''I should say, with an arm like that, you''re almost a match for Nurse Flew.''
Nurse Flew was a swivel-eyed woman with a room on the floor below. She was said to have once been a matron in a gaol. Now Nurse Bacon coloured up. ''A match?'' she said. ''I should like to see her arm beside mine, that''s all. Then we''d see whose was the greater. A match? I''ll match her, all right!''
Her voice woke Betty and Mrs Price. She looked, and saw them stirring. ''Get back to sleep,'' she said. She did not see me, watching her and wishing her dead through half-closed eyes. She showed her arm again, and again made the muscle bulge. ''A match, indeed,'' she◆◆
grumbled. She nodded to one of the nurses. ''You fetch Nurse Flew up here. Then we''ll see. Margaretta, you get a string.''
The nurses rose, and swayed, and tittered, and then went off. The first came back after a minute with Nurse Flew, Nurse Spiller, and the dark-headed nurse that had helped to undress me on my first day. They had all been drinking together, downstairs. Nurse Spiller looked about her with her hands on her hips and said,
''Well, i