I gulped and waited to hear the verdict. “You’re to stay here till tomorrow,” she said. I was too glad to speak, I only smiled. She went on busily, “Nurse Robins will take you out for a walk after lunch.”

The maid was laying the table while Sister was talking. When they had both gone out, I walked up and down the room in my excitement. I stopped at the table and looked down. Most of the things were electro-plate but two spoons had caught my eyes. I turned them over. They had large hall-marks on the thin part of the stem and I knew that they were early Georgian. They belonged to Sister, I supposed, and had got muddled with the others. I thought how easy it would be to steal them. I would like to have had them for myself very much.

Nurse Robins was already dressed for walking when she came in after lunch. Her coat and hat were of green tweed and there was a little strip of moleskin round each. She had put powder on her cheeks so that they looked like frosted red lamps. I wondered what the walk with her would be like.

The red Sanatorium ribbon was pinned round my straw hat, over my House colours, and we set off down the hill. Not many people were about; they were all playing games. We heard fives balls smacking against the courts and, farther away, whistles being blown, and shouting from the football fields.

Nurse Robins said nothing except, “It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”

I looked at the flying clouds and the last leaves still trying to cling to the branches, and agreed. The sun was making all the decay rich and lovely. Only the stream we crossed seemed cruel, still. The cold scum whirled under the bridge and reappeared with evil bubbles pushing through it.

At Milton, the house on the corner was crimson. The Virginia creeper had got over the eaves and was climbing up the roof, straining to reach the chimney-stack. We walked over the little footbridge next to the ford and went into the fields.

Nurse Robins seemed to be coming to life. Her cheeks were redder than ever and she was making little, impulsive movements with her body. Suddenly she skipped and then jumped over a mole-hill. She put out her hand and caught mine, saying, “Let’s run to the end of the field!”

We raced over the spongy grass, swollen with mole-hills, until I fell, bringing her down with me. We lay there laughing; then I felt the soft fur on her collar press against my neck. I started as if a bat had flown against me. I got up quickly and left her still lying there with her hair matted on her cheek, like lines scribbled on paper. “Don’t tell Sister we’ve been running about like this. She’ll think I’m mad,” she said weakly.

We got as much mud as we could off our clothes and walked on.

“People think that because you’re grown up you don’t want any fun.”

“Yes, isn’t it silly?” I said politely.

“Shut up all day in that uniform, you need a little freedom when you can get it,” she mused as if talking to herself.

Now I knew why Nurse Robins was so quiet. She hated her uniform.