‘It doesn’t matter,’ Anna said. ‘It’s over now.’

Grace looked at her friend’s troubled face. She hoped she was right.

The waitress brought the eggs on toast, and Grace encouraged Anna to eat. At first she could only pick at it, but after a few minutes her appetite resurfaced and she began shovelling food into her mouth as if she had been ravenous for weeks.

Grace watched her, satisfied. A quick look at the clock told her that the wedding had ended a long time ago, but she didn’t mind at all.

‘So what will you do now?’ she asked.

Anna paused, her expression darkening. ‘I don’t know.’

She let her fork fall back to her plate. Anna could see her mood sinking and knew she had to step in.

‘You could come back to the Nightingale,’ she said.

Anna blinked at her. ‘What? I couldn’t!’

‘Why not? I bet you if you went to see Matron she would give you a job on the spot. We’re desperate for trained nurses, especially with all the men coming in from France.’ The latest German offensive, combined with an influenza epidemic at the Front, meant more convoys were arriving every day.

‘Yes, but – I couldn’t.’ Anna looked around her desperately. ‘What if I’ve forgotten everything?’

‘In three months?’ Grace laughed.

Anna looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook her head. ‘I’d feel too ashamed.’

‘Ashamed? Why?’

‘It would be like admitting I’d failed, wouldn’t it? What would people say?’

‘If they’re your friends they won’t say anything. And if they’re not your friends …’ Grace shrugged. ‘Why would you even care what they say?’

That brought a smile to Anna’s face.

‘Dear Duffield,’ she said. ‘You always know the right thing to say.’

Grace blushed. ‘I don’t know about that!’

‘You do. I’m glad you were the one I met at the gates. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d run into Moore, or Trott!’

Grace looked at her, intrigued. ‘Why did you come here?’ she asked. ‘Of all the places in London, why did you decide to come back to the Nightingale?’

Anna looked down at her plate. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘I suppose it was the last place I felt happy and safe.’

Grace smiled. ‘Well, then. That must tell you something, mustn’t it?’

‘I suppose it does,’ Anna agreed.

By the time they had finished talking, it was nearly two o’clock, and Grace was due back on duty.

Rain was falling steadily as they emerged from the café.

‘Where are you staying?’ Grace asked.

‘I found a boarding house last night.’ Anna grimaced. ‘It’s not very nice, but it’s cheap. The landlady won’t let me back in until four, though.’

‘What will you do until then?’

Anna shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’ll just walk the streets, I suppose.’

Grace looked at her, shivering inside her coat, and made up her mind.

‘Come with me,’ she said.

‘Where are we going?’ Anna asked, as she followed Grace back through the hospital gates and up the wide sweep of gravelled drive.