‘Please, Captain Jeffers,’ she begged.

He looked down at the money she had pressed into his hand. ‘Why are you doing this?’ he asked.

‘Because you deserve a life.’

The train came into the station, and Captain Jeffers made his move.

Five minutes later, Grace ascended the flight of steps from the platform. She was still trembling with shock.

‘Grace!’

She looked up to see Dr Logan running across the road towards her, dodging motor cars, heedless of their tooting horns.

She blinked at him in surprise. She wasn’t even aware he knew her first name.

‘Where were you? I’ve been searching everywhere.’

‘I took shelter in the station.’

‘But the all clear sounded ages ago.’

‘We didn’t hear it, did we?’

Grace looked at Captain Jeffers standing just behind her, his face pale and blank.

Dr Logan looked from one to the other of them. His expression was unreadable, but Grace knew his keen brain would be working, trying to fathom out what had gone on.

‘Let’s get back to the hospital,’ he said.

They were all silent on the way back to the Nightingale. Grace tucked her arm into Captain Jeffers’ for support, but he barely registered her beside him. She wondered if he was already regretting his decision.

Miss Parker was relieved to see them all, although she did her best not to show it.

‘And what time do you call this?’ she demanded. ‘Honestly, if I’d known this outing was going to cause so much trouble, I would have had something to say about it! I will not have my ward disrupted in this way, do you understand?’ She glared from Grace to Dr Logan and back again.

It wasn’t until Grace watched the VADs guiding Captain Jeffers back to bed that she realised how very tired she felt. Her whole body ached with it, and all she could think about was getting back to Walford House, crawling into bed and pulling the blankets over her head.

But as she left the ward, Dr Logan said, ‘A moment, if you please, Nurse Duffield?’

Grace followed him reluctantly into his office. He closed the door, then turned to face her.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘Now perhaps you’ll tell me what really happened.’

Grace composed her features into what she hoped was a picture of innocence. ‘I don’t know what you mean, Sir.’

‘Oh, come on, Grace, I’m not a fool!’ Dr Logan looked impatient. ‘I saw your faces when you came out of that station. Do you really expect me to believe that you were only taking shelter from the air raid?’

Grace opened her mouth then closed it again. She couldn’t lie to him, no matter how much she tried.

‘He said he wanted to throw himself under a train,’ she said.

Dr Logan didn’t look horrified, or even surprised. He simply nodded.

‘I was afraid of that,’ he muttered. ‘But you talked him out of it?’

Grace thought about it for a moment. Had she? It didn’t seem like it. ‘He couldn’t do it,’ she said. ‘Not when it came to it.’