Free The Nightingale Nurses by Donna Douglas Page A

up with her noisy brothers or her mum and dad arguing. But sometimes she felt homesick for her family and for Griffin Street. Being stuck up on the third floor of Victory House with just a narrow concrete walkway outside her front door, she never saw her neighbours. She missed being surrounded by the world going about its business, people laughing, crying and arguing just a few feet from her back door.
    She even missed Gold’s Garments. That cow Esther Gold and her dad worked the girls hard, but there was still plenty of time for a laugh over the machines as they stitched and snipped.
    She rinsed out the washing in cold water, then put it through the mangle and took it outside. Nick had rigged up a washing line for her, strung across the walkway. It was a brisk, breezy late April day and washing fluttered like bunting outside the other flats.
    ‘Someone’s been busy, I see.’
    Ruby looked around and saw a man dressed in a shabby pin-stripe suit and trilby hat.
    ‘Always busy on wash day, ain’t it?’ he said. ‘Although being a modern young lady, I suppose you’ve got one of them new washing machines to do it all for you? I’ve heard all you have to do is switch them on. And no washday hands!’
    Ruby hid her hands in the folds of her skirt. ‘Who are you?’
    ‘I beg your pardon, Madam. I’ve forgotten my manners.’ He raised his hat, revealing sparse greasy strands of hair stretched over his shining bald head. ‘Bert Wallis, at your service.’
    She had never been called Madam before. ‘Am I meant to have heard of you?’
    ‘Probably not,’ he agreed. ‘I represent Parker and Sons Credit Company. I expect you’ll see me around here quite a lot.’ His eyes scanned the flats. ‘We have several customers in Victory House. Young couples like yourself, needing a bit of help to make ends meet.’
    ‘Oh yeah?’ Ruby flared up. ‘Who says we need help to make ends meet?’
    ‘Oh, don’t take it the wrong way, Madam, I’m sure I didn’t mean any offence,’ he said hastily. ‘It’s just I know from experience how difficult it can be, when you’re first starting out.’ He glanced past her into the flat. ‘Just married, are you?’
    ‘Yes, as a matter of fact.’
    ‘I thought so. Your husband’s a lucky man, if I may say so.’ He gave her an oily smile. ‘And this is your first home together, eh? That’s nice. But it’s not easy, is it, when you first move into a place? I expect you’re having to make do and mend with a lot of old bits and pieces, aren’t you?’ He shook his head. ‘That’s a real shame. A beautiful place like this deserves to be done out nicely, doesn’t it? Why should you start your married life with a load of old cast-offs when you could turn this place into a proper little palace?’
    Ruby pursed her lips. She’d been saying the same thing to Nick the night before, but as usual he’d said they couldn’t afford it.
    ‘I can see you’re the type of young lady who appreciates the finer things in life,’ Bert Wallis said. ‘You want everything nice, don’t you? And that’s where I come in.’ He shifted closer, lowering his voice. ‘You take out a loan with us to buy what you need now, and pay for it gradually, over the coming weeks and months.’
    The truth dawned. ‘A debt, you mean?’ Ruby shook her head. ‘My husband would never agree to that.’
    ‘I told you, it’s not what you’d call a debt. More like . . . easy terms. There’s no shame in it. Everyone’s doing it, even the Hollywood stars.’
    That caught her interest. ‘What Hollywood stars?’
    Bert Wallis pulled a face. ‘I can’t remember their names off hand, but I’m sure I read about it in
Picturegoer
.’
    Ruby paused for a moment, thinking. She’d seen a Pathé newsreel at the pictures of Claudette Colbert’s home, and her bedroom was a dream. Ruby would love a glamorous new bedroom suite instead of that lumpy old mattress they’d borrowed from her mum . . .
    She shook her