‘Is she in pain, Nurse? Can we give her something to make her feel better?’

Nurse Patterson turned on her, frowning. ‘It’s not our place to prescribe medication, Miss Marshall. I believe the patient has been informed of her husband’s demise.’

‘The poor thing,’ Daisy longed to comfort Hilda, but a withering look from Nurse Patterson was enough to make her hold back.

‘The patient will be given a sedative if she continues to disrupt the ward.’ Nurse Patterson marched over to Hilda’s bedside, glaring down at her. ‘Now, now, Mrs Begg. You’re upsetting the rest of the ward. Please calm yourself.’

Hilda buried her head in the pillow and her shoulders shook. Nurse Patterson strolled back to join Daisy. ‘You just have to be firm with the patients, Miss Marshall. Now where were we?’

Daisy pointed to a patient in the nearby bed and Nurse Patterson leaned over the inert body, shaking her head. ‘This one’s trials are over. Fetch a porter, Miss Marshall, and then you must help me strip and remake the bed.’ Nurse Patterson drew the curtains.

With the senior nurse out of sight, Daisy stopped by Hilda’s bed. ‘Mrs Begg, it’s me, Daisy. I was at the scene of the accident yesterday.’

Hilda turned her heard to peer at Daisy with bloodshot eyes. ‘My Stanley is dead.’

‘I know, and I’m so very sorry.’ Daisy glanced anxiously over her shoulder, hoping that Nurse Patterson could not hear them. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

‘Not unless you can look after my nippers. I dunno what poor Judy must be thinking.’

‘Hasn’t anyone told her you’re here?’

Hilda shook her head and succumbed to a fresh bout of sobbing. Daisy laid a hand on her arm. ‘I’m on duty until eight o’clock, but if you’ll give me your address I’ll go and make sure that the children are all right.’

‘You will? Why would a lady like you care what happens to my kids?’

‘I’d hope that someone would do the same for me if I were in your position.’

‘There’s not many as would go out of their way for someone like me.’

‘I can’t stop and talk because Sister might be listening. I have to go now but when I come back you must tell me where to find your children.’

Nurse Patterson stuck her head out between the folds of the curtains. ‘Miss Marshall, I told you to find a porter.’

‘Yes, Nurse. I’m just going.’ Daisy hurried out of the ward, but now she was even more determined to seek out Hilda’s children and to do anything she could to help them.

Chapter Fifteen

Green Dragon Yard had obviously seen better days. Dimly lit by a couple of gaslights, the cobblestones glistened with an oily sheen after the last sharp shower. The tall terraced houses had a dilapidated appearance with many of the windows boarded up or broken, water dripped from broken guttering. There were few signs of habitation, apart from the flickering light of the odd candle in an upstairs window, and the occasional banging of a door. On the other side of the street there was a hotchpotch of two-storey cottages squashed between workshops. Billboards advertising the services of cabinet makers and cobblers lay drunkenly on the narrow pavements, and feral dogs fought over scraps of food in the gutters. It was not the sort of place for a young woman to walk unaccompanied in the daytime, let alone at night, but Daisy was determined to find Hilda’s children.