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My Aunt Chapter 24
Date: 3/10/2017, Categories: First Time Author: Annamagique
... with fresh linen. The carpet had also been scrubbed clean. “How on earth..who..?” the words stumbled and fell as she tried to take in the scene. “Bethany and Sally,” Melissa replied. They have been at it all morning. The carpet is still wet mind, but there is hardly a need to replace it now.” “I do not know what to say.” Lady Helen was dumbfounded. “Then say nothing,” I told her. “Don't you see? They love you. You have no need to blame yourself for anything.” And so, time passed. The war dragged on for another three years. Many more terribly frightened and shocked men passed through the hospital. That had only been possible due to the generosity of my mother, Lady Helen Fortesque-Brown and with the untiring and selfless work of Philomena Watson and Doctor and Mrs. William Harris and their dedicated staff. Most of those poor men were able to return to a life as close to normal as they possibly could. Sadly though, it wasn't until many years later that their work was accepted and the blot of cowardice and desertion could finally be removed from the records of those poor souls who had been summarily executed. Too late for them perhaps, but at least it could never happen again. My Mother and I grew very close in the years that followed. The 'other thing' she told me was that I had inherited all my parents estate, but it was to be held in trust until my twenty-first birthday with an allowance until then. It did not matter much though as I kept busy helping her to run the house ...
... and assisting Phil with care duties. She said I would have made a good nurse but it was not really something I wanted to do. I never saw Thomas again. I received a telegram from his parents around two weeks after he left saying that he had passed away during an operation to repair the damage in his head. They told me he never regained his eyesight and therefore, the last thing he ever saw or, indeed, was concious of, was me, helping him on that sad day in the garden. Charlie Manston never forgave himself for knocking him over although I told him time and time again that it was an accident and that I didn't blame him for what happened. After all, he had much to be afraid of that day. Had Marjory Wallace not spoken up over her husband it was quite likely that he would have been executed for Maggie's murder. He was very grateful to me but I never convinced him. Sir Michael pulled a few strings and Charlie was able to remain at Woolverstone until the end of the war but he was a changed man. He never touched another drink and he dedicated his free time to helping the orderlies make the wounded men's lives as comfortable as possible. I was happy to see that Thomas' parents wrote to him directly to say that they also did not hold him responsible. In their eyes he was another victim of that terrible war which claimed the lives of so many more young men. He and Sally became married in 1917 and had two beautiful children, a boy and a girl. Mother and I gave them the use of a suite of ...