Daughters of Liverpool

by Kate Eastham

  Mr Swain nodded, and then he started to groan with pain.

  ‘Just do it, just do it,’ he pleaded.

  Miss Houston grasped his hand. ‘You will feel the sharp scratch of the needle and then it will sting, but in ten minutes or so the pain should start to wane.’

  As she was speaking, Dr McKendrick pulled aside the bed sheet, and Alice saw him grasp some skin on the man’s thigh with one hand, and with the other he inserted the needle at an angle, and then slowly depressed the plunger. Once the needle was withdrawn, he massaged the area and then gave the needle a wipe with a clean handkerchief before unscrewing it from the syringe and replacing both parts of the apparatus back in the velvet-lined box.

  Miss Houston gestured for Alice to come and hold Mr Swain’s hand. She was straight there, her own teeth clenched, as they all stood praying for the man’s pain to subside.

  ‘Nurse Sampson, we are just going across the ward to check on Mr Knox,’ said Miss Houston. ‘We will be back directly. Shout out if you have any concerns.’

  Alice nodded, glad to be involved in the whole process, but sceptical regarding the relief that could actually be brought by injecting such a small amount of liquid into a man’s thigh.

  The minutes went by. Mr Swain was gripping Alice’s hand so tightly that it was quite painful, but she was determined to endure it. He was still clenching his teeth and his body was shaking again with the effort. Alice didn’t think he could take much more of it. She was increasingly concerned for her patient, and hoped that Miss Houston and Dr McKendrick wouldn’t be long with Tommy. She glanced across but they were still speaking.

  Looking back down to her patient, Alice could see the furrows of pain etched across his face. She was desperate for him to have some relief. If this injection didn’t work, she was beginning to think that he might need to have some chloroform or something.

  Then, as she shifted her weight slightly, she felt some relaxation of the grip that he had on her hand, and his body started to calm. This might be starting to work, she thought, beginning to feel a little excited.

  But the man’s face was still scrunched up with pain. The only thing that she could do was continue to hold his hand. She’d seen what a difference this simple act could make to a patient. It was something that she’d learnt early on in her training. The contact of a human hand was like an understanding between two people. She’d learnt through experience to give the right amount of pressure. Not squeezing too hard or too soft – gentle but firm was always best. It didn’t always work. When the pain was excruciating, as in Mr Swain’s case, it was impossible to reduce with the touch of a hand. But she still used it anyway, just in case.

  She continued to hold his hand until his grip relaxed even more.

  ‘How do you feel now, Mr Swain?’ she asked gently.

  ‘Much better,’ he said, opening his eyes but sounding a bit sleepy. ‘I feel like I’m floating.’

  Alice started to smile. She glanced across to Miss Houston and this time, met her gaze. Miss Houston smiled in return. Alice felt like she wanted to tell the whole hospital what had just happened. She couldn’t believe it.

  ‘Well done, Mr Swain, well done!’ said Dr McKendrick when he came back across the ward. ‘I am so pleased that the injection has worked for you.’

  ‘S’wonderful,’ slurred Mr Swain. ‘Thank you, Doctor …’ and then he was drifting off to sleep.

  Dr McKendrick gave a small smile, nodded and then told them he was urgently required on Female Surgical. Picking up the small wooden box, he hurried off to his next case.

  Alice had let go of Mr Swain’s hand and she pulled his pillow into a more comfortable position, making sure that the sheet beneath him was straight.

  ‘That is the most marvellous thing that I’ve ever seen,’ she said to Miss Houston, her eyes shining. ‘I didn’t think there was much chance of it working, such a tiny amount of liquid like that. And he was in such horrible pain. But what a result!’

  ‘It does work very well, doesn’t it?’ said Miss Houston. ‘I’ve seen Dr McKendrick use it a few times now and apart from one case where there was very little benefit, the results have been very pleasing. He is an exceptional doctor …’

  ‘He is indeed,’ agreed Alice.

  ‘All right, Nurse Sampson,’ said Ada. ‘Now that our patient is out of pain, do you want to help me with his dressing? We’re going to try something I learnt out in the Crimea …’

  ‘Yes, definitely,’ said Alice, full of enthusiasm.

