On the second day, he received word from Jessop confirming that the bodies of the nurses would be arriving at Morlancourt in a week’s time. Jessop also told him that Wheeler was now organizing a ceremony both to mark the nurses’ arrival and to accommodate the gathering newspapermen. It was no more or less than Reid had expected. Jessop was also at pains to tell him that the ceremony was now deemed necessary by Wheeler on account of all the good it would serve. The good it would serve. Jessop asked him if he was in full agreement with the plan, and Reid told him he was. It seemed a small enough concession to make. He would have arranged it himself had the occasion not already been taken over by Wheeler and made to serve his own purpose. He would have organized it with Caroline Mortimer, and he felt certain that the pair of them would have arranged something considerably more fitting than whatever Wheeler was now proposing. He sought her out soon afterwards and told her everything Jessop had just confirmed to him.
