4Service Corps Headquarters, Rouen, Saturday, 8 April 1916
‘Sir,’ the adjutant said to the CO. ‘We have twenty-two Australian nursing sisters in the corridor. They say they’re witnesses in the case of Sergeant Mitchell.’
The CO, a lieutenant colonel, sat behind a simple table with papers in neat piles on the top. Other than the table and a couple of chairs the room was devoid of furniture. Several wooden boxes were stacked against the right hand wall. Above the boxes pristine rectangles gleamed in contrast to the faded paint of the rest of the wall, where notices or posters had protected the paint over the years.
‘I’ve seen nothing in the documentation about witnesses. Australian nurses, you say?’ The colonel sat back in his chair and frowned. ‘In that case we’d best hear his charge fir
