Free Secrets of Nanreath Hall by Alix Rickloff

looked out on a sloping expanse of lawn toward the sea. Down the passage, a threesome belted out the latest hits on an antique spinet.
    Anna loitered at the base of the grand staircase, hoping Matron didn’t pass by and question her momentary inactivity. Technically, she was still on duty, but the hospital’s medical officer, CaptainMatthews, was making evening rounds, and she’d been sent to grab a quick cup of tea and a sandwich by one of the sisters who’d grown tired of hearing Anna’s stomach growling while they worked checking in an ambulance of new arrivals. “Be back here in an hour,” Sister ordered. “We’ve got to see these men settled before the night nurse comes on duty.”
    The sandwich had taken the edge off Anna’s hunger, but she could gladly have devoured three more and still not been satisfied. She’d had no desire to eat since leaving London, but long hours of hard physical work had broken the numbed loss of appetite. If only it helped her to sleep soundly, she’d be satisfied.
    She checked the watch pinned to her bodice. Half past. Sophie was late.
    â€œTrenowyth, so glad you’re able to enjoy a lounge while the rest of us are run off our feet.”
    Anna spun round to find Sister Murphy glaring at her with beady-eyed indignation. A veteran of more battle campaigns than most generals, the QA military nurse had a long, disapproving face, a knifelike sarcasm, and the stealth of a jungle cat. No wonder Tilly was terrified of her. Even Captain Matthews seemed a bit in awe of the woman.
    â€œShould I bring you a cup of tea and a cushion perhaps?” she sneered. “A nice bit of cake?”
    â€œI’ve had dinner, thank you, Sister.”
    She shoved a pile of folders into Anna’s arms. “Take these to the MO’s office. He’ll need them before tonight’s appointments.”
    â€œI don’t know where the medical officer’s—”
    â€œUpstairs, girl,” she said with a jerk of her head toward the staircase. “And get a move on. He can’t wait on Your Highness’s laziness all day, can he?”
    Word of Anna’s connection to the family must have leaked out.Now she’d have to put up with the staff’s unwanted curiosity and, apparently in some quarters, outright hostility.
    She’d hold off on unpacking. She might be back on a train by tonight.
    Perhaps she’d get that overseas posting, after all.
    â€œYes, Sister. Right away,” she answered, clasping the folders to her chest as she hurried up the steps, her mood brighter than it had been all day.
    â€œAnd wipe that ridiculous smile off your face,” Sister Murphy shouted after her.
    The upper floors had been given over to the medical staff. Bedchambers that once slept dukes and duchesses now housed Captain Matthews, Matron, and the QA sisters of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. Rooms had been set aside to be used as a private mess and an officers’ parlor. Filing cabinets, typewriters, and telephones replaced what must have once been graceful tester beds, draperied dressing tables, and polished cheval mirrors. Yet the air possessed a hint of perfumed graciousness beneath the layer of ammonia-laced disinfectant, and light shone golden and watery through tall lattice-paned windows.
    Poking her head in and out of doorways in hopes of discovering the MO’s office, Anna rounded a corner to come upon an enormous room ornately paneled in oak. Groupings of comfortable chairs and couches centered on thick, richly patterned carpets. But it was the paintings that drew Anna’s startled gaze. Women in ruffs and collars, men in wide-brimmed feathered hats and scarlet sashes. Families perched upon benches with Nanreath’s facade as backdrop. A woman seated with a spaniel, her great Georgian silk skirts floating around her ankles, her hair piled high and powdered on her head. A young man