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There was a shocked silence, then Jennifer gave a strangled gasp and lay back' against the lace-trimmed pillows. 'It's too, too bad of you!' she gasped, red spots of colour on her cheeks. 'You know I mustn't be upset! Where
is
Mary?' She rang for her nurse before Anna could stop her.

Now Anna had the bit between her teeth she wasn't going to pull up. Her mother wasn't
that
ill, her GP had said so himself.

'Do you know I take a short-cut through the recreation ground, Mother?' she asked quietly, just as Mary Dixon came bustling in. 'I could be raped, you know. Or mugged and left lying in a pool of blood,' Anna went on, relentlessly.

Jennifer sat bolt upright, eyes wide with astonishment, her heart pain forgotten. 'I'd no idea! Isn't there another way home?'

'Only a roundabout route. It takes nearly twice as long and that isn't terribly well-lit either,' Anna told her. She heard Nurse Dixon snort.

'It may not be for me to say, but you've no right
upsetting your mother like that!' Mary Dixon said sharply.

Anna was about to retort but aid came from an unexpected quarter. Jennifer said, quietly, 'The girl is right, Mary. She ought not to have that long walk. And in the dark, too!' Jennifer shuddered delicately, then opened her arms to Anna.

'I
do
understand, my darling,' Jennifer said. 'And you
shall
have a car. In the meantime you must have a taxi home when you're on late turn.'

'I would have done but I didn't want to worry you. Anyway, there isn't much of a taxi service around here,' Anna said ruefully. 'Only old Mr Partridge and his two sons.'

'Still, if you booked in advance, had a standing order, so to speak, you should be all right.'

Anna smiled down at her mother. To hear her plan Anna's taxi-journeys anyone would think it was a major operation! Still, it was good that she was taking an interest in Anna's welfare, it augered well for the future.

Faced with mother and daughter in agreement for once, Mary Dixon dared not say more, and Anna would not have been human if she hadn't been glad to see the starchy little SEN taken down a peg or two. Nurse Dixon had taken delight in thwarting Anna at every turn since she'd started her training. And that was the crux of the matter, Anna thought, Mary was afraid that Anna would shortly know more than her and would try to give her orders.

But that wasn't Anna's way. If she had to give orders then she would, but an experienced SEN
was worth more than a very green first-year student nurse, and Anna was glad of Mary's expertise with heart cases when it came to looking after her mother.

Thursday was another busy day on the ward but Anna didn't mind. She had Friday and Saturday as her rest days. True, the two days promised to be long and empty, but there were Christmas cards to be written and some sewing she ought to do.

She sighed as she prepared to do the umpteenth TPR round. Cards and sewing. What an empty life hers was. Wouldn't it be lovely to share her days off with a young man? If only she and Mike could be free.

She considered the matter, her expression serious, unaware that she was being observed. Tomorrow she and this special someone might go for a long walk if the threatened snow didn't come. Or even if it
did
snow—they could throw snowballs at each other, Anna thought, delighted with the idea. A dreamy smile curved her pretty mouth. Then, after a late lunch, they would prepare to go out for the evening.

First dinner at some romantic spot in Southampton. Trout, steak, then an impossibly fattening meringue topped with fresh cream and chocolate sauce! Afterwards, they would take in a show or perhaps go on to a night-club.

Anna had never been to a night-club and thought she might not like the smoky, overheated atmosphere, but it would make a change . . .

Her smile faded and she gazed sadly at her fob-watch. Time for temperatures, pulses and respirations. She wasn't paid to daydream.

'Happy, Nurse Curtis?' a voice asked, and Dr Alexandre strolled into the ward, immaculate in his white coat, the lines of good-humour on his face deepening as Anna blushed.

'Oh! Yes, I'm happy,' she assured him, wondering if she had spoken any of her daydreams aloud. 'Sister is in her office,' she ventured.

'Is she? That's nice for her, isn't it?' he said agreeably, eyes twinkling at Anna.

Despite her determination not to weaken, a reluctant smile came to Anna's face.

'Your eyes light up like candles—Christmas candles,' Dr Alexandre said softly. She wasn't aware of him moving but suddenly he was within touching distance and how she longed to touch him.

