shouldn’t be telling you all this. I should be asking about you.”
I pushed the box of paper handkerchiefs towards her. She took one, then caught my eye. “Shit,” she said through the tears. She blew her nose, sniffed, and wiped her eyes. “I don’t know, John. I looked at her and I think it’s impossible that she’ll ever recover. She’s no hair left, but her face isn’t too bad. It seems she crouched down and put her face in her hands, you see. Her hands are quite shocking, and I gather they’re the most difficult to repair properly, but at least she can wear gloves, can’t she?” She was crying again. “Then her legs and her back are very bad. Her bottom is awful, but the pompous man says it really will be all right, and I can’t do anything but believe him. Hans says she should go to Switzerland, but I can’t see why.”
“Nor can I,” I said fervently.
“Hans says they’ve got very good cosmetic surgeons there, but I think he’s just being xenophobic. He did go to see Jennifer, but he found it rather upsetting. She’s been on one of those air beds like an upside-down hovercraft. It’s too silly, really.” She blew her nose again. “She’s not entirely
“Tell her I’m fine, and very sorry.”
“I won’t tell her you’re sorry. You can do that yourself. And are you fine? Doctor Mortimer says you’re an appalling patient. He says you won’t give up smoking.”
“I can’t.”
“You should, but I didn’t think you would so I went to Dunhills and bought you some pipes. I don’t know anything about pipes so I’ve probably done the wrong thing, but here you are.” She gave me a big bag full of the most expensive pipes. “I chose some tobacco at random,” she went on, “the man in the shop said you’d probably be very particular, but I just bought what smelt the nicest.”
I took the tobacco. “You’re very kind.”
“You did save my daughter’s life.”
“And risked it,” I said bitterly.
“Don’t start all that again. Leon spoke with the helicopter crew and heard all about what you did. You’re a very brave man.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I won’t argue.” She took a deep breath. “I came here to cheer you up, and all I do is weep. Poor John.”
“Poor Jennifer.”
“She’s a tough creature. She takes after her father, I think. She’s certainly too good for that bloody Swiss man.”
“I agree with that.”
“But Leon doesn’t. He’s very keen on the marriage. He never had children of his own, you see, so he rather thinks of Jennifer as a daughter. I keep telling him that all Hans ever did was to inherit a vast business. Any fool can inherit money.”
“While it takes a sensible man to make it?” I asked, and reflected that I had made none.
Helen smiled mischievously. “A sensible man marries it, John, but I think you know that already. Now I won’t tire you any more. I know Leon wants to see you soon. He’s made some arrangements for your younger sister and I’m sure they’re perfect, but you need to take a look for yourself.” She balled up the scraps of paper tissues, then collected her handbag. “If you’ve got nowhere to go when you leave hospital, then you’ll be very welcome at Comerton.”
“I shall be fine, don’t worry. And give my love to Jennifer.”
“I already have.” She stood up. “Let us know where you are, and don’t hesitate to ask if you need somewhere to stay.”
I left the hospital a week later. I went with Charlie and, because I felt safe in his company, I told Harry to take away the police guard. Charlie drove me to his house where I limped upstairs and lay down on the bed. My legs still hurt like the devil, but, apart from the one ankle, the scarring would be minimal. I flinched when I thought of Jennifer, and the ordeal she faced, so that evening I phoned Comerton Castle and asked for Lady Buzzacott. Sir Leon came to the phone instead and told me his wife was with Jennifer in London. And where was I? he asked. I gave him Charlie’s number, there was a pause as I imagined him writing it down in his small leather-bound book, then he said he wanted to see me.
“Of course.”
“I want your approval for the arrangements I’m proposing for the Lady Georgina. Will tomorrow be convenient?”
I wasn’t certain I really felt fit enough, but nor did I think I could bear a day of Yvonne’s long face, so I said tomorrow would be fine.
“Shall I send a car?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to.” I was not only homeless, but penniless as well.
The car came in the morning. The driver took me to the Mendip Hills where, in a sheltered south-facing village, we turned into a long driveway which led to a large white-painted Victorian house. Sir Leon himself met me at the front door and introduced me to a fresh-faced man of about my age. “This is Doctor Grove,” Sir Leon said, “the medical doctor of Lovelace House.”
Sir Leon was touchingly anxious that I should approve of Lovelace House. “I had my staff do a great deal of research,” he told me, “and I assure you that Lovelace met our most stringent requirements.”
It was, so far as I could tell, ideal. Lovelace House was privately run, outrageously expensive, and self- evidently caring. Many such places, catering to the lunatic members of rich or titled families, are scarcely more than prisons, but at Lovelace each patient had a private suite, personal nurses, and as much freedom as their condition would allow them to receive. Whenever we met a patient in one of the airy corridors I was gravely and courteously introduced. A Marchioness enquired whether I had planted the banana tree yet, I replied no, and she told me my employment was in severe jeopardy. I bowed, then limped on to see the suite that had been reserved for Georgina. Wide French windows opened on to a terraced lawn, beyond which empty paddocks stretched to the wooded hillside. The view was not unlike that from the windows of Stowey, and I said as much. “Except for the horses, of course.”
“Is the Lady Georgina fond of horses?” Doctor Grove asked.
“She used to be. My sister wouldn’t let her ride, but a friend and I used to lead her round on a docile old mare. She was always very happy when we did that.”
Doctor Grove made a note. “I think perhaps we should explore that avenue. Thank you, my lord.”
“John,” I said automatically, “call me John.”
I dutifully inspected the kitchens, the drawing rooms, the communal dining room and the consultation rooms where, I was told, the best London psychiatrists came to weave their spells. If Georgina could be happy anywhere, I thought, then surely it was in this kindly place.
After the inspection, and after I had expressed my wholehearted approval to Doctor Grove, Sir Leon asked for a moment alone with me. He led me out to the southern gardens where a curious group of patients inspected his helicopter which stood with drooping rotors on the wide lawn. Sir Leon steered me away from the machine, preferring the solitude of a gravel walk. “My lawyers have already opened negotiations with the Lady Georgina’s trustees,” Sir Leon said in his precise and pedantic voice. “I think I can assure you that there will be no hindrance to her coming here.”
“Sir Oliver Bulstrode might not agree,” I suggested grimly.
“Sir Oliver, like all top London lawyers, will decide in favour of the richest party.”
I smiled to hear this dry little man confirm my own opinion of lawyers. I was beginning to feel quite fond of Sir Leon, which I thought was only appropriate considering how I felt about his stepdaughter. We paced on in silence for a few yards, then he shot me a very shrewd and rather unfriendly glance. “And what of your own future, my lord?”
Something in his tone alerted me. Perhaps I’d been too quick in my warm feelings. I’d thought it slightly strange that a man of his importance should see fit to show me round a high-class lunatic asylum, but now I sensed he had quite another reason for meeting me this day. “I haven’t thought much about my future,” I said casually, “and please do stop calling me ‘my lord’.”
“If you wish.” Sir Leon had noticed how walking pained me, even with the help of a walking stick that Charlie had found in his junk room, so now he stopped by an ornamental urn. “Forgive me asking, but was your boat