  ‘Mr Swain,’ said Ada. ‘We are going to remove the dressing from your leg and I will replace it with some gauze soaked in iodine. This will sting quite a bit at first, but you shouldn’t feel it too much after the injection. The iodine will clean the leg and help prevent further suppuration. It will promote healing. We can give you some laudanum as well, if required. Do you understand?’

  Their patient nodded sleepily.

  ‘Right, Nurse Sampson, if you could run and get me an enamel bowl, a full bottle of iodine, some lengths of gauze and a bandage, we’ll make a start. Also, bring a small rubber sheet from the sluice. This will be a messy business, and we need to put it underneath his leg to protect the bed.’

  When Alice returned, Ada had donned an apron and she had already removed the soiled dressing.

  ‘What we need to do now, Nurse Sampson, is soak the gauze in the iodine, and then place the soaks along the leg. We could wash it down first but I don’t want to spend too long, just in case his pain returns, and the iodine should do the job nicely. When all the soaks are in place we’ll bandage, not too tight but firmly enough to hold the dressings in place. We’ll need to put double bandages on, to try and stop too much seepage of iodine.’

  Alice nearly said, ‘Aye aye, Captain,’ but fortunately it came out as, ‘All right.’

  She poured a full bottle of iodine into the bowl, immediately smelling the pungent aroma. And as she added the gauze and submerged it in the liquid, her hands were instantly stained yellow.

  ‘I’m sorry, Nurse Sampson,’ said Ada with a smile. ‘Our hands will be yellow for a while after this.’

  Working together, the two nurses soon had the leg dressed and bandaged. Alice was pleased with the job, and relieved that Mr Swain had slept through the whole procedure. They’d never have got anywhere near him with any of it, if it hadn’t been for the injection.

  ‘Right, Nurse Sampson, this dressing will need to be changed every day, for at least three days. Can you do it for me?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ said Alice.

  ‘Speak to Sister Law about his pain relief. If drops of laudanum will manage it, then use that. But by all means, call for Dr McKendrick and the hypodermic injection again if Mr Swain needs it.’

  ‘I definitely will,’ said Alice.

  She was back and forth between Tommy and Mr Swain for most of the day. By the time of afternoon visiting, Sister Law, concerned that neither of the men had visitors, told her to get herself a seat and sit by one of them, or take turns between the two.

  And so Alice found herself there, listening to Mr Swain murmur snatches of disjointed conversation as he drifted in and out of sleep. Sometimes he grimaced but mostly he was still drifting somewhere with the morphine he’d had. Once he was shouting ‘Help, help!’ and Alice knew that she was glimpsing what could only be a part of his experience during the war, when he’d received his injury.

  As she sat, she could keep an eye on Tommy across the ward.

  Looking at Mr Swain resting peacefully in the bed, she found it difficult to believe that he was the same patient that she’d nursed last year when she was a first ward probationer. He’d been coming off the drink and he’d had terrible shakes and been very agitated. The nurses had to attend him constantly, sometimes wrestling him back down on to the bed. She recalled that he’d given one of the nurses a black eye. She seemed to remember it had been Millicent Langtry. Poor Millicent, thought Alice, she just can’t react fast enough.

  �
��Stop it, Alice,’ she muttered to herself, starting to feel a tickle of amusement building.

  Mr Swain was still very settled, so she got up from the stool and carried it across to sit by Tommy’s bed. He was sleeping, so she just sat quietly. Then, seeing him grimace, she gently lifted the sheet to check the dressing: all seemed to be well. Then she laid a hand on his forehead to check for fever.

  ‘You shouldn’t be doing that now, Nurse – are you a nurse?’ said a well-spoken but harsh voice from the bottom of the bed.

  Alice looked up, startled.

  ‘Yes, I am a nurse,’ she said.

  ‘Well, times have moved on. Are you not aware of the new medical thermometer?’ said the indignant young man, with thin hair and small, deep-set eyes.

  ‘Yes, of course, but—’

  ‘Well, in my opinion, it has to be the method of choice for determining fever,’ said the young man, raising his chin.

