She opened it rather shakily, and it was a leaf from the ward order-book, for at the top it said:
Annie Petowski—may sit up for one hour.
And below that:
Goldstein baby—bran baths.
And below that:
I love you. E. J.
"E. J." was the Junior Medical.
So the Nurse went back to the ward, and sat down, palpitating, in the throne-chair by the table, and spread her crisp skirts, and found where the page had been torn out of the order-book.
And as the smiles of sovereigns are hailed with delight by their courts, so the ward brightened until it seemed to gleam that Easter afternoon. And a sort of miracle happened: none of the babies had colic, and the mothers mostly slept. Also, one of the ladies of the House Committee looked in at the door and said:
"How beautiful you are here, and how peaceful! Your ward is always a sort of benediction."