Free Act of Will by Barbara Taylor Bradford Page B

should—’
    ‘
Why not?
’ Gwen demanded, her voice rising. ‘There’s not one good reason for you to stay in Ripon.’
    Audra blinked and returned Gwen’s hard stare, realizing immediately that her friend was absolutely right. She began to nod her head emphatically. ‘Yes, I’ll do it, Gwenny!’ And a smile broke through at last, expunged the sadness which had darkened her lovely eyes.
    Gwen threw her arms around Audra. She hugged her tightly, bursting with happiness and filled with relief. The thought of leaving her friend behind at the Fever Hospital had been more than the girl could bear.

CHAPTER 6
    ‘Matron wants to see you, Kenton,’ Sister Rogers said, drawing to a standstill, fixing a stern eye on Audra. ‘She did say
immediately
, so you’d better look sharp.’
    Audra, who had just finished taking a child’s temperature, nodded. ‘Thanks. I’ll go up at once.’
    Moving away from the bed, Audra glanced around at her young patients with her usual concern. The small isolation ward was occupied by children suffering from whooping cough and she was worried about each of them on this icy December morning.
    As she and the head nurse walked down the ward towards the door, Audra dropped her voice and said, ‘They’re all a bit restless, especially little John Martin over there by the window. He’s exhausted from the whoop, and he’s not been able to keep his breakfast down because of his coughing. Or anything else since, for that matter, and Doctor Parkinson is a bit concerned about him. Can you send a junior nurse in to keep an eye on him? And on the others, of course?’
    ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll stay here myself until you get back. I’m sure you won’t be very long with Matron.’ A slight smile touched the head nurse’s mouth and there was a sudden softening in her attitude towards Audra, and she remarked in a quiet tone, ‘Your diligence really is most commendable, Kenton. You’ve turned out to be a good nurse.’
    These were words of praise indeed, coming from this most senior member of the nursing staff who had worked herself up from ward maid, and who was renowned as a disciplinarian. Audra, surprised, returned her smile and with a little burst of pride, she drew herself up to her full height. ‘Thank you, Sister,’ she said. ‘I do try.’
    Sister Rogers inclined her head and turned away.
    It was a dismissal of sorts, and Audra crossed the front hall and ran up the wide main staircase, hoping against hope that Matron had good news for her at long last. After making the decision to leave Ripon and find a nursing job in Leeds, Audra had confided her intentions in the head of the hospital and had asked for her advice. Matron had given it, and had generously offered to do everything she could to help Audra secure a position elsewhere. Unfortunately, they had not been successful so far. It seemed there were no vacancies in any of the hospitals in Leeds or the surrounding districts.
    Audra, however, was not overly dismayed about this situation, since Gwen herself had only just managed to find a place at Leeds General Infirmary. Lonely though she was at the hospital without her dearest friend for companionship in her off-duty hours, Audra remained cheerful and optimistic as she went about her duties.
    For the past three months, Audra had held the firm conviction that something would turn up eventually, and now, as she came to a stop outside Matron’s office, she wondered if it finally had materialized. She tugged at her cuffs to straighten them, smoothed her hands over her starched white apron, then knocked on the frosted-glass panel of the door. At Matron’s bidding she went in.
    Margaret Lennox sat behind her large, paper-strewn desk.
    She was wearing the navy-blue tailored dress and smallwhite muslin cap that signified the highest nursing rank in the hierarchy of every hospital, and she seemed more formidable than ever. But Audra knew from experience that this stern-looking woman