soon as they were out of earshot.
âI was made to roam the open desert not sit behind the walls of a town.â
âWeâre safe here,â she reminded.
âWeâre imprisoned. I canât bear to sit back doing nothing except watch Hasan suffer. Heâs getting no better and he knows it. If only Iâd managed to get him out of that Turkish camp sooner â¦â
âYou did well to get him out at all.â
âI rescued a shell, not a man.â
âMitkhal â¦â
He ignored her and walked into the courtyard. Gutne stayed on the terrace and watched him sit on one of the benches. He pulled the flask from his robes and drank. She heard the doctor talking to Furja in the room behind her.
The doctor left, and a few moments later Furja joined her.
âHasan has a fever.â
âHe will fight it as he has fought everything else,â Gutne assured her.
âAnd if he recovers? We canât keep our men locked up forever, Gutne.â There was resignation as well as sadness in Furjaâs voice.
âArenât you afraid that if Hasan leaves, heâll remember he was a British officer?â
âTerrified,â Furja conceded. âBut I have him for now, and for a while longer. The doctor has forbidden him to exert himself until all signs of fever have abated and he is completely well. That wonât be for months.â
âPity the doctor cannot forbid Mitkhal to leave.â
âIâll remind Mitkhal of his duty to you and his son, Gutne.â Furja moved to the door.
âSave your breath, Furja,â Gutne advised. âYouâd have more success caging a lion.â
The Basra Club, Thursday 30th December 1915
Charles Reid waved to Angela Smythe when he saw her walk through the door into the club. He didnât rise to meet her. Despite the best efforts of the medics in Basraâs military hospital, his leg wound hadnât healed. Crippling pains shot from his ankle to his thigh every time he tried to stand, which was why heâd been rolled into the club in a wheelchair, and given strict instructions not to leave it.
âYou look very elegant,â he complimented her, when Angela joined him at the prime table heâd commandeered next to the stove.
âAs elegant as a Basra Jewish tailorâs idea of Paris fashion allows. Sorry Iâm late. I returned to the mission to disinfect myself and change after my stint in the Lansing so Iâd be safe to touch.â She kissed his cheek.
Basraâs military medical resources had been overwhelmed by the tide of British casualties that had flooded downstream after the Battle of Ctesiphon, so the Turkish POW and native wounded had been diverted to the Lansing Memorial Hospital, a charitable institution financed and run by an American Baptist mission. Angelaâs brother, Dr Theodore Wallace, worked there under the direction of Dr Picard. As inundated as the British Military facilities, every available pair of hands in the mission had been roped in to help at the Lansing. Even Angelaâs, although she usually taught in the mission school.
âDisinfect â feverâs broken out?â Charles signalled to the waiter.
âNo, thank heaven. Since the cold weather began we havenât had a single fever case that wasnât rooted in wound infection. But a Turkish POW has developed gas gangrene.â
âPoor man, and poor you having to quarantine him and scrub out the ward.â
âWhen I left, Sister Margaret was barking orders louder than any sergeant major and Theo and Dr Picard were cowering at their desks in their office. Neither is brave enough to stand up to her.â She frowned. âI was amazed when I received your invitation.â
âColonel Allan prescribed the outing. He thought it would âcheer me upâ.â
âDoesnât he realise that everyone who knew Harry and John Mason has been devastated by their
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