  ‘And you are …?’ said Alice, not knowing if he was a visitor or a doctor.

  ‘I am Tobias Stafford, a medical student. I have been placed on the ward to work with Mr Jones, and to keep you nurses in order.’

  Really, thought Alice, we’ll see about that.

  ‘I see,’ she said. ‘Well, in my view, having just felt the patient’s forehead, I don’t think we need the thermometer just yet.’

  ‘All the more reason, Nurse, for me insisting that the instrument is brought immediately, so that we medical men can check.’

  ‘As you wish,’ said Alice, not showing any sign of moving from her stool. ‘The thermometer is on the top shelf of the store cupboard,’ she said, pointing down the ward.

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘Sister told me to sit here with the patient and not leave his side,’ she said emphatically. She was determined that, unless a patient’s life was threatened, she would not leave her stool for an obnoxious young man like Mr Tobias Stafford.

  She watched him stride down the ward, his nose in the air.

  Out of the corner of her eye she could see him examining each of the shelves in the store cupboard, and more than once he glanced in her direction. Then he was back, huffing and puffing by the side of Tommy’s bed with the box containing the medical thermometer under his arm. Alice watched as he removed it from the box with a flourish.

  ‘Right, Nurse,’ he said, pursing his lips. ‘Watch and learn.’

  Alice continued to sit politely and she did watch, just to make sure that no harm came to her patient.

  She saw Mr Stafford open Tommy’s shirt and place the thermometer in the axilla, the wrong way round. Alice knew that the bulb had to be in the armpit, otherwise it wouldn’t work. She opened her mouth to tell him, but the arrogant man lifted a hand to silence her.

  ‘Watch and learn, Nurse,’ he said, gazing across at her with a satisfied smile.

  Alice didn’t make any further attempt to correct his mistake; she let him get on with it. He would find out soon enough that the thermometer wasn’t registering, and she looked forward to seeing his face.

  After a few minutes, Mr Stafford glanced at the thermometer. Alice saw him frown, and then he gave a small cough, but still he stood by the bed with his nose in the air.

  Alice could see Tommy starting to wake up, and his eyes fluttered open. He saw Alice and smiled at her and was going to sit up when she said, ‘Please stay still, Mr Knox. We have a new medical student, Mr Stafford, and he is measuring your temperature with the thermometer.’

  Tommy shifted his gaze to Mr Stafford, and then he looked down at the thermometer.

  ‘You’ve got it in the wrong way round,’ he said. ‘The bulb needs to be in the armpit so the warmth will make the mercury expand.’

  ‘What, what?’ blustered Mr Stafford, his face bright red. ‘Of course I knew that, I was just, I was …’

  Alice couldn’t help but smile and Tommy had a glint in his eye when he looked back at her.

  ‘I was just checking that this nurse knew what to do,’ he fobbed, removing the thermometer and replacing it in the box with a click.

  As Mr Stafford stalked back down the ward it was all Alice and Tommy could do to stop themselves from laughing out loud.

  ‘I hope he doesn’t come anywhere near me again,’ said Tommy quietly. ‘He reminds me of a wet-behind-the ears officer on board ship, thinking because he’s got a bit of training, he knows it all. So long as he keeps away from me …’

  ‘Do you want to sit up?’ said Alice, still smiling. ‘Are you feeling more comfortable now?’

  ‘I seem to be, Nurse Sampson. Maybe this thing is on the mend after all.’

  ‘Maybe so,’ replied Alice, her throat tightening as she helped him lean forward and started plumping his pillows.

  Visiting was almost over and Alice knew that Sister Law would be back down the ward any minute with further instructions. Whilst she was positioning his pillows to make sure he was as comfortable as he possibly could be, someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was Millicent, speaking quietly and mumbling something about a man who wanted to see her. And then she was pointing down the ward and telling her that he was there, near the door.

  Alice glanced up and saw a stocky man in a wide-brimmed hat pulled down over his face. She had no idea who it was.

  ‘I’ll just finish here and then I’ll go and see him,’ she said, glancing down the ward again, but still she didn’t recognize him, even though he was now looking in her direction.

  ‘I’ll be back to check you again soon,’ she murmured to Tommy before walking briskly down the ward.

