“Gossip about her. She was a bad lot from the beginning. We nurses knew a thing or two, both about her and her great friend, a girl called Philips. They and Baxter and a man called Gregg were always about together and they got themselves a good deal talked about. We were all surprised when Baxter married her, not on his account, he was dotty about her, but because we all thought she was after bigger game. She was the sort of girl who’s set on making a good marriage and generally succeeds in the end, too. Usually, she hooks a rich patient after she’s left the hospital, and both she and the Philips girl were clever enough to do it.” “Was Gregg in love with either of them?” asked Fayre. “I shouldn’t think so. He amused himself with Philips all right, but he wasn’t taken in by her. He was dead against Baxter’s marriage, I know, and did his best to stop it. He wasn’t a bad sort, old Gregg. He was surly and bad-tempered, but we liked working with him.” “What happened to Mrs. Baxter after she left her husband, do you know?” “I’ve no idea. He divorced her in the end, I’ve been told. She was the sort to fall on her feet.” “What was her name before she married? It’s funny I never heard it, but most of this happened after I had left England,” explained Fayre, carefully avoiding Henderson’s malicious eye. “Tina Allen,” answered Mrs. Benson. “She came of quite good stock, I believe. I heard once that her people were pretty sick at her taking up nursing at all.” For a moment Fayre was bereft of speech and, when he did speak, he controlled his voice with difficulty. That Mrs. Draycott should have started her career as a nurse at St. Swithin’s was the last thing he had suspected. “She knew this man Gregg well, you say,” he asked at last. “Must have. The four of them were always about together. I don’t think he liked her much, though. As I said, he did his best to stop her marriage.” “You didn’t keep up with any of them after you left, I suppose?” She shook her head. “I married, myself, and came up here. I used to get news of all the old lot from time to time, from a friend who stayed on at the hospital. There were some funny goings on there, I can tell you!”