Sapphire Battersea Read Free Page B

and a disgrace to the whole hospital? I even held my tongue when she said bad things about Mama. I knew she was simply trying to goad me into flying at her, and then she could legitimately fling me in the punishment room. I knew now that Mama was well provided for and would be writing to me, and that special secret knowledge kept me silent and seemingly obedient.
    I performed all the extra housework tasks the matron set me. I did not even murmur when she had me scrubbing out the privies.
    Sheila came across me performing this unpleasant task. She would normally have laughed delightedly to see me scrubbing with one hand and holding my nose with the other, but this time she hovered anxiously. Then, to my astonishment, she took up another brush and started scrubbing too.
    ‘Whatever are you doing, Sheila?’ I asked.
    ‘What does it look like?’ said Sheila. ‘Ugh! This is disgusting!’
    ‘But why are you helping me? You, of all people?’
    ‘Because I feel badly about you and Ida. I think it was all my fault that Matron Peters came downstairs, poking her nose in. I tripped on the stairs when I was following you. I think she must have woken then.’
    ‘Oh! But even so, you didn’t tell on me.’
    ‘I wouldn’t tell on my worst enemy,’ said Sheila, scrubbing.
    ‘I thought
I
was your worst enemy,’ I said.
    ‘Well, there you are, then, I still didn’t tell,’ said Sheila proudly.
    ‘You’re definitely not
my
worst enemy any more. If you carry on helping me perform this disgusting task, I shall have to recategorize you. You will be a dear friend,’ I said.
    Sheila went a little pink. ‘I’m not sure about that, Hetty! But I do feel especially sad that you’ve lost your mother all over again. And Ida would be a
lovely
mother–’
    ‘She is, she is!’
    ‘You must be so worried about her now.’
    ‘I am. But Mama is strong-willed and very determined. I have a feeling she is safe and in good hands now,’ I said.
    I did not want to tell her about Miss Smith’s reassurances. Sheila might be almost my friend now, but I wasn’t sure I trusted her totally.
    ‘I wish I could discover
my
mother,’ said Sheila sadly. ‘Do you think you will ever see Ida again, Hetty?’
    ‘Of course! When I am fourteen I will leave this hateful hospital, and I will search the length and breadth of England until I find her again!’ I said fervently.
    Miss Smith came to the hospital a few days later, supposedly to check on the state of my health and mark the progress of my memoirs. (She had bought me my beautiful red Italian notebook and encouraged me to start my life story on its smooth creamy paper.) We usually sat in the corner of the schoolroom when Miss Smith visited, under the watchful eye of my teacher, Miss Morley – but this time Miss Smith said I still looked very pale. She fancied a turn in the gardens would do me a power of good.
    Miss Morley did not dare protest, because Miss Smith was on the Board of Governors and a well-known, powerful lady to boot.
    We went down the stairs and out through the back door, a forbidden joy in itself. We girls went outdoors to ‘play’ every day, but we had to cluster in the front courtyard, where the big girls strolled and the little ones skipped. All our school-work and training happened indoors: reading, writing, counting, sewing, serving, scrubbing – so that we would be competent servants by the age of fourteen.
    The boys were going to be soldiers so they were encouraged outdoors. They did Physical Education every day. They marched up and down, they swung their arms, they ran on the spot. They did not have to perform a single household task. Instead they were marshalled out into the gardens, where they dug and hoed and watered our potatoes and turnips and carrots, our cabbages and kale, our peas and beans, our blackberries and gooseberries.
    There were all the senior boys now, digging away in their shirtsleeves. Although they were under the supervision of Old Joe the