Who opened the portholes? An action that caused the two-million-pound ship to sink before it reached land. Below we have an exclusive interview with Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse, Gertrude Smith. Was this young woman responsible for the loss of so many lives, and also this great financial cost that our country must bear in these troubled times?

The reporter had only used half of the questions, which distorted the facts and made it look as though I had opened the portholes in defiance of the orders.

Mrs Cooper did not come into work until eleven o’clock.

‘Is everything all right, Mrs Cooper?’ my father asked, glancing at the clock.

‘No, if you don’t mind me telling you, sir, it is not all right at all.’ Without waiting for any further discourse, she went on to explain. ‘They, those local braggarts and fools, decided I was partly to blame for the loss of life on the Britannic because I work for you. They’ve harassed us all weekend. Jacob Boniface is amongst the worst. I couldn’t step outside my own house today until they had cleared off.’

‘But what did they do?’ I asked.

‘They threw rotten tomatoes at the window, and when I went outside to tell them to clear off or I’d call the peelers, well, that was when the real trouble began. They had put human excrement into a paper bag and set it alight on my doorstep. Well, I didn’t know what was in it, did I? And what do you do when you find a small fire at your front door, well, you stamp on it to put it out, don’t you? It’s natural instinct, isn’t it?’ She appeared so glum, and then her chin shivered and I realised she was struggling to stay in control. ‘I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life, me with kack all over my slippers and them laughing!’ Mrs Cooper had hardly finished speaking when a crash came from the front of the house. Another of the small panes of glass shattered.

*

I returned home from shopping on Friday to find the constable waiting at my door.

‘What is it? What’s happened?’ I asked, hurrying towards him.

‘Your father, miss. A flying rock from a troublemaker struck Dr Smith while he was visiting patients. He swerved and drove his automobile into a tree. Don’t be alarmed. He lost consciousness, but regained it on the way to hospital. His vehicle has suffered a little from the altercation, but that can be mended. He’s recovering with nothing more than scrapes and bruises,’ the constable told me. ‘It could have been worse, so let’s be grateful it wasn’t.’

This was my fault! I returned to town in the cab and hurried into the hospital.