Farewell To The East End

waiter?’
    ‘I see the chance to earn a bit on the side,’ said the pious novice slyly as she tucked two matches into her pocket.
    ‘Yes, that’s correct. Proceed.’
    Novice Ruth returned to the table and gave us three matches. We each took one.
    ‘Good show,’ cried Chummy. ‘I’ve only paid nine shillings for my meal.’
    ‘And so have I,’ I said. ‘What have you paid, Trix?’
    ‘Well, I’ve paid nine shillings. I must have done, because, because … oh dear, that’s where it all goes pear-shaped,’ cried Trixie in real anguish, because usually she had an answer for everything. ‘Three nines are twenty-seven and … look, we must have gone wrong somewhere. Let’s start again.’
    Once more we shook out a random pile of matches. ‘You be the dishonest waiter again, Novice Ruth.’
    At that moment Sister Julienne entered.
    ‘What on earth are you doing with all those matches? And what did I hear about Novice Ruth being a dishonest waiter?
    As Novice Mistress of Nonnatus House I cannot approve of that,’ she said, laughing.
    We sorted out the second lot of matches and told her Fred’s riddle.
    ‘Oh, that old chestnut! Fred comes out with that one for all the girls. He’s just doing it to stir you up. No one’s worked it out yet, so I doubt if you will be able to. I came here to see Cynthia. Has she gone upstairs?’
    ‘She’s not in yet.’
    ‘Not in! Well where is she? It’s nearly nine o’clock. She should have finished her evening visits by six thirty or seven at the latest. Where is she?’
    We didn’t know, and suddenly we felt guilty. We had been stuffing our faces and worrying over a silly old riddle, when really we should have been worrying over the fact that Cynthia was not with us, time was passing, and no one knew where she was.
    Fred had come back into the kitchen and heard this last bit of conversation. He went over to the stove as we all looked anxiously at one another. His voice was reassuring.
    ‘Don’t choo worry, Sister. She’ll be safe as ’ouses. Somefinks made ’er late, but she won’t ’ave come to no ’arm, you’ll see. You know ve old Cockney sayin’, “A nurse is safe among us.” Nuffink will ’appen to ’er. She’ll turn up.’
    Novice Ruth spoke. ‘I think it’s very likely that she was delayed at the Jessops, Sister. The baby is a fortnight old, and Mrs Jessop went for Churching today. The women always have a party afterwards, and I expect Cynthia was invited to join them.’
    Sister Julienne looked somewhat relieved but nonetheless said, ‘I feel sure you are right, but the bell for compline will sound any minute now, and it would ease my mind if you, Nurse Lee, would cycle round to Mrs Jessop’s whilst we are saying our evening office.’

    It was only a ten minute ride to the Jessops, and on the way I thought about this curious business of Churching. I had never heard of it before my stay at Nonnatus House. My grandmother, mother and aunts had never gone in for it, as far as I was aware, but many of the Poplar ladies would not go out after a child was born until they had been properly ‘Churched’ by the vicar. Perhaps it was a service of thanksgiving for a new baby, or more likely thanks for having survived the ordeal of childbirth, dating back to a time when giving birth was frequently attended by death. It occurred to me, though, that the origins of Churching could be even more ancient, stemming from the times when women were considered to be unclean after childbirth and needed to be ritually cleansed. As with many other pagan rituals the Church had merely adopted the practice and incorporated it into the liturgy.
    There certainly was a party going on at the Jessop household – screams of female laughter could be heard all the way down the street (men were excluded from these occasions), and it took me some time to make myself heard. When the door finally opened I was all but dragged in and a glass was forced into my hand. I had to extricate myself and make my enquiry. Cynthia was not there. She had visited at 6.30 but, in spite of being pressed to stay, she had left at 6.45.
    The Sisters were leaving the chapel after Compline as I arrived back at Nonnatus House. Normally this is the time of the Greater Silence, which is the monastic observance of quiet until after the Eucharist the following morning. But there would be no Silence that evening. Sister Julienne immediately rang the police, but no accident had been reported, and a