"I must go! I must go to the ward!" She rose, clasping her hands convulsively. "I can, can't I? It's Nurse Mainwaring's time to relieve me—why isn't she here?"
The Matron calmed her.
"Hush! you can go as soon as she comes. Don't take on like that, or I shall be sorry I told you. Nurse Bradley has complained of feeling ill—I expect that's what it is."
Mary raised a faint smile, deprecating her vehemence.
"I'm very fond of the boy," she said, with apology in her voice. "It was very kind of you to tell me; I thank you very much."
Nurse Mainwaring appeared now.
"Nurse Bradley can't get up, madam," she announced.
"Nonsense! what is it?"
"A sick-headache; she can't see out of her eyes."
It was the moment of dismay in which a hospital realises that its staff, too, is flesh and blood—the hitch in the human machinery.