  As she got closer, she could see that the man was staring at her from under his hat, and the lower part of his face looked weather-beaten.

  Then he removed his hat with a flourish.

  Alice screamed. She couldn’t help it.

  Standing there, grinning from ear to ear, was someone she had never expected to see again. Jamie!

  Immediately, her legs went weak and she almost staggered but was able to force herself upright.

  She could hear Jamie’s voice, insistent, calling her name, and then he was at her side.

  ‘Jamie,’ she gasped, feeling as though all the breath had been knocked out of her. He was broader in the shoulder than he used to be and his hair had been bleached by the Australian sun, but it was Jamie all right. Alice stared at his face, newly lined with creases on his forehead and a furrow at his brow. She was struggling to take it all in.

  He grabbed her arm, steadying her.

  ‘Sorry to give you a shock,’ he said. ‘I got off the ship today, I came straight to see you.’

  ‘But – my mother wrote – she told me you were working on a cattle ranch.’

  ‘Well, I was, and I did do that, but the letters take so long to reach home, probably by the time my mother got that one, I’d already decided to head home. I missed everything much more than I expected. I missed you, Alice, so much. I kept thinking about you here, in Liverpool, working at the hospital, and it didn’t feel right. You should be back home, with your family. I didn’t realize until I came here to board my ship for Australia what a place this city is. Full of sin. I know that your mother approved you coming here, but she has no idea … That’s why I came to see you straight away. I’ve got a bit of money together, I can take you back home with me. We can be together again—’

  ‘No,’ cried Alice instinctively, her head reeling.

  She saw him lean away from her and ball his fist. For the first time since she had known him as a grown man, she felt a little afraid.

  ‘I mean, we can’t talk about this here,’ she said, lowering her voice. ‘Sister will be down the ward in a minute. Meet me outside the hospital, when I finish.’

  ‘But can you not just leave now, Alice? I’m back. We can be together. I didn’t know till I went away to Australia, but you’re all I ever wanted. Come with me, come now. You don’t need to train as a nurse any more.’ He grabbed her arm.

  ‘Jamie, stop!’ cried Alice. ‘Please, I need to see
you after work, I can’t just leave. You must understand …’

  His shoulders slumped and he let go of her arm. Alice couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He looked exhausted and dusty from travel, as if he was worn out and dried up.

  ‘Do you have somewhere to stay?’ she asked.

  He nodded.

  ‘Well, go there and clean up, then get some rest. I’ll see you outside the hospital, near the gate. I’ll be there by eight p.m. at the latest.’

  He nodded again and tried to smile, but all of his energy was gone.

  ‘We’ll talk then, I promise,’ she said softly.

  As he turned and walked towards the door, Alice felt her legs go a little weak. She was still shocked by his sudden reappearance, but what shocked her even more was how relieved she was to see him walking away. He had made her feel scared and empty inside – this person from her home who she knew, but didn’t know any more. Someone who, at one time, everyone had considered to be her fiancé. There was no elation, no excitement. All she felt for him was concern, and all she felt for herself now was anxiety that her life in Liverpool and her future career would be compromised.

  Alice knew that if he found out she had his child, he would insist on dragging her home to be married. And what’s more, in law, Victoria was his child, not hers. She had heard stories of children being claimed, removed from their mothers. She couldn’t risk that happening to Victoria. She had to keep her secret from him.

  She ran from the ward that evening, praying that Eddy would be waiting for her, wanting to get into the Nurses’ Home so that she could speak to her before Jamie turned up.

  She quickened her pace when she saw Eddy sitting on the step.

  ‘Quick,’ she shouted, grabbing hold of her arm and dragging her up the steps.

  ‘What the heck,’ cried Eddy, as soon as they were in through the door.

  Alice was fighting for breath and needing to calm herself down so that she could tell the full story. She clung to her friend’s arm, until she was able to get the words out.

  ‘Crikey,’ said Eddy, when she’d gasped out her explanation. ‘That is unexpected. We all thought he’d gone for good. But are you sure, Alice? Are you quite sure that you don’t want to tell him about the baby? Maybe you should take some more time to think about it.’