by Sue Peters
'I've taken Helen home, and I'm not expected back for lunch because I said I might stay at the cottage,' Nan began doubtfully.
'Then come along with us.' Her uncle gave her a barely perceptible nod that would have been cancelled out anyhow as their visitor took her arm.
'You can point out all the things that matter,' he said contentedly. 'These gentlemen,' his smile included the entire Planning Committee, and the two doctors, 'will have their say this afternoon. I should value your opinion now.'
She might even be able to influence him. Nan could hardly believe her own good fortune. What she said might be able to cancel out Keir's casting vote. She stole a glance at his face. He had remained on his own, away from Marcia's father and the others of the Planning Committee who were ranged on his side; away even from Oliver Gray and the men who fought for his point of view. Keir had withdrawn to one side, a lonely figure, aloof from either side, almost indifferent, thought Nan, and found that the opportunity she had been unexpectedly given to even up the two sides gave her no feeling of personal triumph over Keir.
'That's our new ambulance,' Nan interpreted the urgent wail of its siren as her first duty to the visitor, and felt Oliver Gray beside her go tense.
'Our next visit's to Casualty, anyway,' he murmured. 'The party can stay on one side.' He did not add 'out of the way', but Nan saw from the look on his face that the visitors had suddenly become an unnecessary distraction. His mind was on the ambulance, and what it contained. Keir, too, had stiffened at the sound, alert for its implications.
'Let's stand, here by the wall for a minute. It may not be much,' Nan suggested as they streamed through the swing doors. A dozen or more people waited on the comfortable chairs in the bright, airy room, in which the familiar controlled bustle of activity, arrested the attention of her companion. 'They'll bring the stretcher through those double doors at the side,' Nan pointed to where the ambulance had parked under the long canopy so that its occupants would be sheltered from the weather to load and unload.
'Excuse me.' Doctor Gray spoke politely to his guest, and forsook him without a qualm, and Keir followed suit. The ambulance man's down-turned thumb as he guided the wheeled trolley through the doors had been signal enough, and the two doctors put their own priorities first. Keir returned about ten minutes later, that seemed much longer to Nan, who found it strange to be visiting rather than joining in the work around her.
'Doctor Gray and I will have to leave you for a while.' He spoke urgently, without wasting time. 'We'll join you at lunch if we possibly can, but we'll both be needed here for the moment.'
'Is it bad ?' John McFee asked.
'A tractor tipped on top of its driver. There's no time to lose,' he said, and abruptly turned on his heel and left them.
'Surely they needn't both go,' the man from the Manor said critically. 'It's hardly good manners, to leave our guest like this. Couldn't they have taken the man into Hopminster to be treated?' he grumbled, but underneath his caustic tone Nan sensed triumph. With the two doctors out of the way he would have a clear field to air his own point of view. 'Shouldn't you be getting home to lunch now, my dear?' he asked in honeyed tones, and Nan felt her dislike of the man rise until it felt as if it would choke her.
'I hoped you'd join us for the meal.' John McFee held on to her arm stubbornly, and a small hope was born in her, 'You did say you weren't expected back,' he reminded her.
'I'd love to.' She looked for help towards her uncle's allies, and there was a reassuring rumble of agreement.
' 'Twouldn't have been any good to take him into Hopminster, guvnor,' unasked the ambulance man answered Lisle's criticism as he passed on his way back to his vehicle. He gave the other man a look that told Nan he was aware of what Lisle was trying to do to the hospital he worked for, and added, 'He wouldn't have lasted the journey. Neither would you, if you'd had a tractor tip over on you, the same as him.' He jerked his hand towards the curtained-off enclosure. 'Doctor Gray's his only chance,' he said cryptically, and with a further glance of pure dislike he butted his way back through the swing doors and pulled his vehicle out from under the canopy to make room for the next ambulance when it came. Within seconds one drew up, and the Minister spoke into Nan's ear.
'They seem busy this morning,' he remarked interestedly.
'They always are,' Nan told him. 'I've never known a casualty department to be slack yet.'
'The human race are an awkward lot,' her companion agreed with a smile. 'Tell me,' his blue eyes were alert, though he spoke casually enough. 'This Doctor Raven—the young fellow—is he a relative of yours too?'
