The life of Eve De La Cruz

Chapter Eleven

In the morning hours at Downton, Edith was trying to convince Mary to join in on the concert that the officers were putting together as She and Eve were handing out letters in the grand hall.

"Mary, the men are arranging the concert now and they're so anxious for us both to be in it or there'll be no girls at all. Eve is going to sing by herself. Please say you will," Edith pleaded.

"I'll be singing a song that I and many others would sing at the hospital in France," Eve said.

"Do I have to?" Mary asked as she walked toward the stairs.

"Yes, you do," Cora told her daughter as she came down the stairs, "Keeping their spirits up is an important part of the cure and it's so very little to ask."

"What's going on?" Isobel asked Edith as she walked into the hall.

"The men are putting on a concert."

"Can I help?"

"Edith has it under control," Cora answered.

"I do if Mary's willing," Edith said.

"Oh, all right. One song and that's your lot," Mary told her from up the stairs. Eve and Edith left the grand hall to hand out the post in the recreation room.

In the recreation room, Eve and Edith were handing out the post to the officers.

"There's a parcel for you," Edith hands it over to the officer.

"Thank you."

"There's a little one for you," Eve hands a small package to an officer.

"This one looks as if it's been opened, but it hasn't," Edith informed him. She and Eve hear a giggle and looks over to see Ethel leaning close to Major Bryant, "Ethel, have you nothing to do?"

Ethel leaves just as Mrs. Hughes enters.

"I was keeping her talking. You mustn't blame her," Major Bryant said.

"I don't," Edith told him.

Both Mrs. Hughes and Eve look disapprovingly at Major Bryant and Mrs. Hughes walks away.

"Nurse Evie!" Eve heard her nickname that the children at the village hospital had given her and turned to see one of the boys she knew from the hospital all grown up.

"Danny, is that you?" Eve asked as she walked over to the boy she once knew now in a wheelchair, "How have you been?"

"I have been better, but you should see the other guy," He answered with a smile, "I have not seen you since the start of the war."

"I went away the moment they would allow me," She told him before she looked at him with a serious expression, "Danny, I want you to be honest with me. Did you lie about your age when you enlisted?"

Danny hesitated for a moment before answering, "I took my brother's papers and I told my family that I had found a job in Elgin. I send them a letter every once in a while to let them know that I am doing well. Please don't tell them, Nurse Evie."

"I promise, but I know that you will have to tell them soon, please Danny. Should something happen to you your family should know what you were doing," Eve told him.

After she had finished helping Edith handing out the post, Eve went downstairs to the kitchen

As Eve and Mrs. Hughes walked toward the kitchen, they could hear Mrs. Patmore and Isobel talking.

"But I don't understand. The patients are always served their luncheon at half past twelve," Isobel said.

"Well, today they'll be served at one," Mrs. Patmore informed her.