As they battle to rebuild their own and others' lives & livelihoods in a country irrevocably changed by war, VAD Nurse Mary Crawley & convalescing Captain Matthew Crawley are swept into a web of scandal & corruption that threatens to rip the Crawley...
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Later Robert would wonder why neither he, nor Cora ever thought to tell Major Clarkson what the army messenger had actually said, as when William and Matthew arrived in an overcrowded truck and were stretchered in, the full ramifications of the arrival of two critically injured men amongst forty other moderate to seriously injured men caused immediate disquiet.
Major Clarkson was beside himself. He could not believe what he was seeing on the x-rays sent with the paperwork from the casualty clearing station. Numerous ribs in Matthew's back were broken. His spine was fractured in three places, and his pelvis was cracked. Virtually all William's ribs were broken, and one of his lungs had collapsed and every laboured breath he made was the gurgling sound of a gas victim.
"This is unacceptable!" he almost shouted, in an uncharacteristic flash of anger. "Captain Crawley should be at the Orthopaedic Hospital in London and Private Mason needs help from a chest specialist. We're not set up to treat injuries like this here!"
"I'll put a call through to the Medical Corps and see if we can organise transfers," said Sergeant Barrow grimly. He was pained to see Matthew so badly hurt. He had a lot of respect for Matthew. They had been together for some months at the front, their respective regiments serving in the same area before Thomas had been invalided out with a damaged hand.
One incident stood out in his mind. The cold, damp day his fellow stretcher-bearer had been shot in the head, whilst Matthew and his former batman, Davis, had been out on patrol.
"Keep your chin up, Corporal," Matthew had said kindly after he had found Thomas curled in a shaking, sniffling ball in the mud at the bottom of the trench. The stretcher had been upturned, and his mate who had been talking merrily to him just moments before was now unrecognisable. "He went quickly and without pain. Keep focused on that old boy," and he had put his hand on his shoulder.
And then Matthew had taken it upon himself to right the stretcher, organised two other lads to take the injured man on, and motioned another to sit with him until he was calm. Kindness was not something Thomas had experienced much of in his life. And those words and gestures had helped. Enormously.
He gave a momentary shudder, clenched his jaw, and walked towards the office telephone. "Stay close in case I need you to talk with them," he said over his shoulder to Major Clarkson as he walked.
"Pardon? You have done what?" Major Clarkson heard Sergeant Barrow asking tersely down the telephone. He turned and beckoned Major Clarkson over with a grim expression. "Best you speak to them Sir," he said shaking his head.
After a tense conversation, Major Clarkson put the phone down with a loud thwack, and turned to Sergeant Barrow, his face dark. "I need Isobel, and both the Crawley sisters right now," he said. "Get Sister Thomsen to find another nurse to continue seeing to Captain Crawley while I speak with them."
Sergeant Barrow nodded and went quickly to the ward.
They were part way through cutting his clothes off, and his exposed chest was black and blue, matching the black eyes on his face. Sergeant Barrow inhaled sharply at the sight, and said as gently as he could, "Major Clarkson needs all the Crawley nurses right away. Sister Thomsen, he suggested you ask Nurse Ellison to help you with him until the others are back, please."