'Oh no,' Nan shook her head. 'He's recently joined Uncle Oliver as his partner. It'll be a year or two before my uncle retires,' she told him, 'but he wanted to be sure of a successor, both in the practice and here at the hospital. We borrow consultants from Hopminster as well, when necessary,' she strove to be fair. 'They do the same from us, of course, but it's important to have the senior consultant close at hand. And Minster House is only minutes away from here.'
'Doctor Raven looks capable of coping with both,' John McFee said thoughtfully.
'Keir? Oh, he's capable. And he's interested in research, too. There's a fine laboratory here, it's something Uncle Oliver has built up over the years, and it's a strong link of interest between himself and Keir,' she added enthusiastically.
'He'd have a better laboratory if he moved to Hopminster.' Marcia's father butted into the Conversation impatiently. 'I've offered to finance one for him,' he said grandiosely.
'I see.' The Minister's tone did not alter, and Nan felt her depression return. It was too much to hope that a chance meeting such as this might alter the course of events at the hospital. She walked beside the guest, going through the wards in turn, greeting each of the patients by name since they were all people she knew from the numerous surrounding villages.
'It's better if we stay outside the intensive care unit, you can see what it's like through the glass doors,' she ventured as they approached it.
'Whatever for?' Marcia's father said brusquely. 'Let's go in and get it done with.' He stepped forward, brushing rudely past Nan to reach the doors first.
'Just a minute, Lisle,' the Minister checked him. 'Would you rather we didn't go in, Sister Durrant?' he asked Nan quietly.
'I happen to know there are four desperately ill people in there. There will soon be five if I know anything of tractor accidents,' she prophesied grimly. 'An invasion of this size,' she waved her hand towards the fairly large party she was with, 'can only have a disquieting effect.'
'Then we'll remain outside. Better still, continue our tour elsewhere, where we shan't disrupt the work.' John McFee's tone was firm, even sharp as the man from the Manor—Nan would never think of him as Squire—hesitated and frowned.
'Just as you wish,' he said ungraciously, but the look he sent in Nan's direction was barbed, and she wished fervently, as the clock neared time for lunch, that her uncle or Keir would soon put in an appearance and relieve her of what was fast becoming a battle of wits between herself and Marcia's father, and of which she was uncomfortably conscious that the Minister seemed fully aware. The two doctors did not, in fact, put in an appearance until the cheese and biscuits stage had been reached, and then both men looked weary.
'Well?' Nan looked a question at them silently.
'So far,' Oliver Gray's nod told her, and with that she had to be satisfied. She must find out if the tractor driver had a family. They might need transport in to the hospital, the bus service was sketchy between the villages. She wished she had her Mini, it would have come in useful now to be independent of the Minster House Land-Rover.
'Tell me what you're thinking.' She was on their guest's left hand at the table, and unknown to her he had been quietly watching her face. She told him, only to be interrupted once again by Marcia's father.
'Never mind the wretched fellow now,' he snapped. 'That isn't what we're here for.'
'I thought it was.' Keir's voice cut ac
ross the table, with a thread of steel in it that hardened his tone and his eyes, and stilled the conversation round the table. 'The hospital exists for the patients,' he pointed out smoothly. 'They're the sole reason for our existence.' He allied himself with its purpose, and Nan looked across at him, sudden hope shining in her eyes.
'Well, it isn't the reason for my existence.' The veneer was rapidly wearing thin on Lisle senior as the remnants of his patience began to shred. 'It's about time we started our meeting.' His tone suggested that the tour of the morning was a complete waste of time.
'Our two friends have only just joined us,' the Minister pointed out, nodding towards Oliver Gray and Keir. 'They haven't had time to eat.' He remained considerately in his seat, so that the others, perforce, had to do the same.
'I'd rather we got on with our discussions, if you've all finished?' Oliver Gray set down his untouched cup of coffee, and Nan looked at him worriedly. He had breakfasted early, and it was a long time until dinner. Even then that would be at the Manor, which automatically upset his digestion.