She wanted to put her hands on his face, smooth away the laughter lines, gaze deeply into those steady eyes . . . She pulled herself together, aware that her expression might be giving her away. 'Excuse me, please. I have to take the men's temperatures.'

He moved aside to let her pass, and disappointment stabbed her.

'I'll bet their temperatures are always higher when you're around!' he chuckled to her retreating back, but Anna pretended not to hear. The cheek of the man!

They had another new patient now, a diabetic. John Snelling was a year or two younger than Anna and had been admitted for stabilisation of his regime of diet and insulin. He confidently expected to be out within a week but Anna knew better. Staff Nurse had told her he would be kept in over Christmas, if they could spare the bed, because
John over-indulged himself and he could die at Christmas if there was no one to watch his diet.

Although intelligent, he seemed incapable of denying himself anything—and this applied to girls as well as food. He'd already boasted that he had a girlfriend for each day of the week.

His face lit up as Anna approached. Patients' thermometers were kept in a phial at the head of their beds, just under the notice giving their name and religion, and Anna moved forward to take John's thermometer, her mind still on the registrar. He had a lovely smile. Not as nice as Mike's, of course. Or was it?

'Ow!' John Snelling's long, thin arm wrapped itself around Anna's leg, his fingers caressing her thigh.

'Let me go!' she whispered furiously, anxious not to disturb the others.

John grinned up at her, his freckled face alight with laughter, and she hadn't the heart to be too cross with him. He was' rather sweet. Even so, he had to be kept in his place or it would be another black mark for Nurse Curtis!

Unfortunately, Mr Pearson saw the intimate gesture and began bellowing for Staff Nurse.

Scared of being taken to task yet again, Anna cried, 'Please, Mr Pearson! I'll be with you in a moment!'

'You won't!' the old man snapped, just as Sister Noakes glided into view. 'You're too busy letting that dirty so and so do what he likes to worry about we old ones!'

'What
is
the matter?' Sister Noakes's voice was icy as she spoke to Mr Pearson and her brown eyes were cold as they rested on Anna, who fidgeted uncomfortably. 'You know the patients must be kept quiet, Nurse Curtis,' Sister went on.

'Yes, Sister. I'm sorry but I was just going to take Mr Snelling's temperature when Mr Pearson started shouting,' Anna explained, hoping that neither of the men would mention John Snelling's wandering hands.

But she hoped in vain. 'It were that dirty little blighter, Sister!' Mr Pearson pointed an accusing finger at John. 'He were putting his hand up Nurse's skirt!'

Anna blushed, John Snelling almost choked with laughter, and there were smirks and muffled laughter from the other men. Anna waited, terrified, for Sister to fly into a rage.

Instead, Sister Noakes permitted herself a tight smile. 'When male patients start touching up the nurses, it's a sign they are getting better!'

Astonished, Anna watched Sister's starchy figure disappear in the direction of the office, and John smirked. 'See, she likes me. I knew she did!'

'So it would seem!' Anna said, heart still thudding at thought of what might have been. Mr Pearson sat back against his pillows looking cross, and she hurriedly did the rest of the TRPs, leaving Mr Pearson and John Snelling to last to give their temperatures time to cool down.

As she finished writing up Mr Pearson's chart, she saw Sister and Dr Alexandre walking purposefully towards her, and she trembled. Dr Alexandre was cross, his face set. Even his walk, the way he held himself, seemed angry. What, she wondered, had she done now?

But they stopped at John Snelling's bed and Sister began to give the boy a gentle yet firm telling-off. The registrar left her and came towards Anna as she hurriedly replaced Mr Pearson's chart.

'Can't you do
anything
right?' he asked, as soon as they were out of earshot of the patients. 'Do you
have
to stir people up all the time?
Must
you be the centre of attention?' he went on relentlessly, his firm jaw jutting pugnaciously. Anna's eyes flashed with anger.

'I'm very sorry, sir,' she said quietly. She would have liked to tell him a few home truths but knew no one would take her side. If she cheeked a senior registrar she would be reported to Mrs Lucas and possibly removed from the ward.

