The Bad Penny Read Online Free PDF Page B

anyone else though, Nurse,’ he had said, grinning at her, ‘or they’ll all be expecting a reduction. But it’s worth a lower rent to me to have a real, professional nurse in our lane. Gives folk a sense of security, like.’
    So now here she was, standing on the balcony outside her very own home and wondering when she would be able to move in. She would need a bed, a chair, a table and some curtains. A washing-up bowl would be useful but not essential; her little house had running water and, to her great surprise, electricity – or electric light at any rate. There was a big living kitchen, and three other reasonably sized rooms which she could use as she wished. To Patty, still sharing one small room with three other girls, it seemed like a palace. She actually considered whether she should get someone to share it with her, which would reduce the rent even further, then decided against it. If money grew tight as the weeks passed, then she might consider sharing again, but for now, at least, she would enjoy her independence and revel in her solitude.
    The clatter of feet as someone climbed the metal steps below her brought Patty’s thoughts abruptly back to the present. She glanced down at her fob watch; if she was to see Merrell before returning to her lodgings for supper, she had better get a move on. She decided she would go to Paddy’s market as soon as she was able, and buy a mattress and one of the old iron bedsteads which she had seen stashed up behind one of the stalls. Then she would be able to move in. If she furnished her house bit by bit, whenever she could afford an item, it would soon be a proper home.
    She was halfway along the landing when a young woman came bounding up the last flight of stairs towards her. She had untidy brown hair and was dressed in a shabby grey flannel coat and a pair of black boots. She was pulling off a bright blue headscarf as she approached and grinned amiably at Patty, showing a set of excellent teeth. ‘Mornin’, queen,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Was you after me? I bin to the clinic on Brougham Terrace, only just got back. Or was it Mrs Knight or Mrs Clitheroe you was after?’
    Patty gave the young woman her most professional up and down glance, the look that could reduce an angry and difficult patient to mumbling acquiescence. ‘I haven’t come to visit anyone,’ she said severely. ‘Good afternoon.’
    She went to pass the girl, who put a detaining hand on her arm. ‘I’m Mrs Clarke,’ she said eagerly. ‘You’re a nurse, ain’t you? Are you sure you’re not coming to visit me?’
    Patty, wearing her uniform, was used to being accosted as she went around the streets in her area and guessed immediately that this young woman was a new mother-to-be and was expecting a visit from someone like herself. That would account for her visit to Brougham Terrace and for the air of eagerness with which she had approached Patty. She allowed herself to be detained, therefore, merely sighing before saying briskly: ‘I’m Nurse Peel and this is my district, but I don’t believe I’ve been given your name yet. No doubt, however, I shall be seeing you quite soon.’
    She tried to detach the young woman’s hand from her sleeve but Mrs Clarke said impetuously: ‘Aw, c’mon! I’ll put the kettle on and make us both a cuppa, then you can tell me wharrever I need to know. Save yourself a journey, see?’
    ‘Mrs Clarke, I’ve a great deal to do …’ Patty was beginning, but the other woman tugged at her arm, smiling blindingly up into her face.
    ‘It won’t take five minutes to boil a kettle ’cos I keeps the fire lit all day in this cold weather,’ she said coaxingly. ‘Be a sport, Nurse!’
    Patty hesitated, but only for a moment. She knew it would not be sensible to make an enemy of a patient, and a patient, moreover, who was living on the same landing as herself, but she could not miss her visit to Merrell. The child was eight weeks old and beginning to respond