A Nurse's Duty by Maggie Hope

to ten, it was time to go back to the Nurses Home if she didn’t want to face Matron in the morning to explain why she was late in. ‘I must go.’
    He rose to his feet instantly. ‘I’ll walk you to the gate,’ he said, and they said their goodnights to the others and went out into the lamp-lit streets with a few speculative glances following after them.
    They parted at the gates and she hurried on to the Nurses Home, thinking what a strange man he was. Intelligent he must be to train as a doctor but so quiet and awkward with other people.
    Except with patients, Karen mused as she got ready for bed. Robert could talk with sympathy and understanding to patients, look how he had been with young Peter. Careful, a small voice warned, don’t get too friendly. Supposing Robert finds out about Dave and tells the hospital? She’d have to leave and with only a month or two before the finals.
    Sighing, Karen lit a candle. It was ‘lights out’ in a couple of minutes. She picked up her unopened letters from Gran and Kezia and climbed into bed to read them in luxury for there had been no time during the day.
    Gran’s letter was short and scrappy, saying how she and Alf had managed the hay-making with Mr Bainbridge’s help and she was well as she hoped Karen was. And wasn’t it good that Kezia was having another baby? There was nowt like starting another bairn for making you forget about a miscarriage, she affirmed.
    Karen was pleased, she hadn’t known about it. She ripped open the second envelope and drew out the single sheet of ruled paper. This letter was short too, but Karen could feel the happiness bubbling in the news it contained.
    … and the midwife says I’ll carry this one all right, Karen. I’m already six months gone, I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure it would go well. We’re all fine here and the pit’s going full-time so there’s plenty of work, thank God. And Luke’s earning good, just as well with the baby coming.
    Hope this sees you well. It won’t be long before you’ve finished training, will it? Mam and Da send their love.
    Your loving sister,
    Kezia
    Karen put down the letter and blew out the candle, feeling pleased for Kezia and Luke. It was lucky he’d drawn a good seam, she thought sleepily. She knew what it meant when the miners drew lots for the best part of the coal face to work. It was always nice to have good news, she thought drowsily, and turned over on her side and fell asleep.
    I’m doing nothing wrong, Karen told herself one evening as she brushed her hair before the mirror in her poky little room. She gathered the dark mass up expertly with one hand and pinned it on top of her head before pausing and gazing at herself seriously. Her mother and father and gran would think it was wrong, she thought, and a small cloud overshadowed her pleasant anticipation at going to the meeting yet again with Robert. He liked her, she knew it, he liked her a lot, and she was flattered even though she was aware that she should do her best to put him off. But when she was honest with herself she knew she did not want to put him off altogether. It was pleasant to have a good-looking doctor interested in her, balm to her wounded pride.
    We are just friends, she said defiantly, and took down the blue straw hat with white roses on the wide brim which she had bought last pay day. It was the first hat she had bought since she came to Newcastle and she loved the way the brim framed her face, it was so becoming. ‘What is wrong with going to a Bible class with a friend?’ she demanded of the mirror. Standing up, she pulled her dress straight around her slim hips and went out.
    Robert had not even tried to kiss her yet and if he did she was confident she would be able to handle it. Besides, she found herself liking him more as the weeks went by and she got to know him better. There was no harm in their friendship, none at all, she told herself, why shouldn’t she have a man friend? She was