Read Online Secrets of Nanreath Hall by Alix Rickloff - Free Book Online Page A

mainly for soldiers recovering from disease rather than injury, and those cases which would most benefit from the quiet of the country. We’re a small staff, but I assure you, no less dedicated to our mission.”
    Sister Millbank, the hospital’s matron, had the commanding bulk of a battleship and a voice that could cut glass. She sat behind an enormous desk littered with ledgers, forms, and a steaming cup of Bovril. Sun streamed through the window behind to halo her like an avenging angel, wimple wobbling in stern agitation. “I’m pairing you with Kinsale. She can teach you the day’s routine, which is strictly enforced, and introduce you to the orderlies on your ward. Do not bother our MO, Captain Matthews, unless absolutely necessary. He has enough to do.” She puffed up like a baker’s loaf, chest and chin jutting equally. “I run a taut ship, Trenowyth. You’re here to do a job, and I won’t offer you any favors despite your connectionto the family so don’t expect them. Ask Kinsale if you don’t believe me. She’s been given the same stern warning.”
    â€œNo, ma’am,” Anna replied. “I mean . . . yes, ma’am. That is . . . it’s a very distant connection.”
    â€œWell, all to the better. They’re not happy to have us here, and I’d rather not have to put up with even more nonsensical complaints about the way in which the military’s ruining the family mausoleum than I already do. Now, I’ve work to complete. I leave you in very capable hands, don’t I, Kinsale?”
    Sophie looked as if she were tempted to drop into a curtsy, but gave a submissive nod, instead.
    The two of them had risen promptly at six, though Anna had already been awake, lying in her borrowed bed as she turned over Sophie’s words, sifting them like sand for the answers she sought. The Trenowyth family never recovered. Scandal, debt, injuries, death. None of these things had been mentioned in the Debrett’s she’d scanned among the stacks at the lending library, curled in a chair and hidden away from prying eyes, as if she were ashamed. Dry facts were all she’d had to go on: names, marriages, dates, coats of arms, honors, and benefits bestowed by various kings and queens over the centuries.
    There had been nothing about a runaway daughter and a bastard child in the formal paragraph. No hint of the tumult such an occurrence must have caused. No clue to the identity of the man who had led a petted daughter of the house astray and then died forgotten in the mud of a French battlefield.
    Would she learn anything more here, or would Nanreath Hall keep tight to its secrets?
    With Matron already turning back to her desk and her Bovril, Sophie motioned Anna to follow as she led her down a second-floorcorridor to a set of curving stairs and thus into a warren of storage rooms.
    â€œMost of the house has been turned over to the war effort,” Sophie explained, her tone clipped, her movements as crisp as her apron and veil. “Lady Boxley wasn’t happy about it, but in the end, there was nothing she could do. She and her son keep a few rooms in the west wing. We don’t see them unless they want to be seen.”
    â€œHugh seems to move back and forth between realms at his leisure.”
    Sophie paused at a door, sliding a key from her ring into its lock. “Hugh does what he likes, as you must already know, Miss Trenowyth .”
    â€œLet me explain—”
    The room they entered held shelves upon shelves of bedding. Racks contained mounds of freshly cleaned laundry, while in another corner piles of dirty stood waiting to be washed. “Sheets and blankets need sorting then we’ve got equipment to clean and sterilize,” Sophie continued, her manner briskly business. “I’ll show you around the wards this afternoon when we’re expected to help the sisters with daily rounds. Tea is promptly at