay you’re in trouble again.’

She left, and Dulcie reached for the towel to dry her hands. Miriam glanced at the clock and smirked.

‘You haven’t even been on duty half an hour and already you’ve been summoned to Matron. That’s a record, even for you.’

Dulcie changed her apron, rolled down her sleeves and fastened on some clean starched cuffs. She checked herself in the bathroom mirror, making sure all her brown curls were tucked inside her cap, gave her shoes a quick polish on the backs of her woollen-clad legs, and headed down to Matron’s office.

As she tapped on the door, Dulcie was still trying to work out what she might have done wrong. As far as she could recall, she hadn’t been late for ages. She hadn’t broken anything, her uniform had passed without comment, and once Miss Sutton had even commented in the ward book that she was ‘sensible’. It was the highest praise Dulcie had ever received.

So she was completely mystified as she stood before Matron’s desk, her hands clasped tightly behind her back.

‘Ah, Moore.’ Matron gave her a chilly smile. ‘I have some good news for you.’

Dulcie warily tried to read her expression. Matron’s idea of good news wasn’t necessarily hers.

‘As from next week, you are to be transferred to Wilson ward,’ Matron went on.

‘What?’ Dulcie was so shocked she didn’t realise she had blurted out the word until she saw Matron’s brows rose.

‘I think you heard me correctly, Moore.’ Her smile became more strained. ‘Although you might well be surprised,’ she said. ‘I certainly was, when the request came through from Dr Logan.’

‘Dr Logan?’ Dulcie echoed.

Matron nodded. ‘He has asked for you especially.’ She looked up at Dulcie. ‘It seems you have particularly impressed him. Although I must say, I am at a loss to know why,’ she added under her breath.

Dulcie was so overwhelmed, she barely registered the insult.

Matron was still speaking, talking about the shell shock patients and how nurses had to be particularly understanding of their difficulties. But Dulcie had stopped listening.

Dr Logan has asked for you especially.

It was a sign, Dulcie thought. Just as she was beginning to think Robert Logan was a lost cause, at last he had shown interest in her.

She had already impressed him with her compassion. Once she was working alongside him on Wilson ward, he would soon realise that she was the woman he had been looking for all his life.

She had been gone a long time, Sam thought.

He was annoyed with himself for noticing. But then he seemed to notice everything about Dulcie Moore. He noticed the soft brown of her eyes. He noticed the way her cap could never quite contain all her curls, and how, when she bent close, he could see a smattering of freckles covering her snub nose. The nurses weren’t supposed to wear perfume on the ward, but Dulcie had a light, flowery scent, quite different from the usual nurse smell of starch and carbolic.