'Don't worry about us.' Somehow, Keir was beside her, leaning down and whispering into her ear with a serious look on his face as if what he said was of great import. Nan kept her own expression grave, though a bubble of laughter inside her longed to burst out. She had misjudged Keir—she knew that now. He would support the hospital, and not through any mistaken sense of loyalty to his partner, but because he thought its continued existence was necessary, which augured well for its future when he eventually took over. 'Theatre Sister brought us a tray of sandwiches and coffee, and bullied us until we sat down and ate before we came in here.' His black eyes met hers, laughing, the steely look gone. 'Oliver's only playing for effect. We guessed you'd have a time of it with Lisle.'
Nan's lips twitched, and she turned to their guest. 'I must go.' She implied that what Keir had told her was urgent, using his demeanour as her excuse. 'There are things to do ...'
'Never mind, we're bound to meet at dinner again tonight,' John McFee cried cheerfully. 'I shall look forward to that. You will be joining us, of course?' He seemed to take it completely for granted that she, too, would be an invited guest at the Manor, and Nan was nonplussed. So, too, was Marcia's father, his face turned a faint shade of purple, but he recovered quickly.
'Of course,' he said hastily. 'We hope Mrs Gray and Nan will both come.' He spoke as if they were old friends, but the look in his eyes was the reverse of welcoming.
'I'll let Aunt Mary know,' she smiled at him sweetly, and with a friendly nod to the rest of the Committee she left them to their deliberations, with her fingers crossed, but more hope in her heart now that she knew Keir was on their side.
'Did you expect him to vote any other way?' her aunt asked her, surprised.
'I couldn't be sure,' Nan confessed. 'He seemed to take a long time to make up his mind.'
'That's what Oliver wanted him to do,' her aunt told her. 'Make up his own mind, without prejudice. That way, he would know the hospital was in safe hands after he retired. In the hands of someone who would fight for it for its own sake, the same as he has done. It's strange that you should have met the Minister before,' she added.
'It's a wonderful stroke of luck.' Nan's eyes danced. 'And now he said he wanted to meet you as well, and we're expected at the Manor for dinner,' she passed on the reluctant invitation. 'You'll like John McFee-,' she added. 'He's our type-of people.'
It was evident that John McFee liked Mary. He kept her and Nan by his side with quiet tenacity until it was time to go in for dinner, and Nan suspected from his look that he had done so out of sheer self-defence, finding the shrill tones and effusive attentions of Marcia and her mother a little overwhelming.
'How did the voting go?' she managed to whisper to Keir on their way into the dining room before they were parted— deliberately, she suspected, since she was put at one end of the table, and Keir at the other.
'There's been no decision yet,' he answered her quietly. 'The Minister listened to all the arguments for and against, he'd read the report we sent him pretty thoroughly, he came primed with all the facts. It was a ding-dong battle the whole of the afternoon, but the referee's not made an announcement yet.' He spoke lightly, but there was tension in his face. 'He said he wanted to think it over for a while, which was reasonable enough, and he'd let us know finally at dinner. At least that will be a good one,' he added with schoolboy satisfaction. 'Lisle will try to make an impression, so it'll make up for the sandwiches at lunch time,' he said with a grin.
The dinner was first class, but Nan was not the only one who had little appetite for it, she noticed. Their host was obviously on edge, though Oliver Gray and Keir ate with the enjoyment of hungry men. John McFee gave his food the attention such excellent fare deserved, but Nan noticed he steered the conversation skilfully in the channels he wanted it to go, and listened with shrewd attention to the most casual remark.
'I hope your tractor driver will be all right,' he spoke across the table to Oliver Gray, with an air of politeness rather than interest, which did not fool Nan.
'He was lucky, he should mend,' the doctor informed him briefly.
'Tractor accidents aren't uncommon?' the Minister enquired.
'Unfortunately, no. But we're doing what we can to remedy the situation.' It was Keir's turn now.
'The effect, or the cause?' John McFee's soft voice provided an ideal disguise for keen interest.
'The cause.' Oliver Gray looked surprised. 'We have to treat the effects, remember, which is goad enough to make us do what we can to stop the accidents. The effects aren't pretty, and too often they're fatal. That's where the research unit comes in.'
'Forgive my husband, he's on his hobbyhorse,' Mary Gray smiled at her table companion warningly.