Head held high, she marched back to the ward, feeling Dr Alexandre's eyes boring into her. Once inside, she pulled the door to and collapsed, trembling, on to the only chair. Tears pricked her eyelids and she couldn't stop the shaking. Only her heart felt numb. Whatever she did, it was wrong in his eyes. She believed now that the registrar had heard Mr Pearson accuse John and had told Sister she must deal with the matter more severely then she had done. Sister thought it no more than a sign that John was getting better, his condition stabilising, but Dr Alexandre thought otherwise.

He was a prude, Anna decided. When he was a medical student
he
must have caressed a few girls. The miserable creature! Perhaps he didn't like her because she was tall and red-haired, she thought illogically. Try as she might, she could find no logical reason for his attitude towards her.

Sister called Anna into the office just before four-thirty and told her firmly that she must stop antagonising Dr Alexandre.

'But Sister, I don't!' Anna cried. 'At least not knowingly. Whatever I do he finds fault with. Perhaps he doesn't like tall women,' she went on, reflectively.

Sister raised an eyebrow. 'He doesn't keep finding fault with
me,'
she pointed out, 'and I'm only a couple of inches shorter than you.'

Anna considered their height difference more like four or five inches than a couple, but refrained from saying so. 'Maybe he doesn't like first-year students.'

Sister shrugged. 'Few senior registrars even
notice
first-years, so I shouldn't think it's that. Anyway, keep a low profile whenever he's around. He seems a good-humoured man, but there's no point in living dangerously, Nurse.'

Anna didn't think him at all good-humoured, but didn't argue with Sister Noakes. Although, she mused, as she made her way home a few minutes later, he
was
good-humoured at times. He enjoyed a laugh with the patients and with Sister Noakes. It was something about her he didn't like. Some personality trait of Anna's that caused his hackles to rise.

Feeling alone and friendless, Anna began her wintry walk through the recreation ground. Even Mike wouldn't be around to cheer her up. Tomorrow he was working and at the weekend he was going home to Liverpool to see his parents. He often went home at weekends. He was a good son to them, Anna thought warmly. And she loved him for his many kind little ways.

That she loved him because he was the only young man she'd allowed to get close to her emotionally, Anna didn't stop to think. She was sure that it was a deep, abiding love that would last until death. She could see Mike's faults and was prepared to make allowances for them. He was hopelessly untidy. He spilled cigarette ash over everything. And he was a heavy smoker. That might not be classed as a fault, she acknowledged, but it was worrying. She'd attended health education lectures at school and had learned the dangers of smoking to excess. He might cut it down, just to please her, though. He had promised to do so before, but his promises were never kept, she reflected. That was another fault. He could not be trusted to keep his word.

Anna walked on, angry with herself for dwelling on the disadvantages of loving Mike Forster. The good outweighed the bad. Anyway, was
she
so free from faults that she could sit in judgment on another human being?

She paused, taking stock of her surroundings. All of a sudden she felt uneasy, as though millions of eyes were watching her. It was almost dusk now and although she turned and looked this way and that, she saw no one, heard nothing—until Mike's voice drifted over to her from out of the blue, 'Late again, Anna,' he said, bitterly.

She gasped, then ran into his open arms. 'Mike! Where were you? Were you following me? I... I was so frightened!' she said, clinging to him in her relief.

'Anna! You big baby!' he laughed, his hands gently soothing her.

She snuggled closer. Her hospital raincoat was no great protection against the chill of the late afternoon, and she felt Mike's warmth spreading through to her. When he began to kiss her as they strolled, she accepted his kisses passively, her numb face only gradually responding.

'Hey! Come on, Anna!' he grated.

'It's cold!' she protested, lifting her face for another kiss. This time the answering pressure of her lips left him in no doubt that she was enjoying his love-making, and his arms tightened.

'Mm! You're thawing out nicely!' Mike joked, stopping near the lamppost at the foot of Brightling Hill. 'I used to think you were a real old maid! Comes of having mummy watching over you all the time, I guess,' he went on, half to himself. Anna wriggled out of his arms.