Corporal Bennett winked at Anna. ‘Thank the Lord for that,’ he whispered. ‘For a minute there, I thought she was going to say yes. It would have been like kissing my old sergeant major!’

Anna laughed, then quickly straightened her face as Staff Nurse Hanley summoned her.

‘When you’re quite ready, Nurse?’ she snapped.

Anna scurried to join her at the foot of the next bed, where another young soldier was already whimpering in fear.

This time Nurse Hanley took charge. Anna watched as the senior nurse set about removing the man’s dressings. His screams went right through Anna and she looked away as the dressings tore further skin from the raw flesh. But Nurse Hanley did not even flinch.

‘The Dakin’s Solution, Nurse, if you please.’

Anna jumped to attention and handed her the dark brown bottle from the trolley. But she was clearly not quick enough for Staff Nurse Hanley, who regarded her through narrowed eyes.

‘Are you all right, Nurse?’ she said.

‘Yes, Staff.’

‘Only you don’t seem to be very with it.’ Nurse Hanley peered at her. ‘And you look tired. Are you tired, Nurse?’

‘No, Staff.’ Anna straightened her shoulders.

‘Don’t lie to me, Nurse, I can see it in your face. You’re pale and drawn, and you have dark circles under your eyes.’ Nurse Hanley snorted. ‘I suppose you’ve been out dancing and gallivanting with the other girls until all hours? It won’t do, you know,’ she went on, not waiting for an answer. ‘You must exercise some self-control in future and put a stop to all these late nights. You are responsible for looking after these men, and they deserve your full attention.’

‘Yes, Staff.’ There was no point in arguing with her. Nurse Hanley always knew best. She was as bad as any ward sister for that.

Besides, she wasn’t completely wrong. Anna was tired. It had been nearly three in the morning before she’d crawled back into bed that morning in the nurses’ home, and barely three hours later Miss Williams the Home Sister had been knocking on their doors to rouse them.

But there was certainly no dancing or gallivanting involved, whatever Nurse Hanley seemed to think. Anna wondered what the senior nurse would make of it if she knew where Anna had been the previous night. And almost every night before that.

She wouldn’t understand, Anna thought. Nursing was Veronica Hanley’s whole life. At thirty-five years old, she had no husband, no sweetheart, and no family either from what Anna could tell. She had a few friends among the ward sisters and senior nurses, but most of her life was dedicated to her job.

She wouldn’t be able to comprehend that Anna had another life, one outside the hospital walls that was just as important to her.

When the dressings round was finished, Anna joined Grace Duffield in the sluice. She was standing at the big stone sink, disconsolately scrubbing bedpans. She was tall and gawky, with a country girl’s flushed pink cheeks and warm hazel eyes. Wisps of light brown hair escaped from beneath her lopsided cap.