'Let him ride it for a while,' the Minister nodded encouragingly. 'Where does your research unit come in?' he asked interestedly.
'We liaise with the manufacturers,' again the elderly doctor looked faintly surprised at such a question. The explanation seemed obvious to him. 'They're as keen to eliminate such accidents as we are. A high proportion of them happen on sloping ground, often from inexperienced handling of the machine, but nevertheless the nature of the wold country here makes their use a potential hazard,' he explained earnestly. 'We're in constant contact with their research people, and they act on every suggestion we make,'
he commended the manufacturers. 'One day they hope to make a foolproof vehicle.'
'But until you get a foolproof human being, your services are always going to be needed at the hospital,' the Minister smiled.
'The need will always be there,' Oliver Gray responded significantly, and left his remark a question in mid-air.
'That need can be served just as well by the hospital at Hopminster,' their host bridled, and gave up all pretence of eating.
'I hardly think' so, from my observations today,' John McFee said easily, and at his words the guests around the table stiffened, and stopped eating. All attention was on the speaker, and the silence was absolute, except for Mrs Lisle, who continued eating unperturbed, her appetite for sweet food undisturbed by the strain that fairly crackled among her companions. The clink of her spoon on the dish made , a distraction that brought a scowl to her husband's face, but the speaker lost none of his urbanity.
'I can't remember when I've felt so impressed,' he continued. 'Your wee hospital here would match any I've seen for efficiency, and yet there's still that human touch.' He looked directly at Nan as he spoke, and she remembered how she had greeted the patients, knowing each one and their families. She had not done it for effect, but it had not gone unnoticed. 'As you say,' John McFee switched his glance to Keir, 'it's the patients you're here for. They're the ones who matter,' he looked straight at his host as he said this, and there was a hint of sternness in his glance.
'Then—we can keep going?' Keir asked him, and Nan held her breath.
'Indeed you can!'
Among Oliver Gra
y's supporters, the tension visibly relaxed, and Nan wanted to laugh out loud. An instant clatter of spoons resumed their happy duties, and the Minister continued, 'In fact you can go one better.' The spoons quietened again. 'I've heard by what means you've had to raise the money to rebuild parts of the hospital, the hard work the local people have put in to do this is a credit to them,' he said warmly. 'I think I can help you there, by a grant. I'll put things in motion so that you can go through into the next stage of your planning, sure of the amount of money you can spend. The intensive care unit was next on your list, wasn't it?' he hazarded. 'And then the research unit?'
'The intensive care unit is what matters most,' Keir told him. 'We can cope with the laboratory ourselves.' He hesitated, as if he did not want to discuss the laboratory in front of the others, and Nan stared at him, uncomprehending. Keir was normally sure of himself. Surely he had not changed his mind now? Perhaps he had been swayed by his love of research to accept the offer their host had made him, of a laboratory in the town hospital?
'Your partner told me you intended to use a legacy to build and equip a new laboratory at the hospital, if it remained open,' John McFee told Keir quietly. 'I believe he said it was a legacy?' he asked gently, and Keir nodded without speaking. 'A research unit will be a fitting memorial to your late wife.' Typically the Scot knew just the right thing to say, and Nan's heart warmed to the humanity of the man.
'Keir—what can I say?' Temporarily they were isolated in the after-dinner melee as people stood about in groups sipping coffee and talking. 'The laboratory ...' She hesitated. She had not got John McFee's gift of words.
'Don't say anything. Come for a walk with me instead. They can do without us now, in here.' Keir nodded towards where their guest was deep in conversation with Oliver and Mary Gray, but not so engrossed that he did not notice they were together, and with a slight gesture waved them on their way as he saw they were heading towards the french windows that led into the garden.
'Where are we going?' Nan did' not really care, she felt dizzy with the events of the last few minutes. Jubilant at the way matters had turned out, and at the same time curiously sorry for the Lisles. Not for Marcia—she had Keir—but for her parents. They had expected so much of their move to the Manor, and now all their plans had gone awry. All except one. Mrs Lisle would dearly love to see Keir and Marcia married, and it looked as if she would get her wish in that. Nan tried to shut the thought away, but over her joy for the hospital it lay like a hard, leaden weight on her spirits.