An Orphan in the Snow. Molly Green

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СКАЧАТЬ I help you, Miss?’

      June jumped to her feet at the sound of Gilbert. She hadn’t heard his approach and it unnerved her.

      ‘There’s a child in there. I was worried that she’s alone and frightened.’

      ‘Why do you say that?’

      She shouldn’t have passed any remark to Gilbert. He’d made it clear that he disliked her on sight and she couldn’t say in all honesty she felt any better towards him. But it was too late. He was asking her questions.

      ‘Matron said Hilda leaves her while she has her meal.’

      ‘Aye. That’s right.’

      ‘But if the child should have an accident …’

      ‘I’m here if anything like that happens.’

      ‘But you can’t be everywhere,’ June said, knowing it was the wrong thing to say, but not able to help herself.

      ‘What right have you got coming here, poking your nose in things which don’t concern you? You’ve been here five minutes and want to change everything.’

      ‘No, you have it wrong, Mr Gilbert. I just want the children’s safety.’

      ‘You want to leave well alone, Miss,’ he said. ‘That’s my advice.’

      What was going on here that two people were warning her to mind her own business? Why wasn’t a child’s safety and well-being of paramount importance? June sighed. Why was nothing straightforward? All she wanted to do was help. That’s what she was here for, wasn’t it?

      Suddenly remembering Matron, she simply nodded at Gilbert and rushed down the stairs.

      ‘Where have you been?’ Matron demanded as June entered the office. ‘I said for you to come straightaway … wasting my time.’ She removed her spectacles and glared at June.

      ‘I’m sorry, Matron. I needed something from my room.’

      ‘Well, we’d better get on with it.’ Matron pursed her lips as she handed June a sheet of paper. ‘Perhaps you’ll read that and ask me any questions.’

      June quickly scanned the paper. Everything was timed from the moment she rose from her bed. She was to help the children get washed and dressed, take them downstairs for breakfast, and make sure they cleaned their teeth. From that point the teachers took over until dinnertime at one o’clock, where she would help the teachers to supervise them. While the children were in class she was to make the beds of the very young children, help Hilda clean the dormitories, sort out their dirty washing for the laundry room and help there when needed, mend their clothes, darn their socks, and help Hilda with the ironing. Then help the teachers to supervise the children’s supper at six o’clock. She would have an hour off every afternoon.

      With that list of chores for forty children she wondered how she’d fit in that hour for herself.

      ‘Any questions?’

      ‘Yes, Matron. I wasn’t told I’d have to help in the laundry or do the ironing. I thought that was Rose and Mabel’s job.’

      ‘Several of the orphans frequently wet the bed. It’s too much for the two girls without help.’

      ‘Couldn’t Hilda help out?’ June’s heart was beating nervously, hoping she wasn’t speaking out of turn.

      Matron frowned. ‘She’s kept busy all the time. As I’ve told you before, we’re short-staffed as it is. There’s a war on, you know.’

      ‘Yes, I do know.’ June nearly added, ‘and my sister’s husband was killed in it,’ but managed to stop herself. ‘I’m not afraid of hard work, but—’

      ‘But nothing.’ Matron’s eyes flashed. ‘These orphans are obviously more of a challenge than your sister’s three boys. So if you don’t feel you’re up to the job, perhaps you should be looking elsewhere.’

      ‘No, of course I’ll do my very best.’ June folded the sheet of paper and put it in her overall pocket.

      ‘Then that’ll be all, Miss Lavender.’

      ‘I wondered where you’d got to,’ Iris said under her breath as June slipped into the common room.

      ‘I was worried about Lizzie and went up to the nursery but the door was locked so I couldn’t get in. Then Gilbert sneaked up behind me, making me jump, and asked what I was doing. He was quite rude.’

      Iris’s face was serious. ‘Don’t take any notice of him. And no, I don’t approve at all of her being left alone, and neither does Kathleen. But you can’t tell Matron, and I’m afraid Hilda hasn’t got much between the ears.’

      ‘I’ve just had a bad run-in with Matron.’

      ‘Haven’t we all.’ Iris grinned. ‘What happened?’

      June told her briefly what had taken place, and showed her the long list of duties.

      ‘She’s having a laugh,’ Iris said. ‘You’re a trained nursery nurse. You shouldn’t have anything to do with the laundry. You’re Matron’s assistant.’

      ‘But I have no idea what Matron does.’

      ‘As little as she can get away with,’ Iris said. ‘She disappears several times a day. We’ve all seen her sneak off to her cottage. Probably has a quick one. You can always smell it.’ She wrinkled her nose.

      ‘Do you mean a cigarette?’

      ‘That, too, I expect,’ Iris said. ‘But mainly a drink, and I don’t mean a bottle of lemonade either.’

      June’s heart plummeted. Knowing how her mother had taken to drink after Clara died, June knew Matron was not going to be easy. But she wasn’t here to make such observations. Her duties lay with the children.

      ‘You said you’d tell me what happened to Lizzie.’

      Iris looked from side to side out of the corner of her eyes. ‘Let’s go to my room and I’ll tell you what I know.’

      Although Iris’s room was bigger than June’s it was so untidy it only looked half the size. Her nurse’s uniform was half dangling over a chair, the cap fallen to the floor, and to June’s embarrassment there was a brassière and a pair of knickers underneath. And a distinct smell of tobacco.

      Iris laughed. ‘You’re obviously the neat type, Junie,’ she said. ‘I can’t keep anything in order in my own room but I’m completely the opposite when I’m working. Fussy as a housewife with her front doorstep, that’s me. And I never want to be one of those – housewives, I mean.’ She laughed again. ‘Here. Sit on the end of the bed. It’s more comfortable than the chair.’ She hauled a pile of papers and a pair of slippers off the only chair and dropped into it.

      ‘Don’t you want to get married one day?’ June ventured a little tentatively. She wasn’t used to asking personal questions of people she hardly knew, but Iris was different.

      ‘What? СКАЧАТЬ