Stan and Grace

G. H. N. Saturday 12 M.D.   My Darling, I expected a letter from you this morning but as one has not arrived I expect I shall receive one this afternoon. Now for a bit of good news.  I go on night duty tonight.  Yesterday, Kit went on night duty on Pay-Bed Wing and this morning Laughton was to go on but as she had only been on day duty for two months she went to Matron.  As a result of her interview with Matron I am going on.  I am so thrilled about it.  Not that I like night duty – I don’t – but the fact that I hope to get my nights off to correspond with your leave – just think – four weeks to-day and we shall be together again. I think that I might be going on Pay Bed Wing – I hope so. I went to the flicks yesterday to see “First of the Few”.  I have seen it before but Kit had not, so I decided to go with her as it is a good picture.   I am afraid that I have not much more time left as it is almost time to go back on duty.  We have had such a busy morning – 5 cases fo

G. H. N. Wednesday      My Own Darling, I received your letter about half an hour ago.   Your previous one I received Monday afternoon.   I was pleased to note that you were in a much better frame of mind when you wrote the second letter. I was going to write you Sunday, as I promised, but when I got off duty Sunday evening it was too late to catch the post, so I decided I would wait until Monday as I would most likely have one from you. What a letter it was when I did receive it. I can quite understand you being bad tempered though all work and no play is no joke and then my letter to crown it all – well – I suppose I deserved the letter you sent me. I did not think at the time though – I sat down immediately and replied – I read the letter through before I posted it and decided not to post it after all, I would wait until I received a reply to my last letter – so now you know why you did not receive the promised letter. However, I will try and make this one make up fo

Home Forces Tuesday     My Own Darling, It was nice to receive the letter you wrote to me on Thursday by yesterday's post & find that the competition I had with Florence N. was not as severe as I had imagined it to be.   I can tell you, the previous letter I had had put me in a nasty mood, as the lads in the office will bear out!   Still as I said before, we will talk about the matter next month.   I am beginning to count every day now.   Just about a month to go now. There’s still plenty of work flying about down here, but I managed a night off for a visit to the local cinema last night.   The films they get are pretty ancient, but the one last night, Victor McLaglen in “Broadway Limited” was quite amusing. Walking back to the Mess at 11 p.m. it was brilliantly moonlit.   I wished you had had been with me.   I shouldn’t have gone straight home then! Things were pretty lively here yesterday.   We had six “alerts”.   The first one was at about 7 a.m. & the last j

Usual address 11 p.m.   Sunday evening    My Own Darling, You kept me on tenterhooks last week, waiting for a letter from you!   I suppose I asked for it however, being so nasty tempered last time I wrote to you, and I am sorry.   The trouble has been lately that work has kept piling up & it didn’t matter how long I worked the pile never seemed to get less. At 11 pm tonight however, things look a bit straighter & I can actually see my desk, instead of it being littered with paper! I am looking forward to there being a letter from you in the morning & am more than sorry that I couldn’t manage one to reach you for first post Monday.   Still, the old adage “Better late than never” will have to apply in this case. How’s work going at your end?   Any chance of the night duty coming along?   I hope so, because it will be much nicer if you can get home when I am on leave instead of me having to come to Nottingham. I had a letter from home the other day.   Mother said

G. H. N. Thursday night      My Own Darling, I received your letter a few hours ago, so I am replying tonight and posting it by first post in the morning , so you may receive this letter by Saturday afternoon.   I will write again at the week-end so that if you do receive this Saturday there will be post for you on Monday morning. By the way, how long does it take my letters to reach you now, do you get them any quicker? Darling, I am very sorry if my previous letter sounded as if you still had severe competition from Miss Nightingale.   You have not, really.   I suppose that its when I have been in this place a good many weeks I get settled in the hospital routine and then Miss Nightingale does come and give me a slight reminder, but Darling, it is very occasionally and I suppose your letter arrived at one of these moments. You know, Dear, deep down I do really love you and if this Nightingale complex (as you choose to call it) comes upon me it quickly passes, but my love

Usual address     Wednesday lunchtime     My Darling, I thought if I sat down and answered your letter straight away, you would get a reply in the morning, just as you got back from Grimethorpe.   I hope you had a pleasant couple of days.   I sincerely wish I had been there with you. The news that I still had pretty severe competition from Florence Nightingale was rather a blow to me.   After our last meeting I was quite convinced that even if you had not forgotten her altogether you did not think of her so much!   I suppose it was rather presumptuous of me to think I could kick her out of your make-up in such a short space of time as eight months! However, the situation is one which can be talked about much better than written of, so I’ll try to say no more on the subject until I see you.   The main reason I made the suggestion was, however, that I thought that if I was to go overseas it was the best way of showing my true feelings towards you.   Still, as I have just writte

  G. H. N. Monday         My Darling, I did not receive your letter till late Saturday night.   I had been expecting one from you all week and when one did not arrive by tea-time Sat. I gave up hope altogether.   It was a pleasant surprise when I was told there was a letter for me. The news inside the letter was a still greater surprise.   I did not expect it so soon.   I suppose you will think that I ought to know by now whether I want to get engaged or not.   I suppose I ought to really but even yet at times I am not quite sure.   I am being honest with you Darling.   It is only right that I should be.   I am glad that you have given me time to think about it.   I really am a dreadful person, I don’t know whatever you must think of me. I should be on night duty in time for your next leave.    It sounds a bit “fishy” to me, but I think I have gathered what you mean by it being a very important one .   I sincerely hope that it is not.* I was pleased to hear about the marked