of it, they would have a field day! Public confidence in the hospital and its management would be severely undermined. The Trust relies to a great extent for some of its innovative practices, like the state-of-the-art screening equipment in the new preventative medicine unit, on the goodwill, expressed through charitable donations, of its many wealthy benefactors. Why, if I started pushing needless panic buttons …
– As manager, you and your team also have a duty to the public to investigate this, Clements snapped.
Sweet decided that Clements stood for almost everything he detested, perhaps even more than the working classes he himself sprang from. That arrogant public-school assumption of in-bred superior morality. Bastards like that could afford it; no money worries there. Sweet, though, had staked everything on purchasing that large property on the Thames at Richmond, no more than a shell when he bought it. Now the bills had to be repaid, and things were coming along nicely, thanks to Freddy’s patronage. Now all that was being threatened, his very livelihood, by an arrogant little fuss-pot with a silver spoon in his mouth!
Taking a deep breath, Sweet tried to resume his air of detached professionalism. – Of course, a full investigation will take place …
– See that it does, Clements barked, – and see also that I’m kept informed.
– Of course … Geoffrey … Sweet simpered through gritted teeth.
– Goodbye,
Mister
Sweet, Clements snapped.
Sweet grasped a pen in his fist and scraped the word CUNT across the paper of a lined notepad with such venom that it tore through six pages and left its impression on another dozen. He then picked up the phone and dialled a number. – Freddy Royle?
20 Untitled – Work In Progress
Page 156
Lorraine had been following the Earl of Denby, all the way across the city to the opium den he frequented in Limehouse. Dressed in old clothes and with a scarf over her face to avoid being recognised by the Earl, she looked for all the world like a humble servant-girl. The disguise proved to be effective; in some ways too effective. Lorraine was subjected to continual harassment from the assorted reprobates and ne’er-do-wells who were returning home through the dark city streets after a night of revelry
.
She maintained her demeanour and walked on, but one persistent pair, dressed in military colours, had been making comments, and now they jumped in front of her to block her path
.
– This pretty maid will be fair game for some sport, I’ll wager, one of the men said wryly
.
– And I think I know the sport you have in mind, the other smiled lewdly
.
Lorraine froze to the spot. These drunken soldiers had mistaken her for a common maid. She was about to speak but was then aware of another presence behind her
.
– I caution you not to bother this lady, a voice was heard
.
Lorraine turned to see a handsome man emerging from the shadows
.
– Who do you think you are? One of the bloods shouted, – be about your business!
The man stood impassively. Lorraine recognised the familiar contemptuous scowl on his lips, though his hat kept his eyes in shadow. When he deigned to address the young soldiers, he did so with authority. – I’ve been observing your revels, Sirs, and I have to inform you that your drunken verse displays a taste for the bawdy that would shame the most undisciplined conscripts from the coal towns of Lancashire!
The other soldier, recognising the bearing of a fellow officer, seemed more wary. – And who might you be, Sir?
– Colonel Marcus Cox, of the House of Cranborough, and of the 3rd Division of the Sussex Rangers. And you: who would be the rogue who sullies the colours of his fine regiment by insulting a lady of status in society and a ward of the Earl of Denby?
– You know, Sir? Lorraine asked in surprise. Her disguise had been enough to fool the grieving Denby, he who could not wait to return from his London duties to his stupid sheep,
– As manager, you and your team also have a duty to the public to investigate this, Clements snapped.
Sweet decided that Clements stood for almost everything he detested, perhaps even more than the working classes he himself sprang from. That arrogant public-school assumption of in-bred superior morality. Bastards like that could afford it; no money worries there. Sweet, though, had staked everything on purchasing that large property on the Thames at Richmond, no more than a shell when he bought it. Now the bills had to be repaid, and things were coming along nicely, thanks to Freddy’s patronage. Now all that was being threatened, his very livelihood, by an arrogant little fuss-pot with a silver spoon in his mouth!
Taking a deep breath, Sweet tried to resume his air of detached professionalism. – Of course, a full investigation will take place …
– See that it does, Clements barked, – and see also that I’m kept informed.
– Of course … Geoffrey … Sweet simpered through gritted teeth.
– Goodbye,
Mister
Sweet, Clements snapped.
Sweet grasped a pen in his fist and scraped the word CUNT across the paper of a lined notepad with such venom that it tore through six pages and left its impression on another dozen. He then picked up the phone and dialled a number. – Freddy Royle?
20 Untitled – Work In Progress
Page 156
Lorraine had been following the Earl of Denby, all the way across the city to the opium den he frequented in Limehouse. Dressed in old clothes and with a scarf over her face to avoid being recognised by the Earl, she looked for all the world like a humble servant-girl. The disguise proved to be effective; in some ways too effective. Lorraine was subjected to continual harassment from the assorted reprobates and ne’er-do-wells who were returning home through the dark city streets after a night of revelry
.
She maintained her demeanour and walked on, but one persistent pair, dressed in military colours, had been making comments, and now they jumped in front of her to block her path
.
– This pretty maid will be fair game for some sport, I’ll wager, one of the men said wryly
.
– And I think I know the sport you have in mind, the other smiled lewdly
.
Lorraine froze to the spot. These drunken soldiers had mistaken her for a common maid. She was about to speak but was then aware of another presence behind her
.
– I caution you not to bother this lady, a voice was heard
.
Lorraine turned to see a handsome man emerging from the shadows
.
– Who do you think you are? One of the bloods shouted, – be about your business!
The man stood impassively. Lorraine recognised the familiar contemptuous scowl on his lips, though his hat kept his eyes in shadow. When he deigned to address the young soldiers, he did so with authority. – I’ve been observing your revels, Sirs, and I have to inform you that your drunken verse displays a taste for the bawdy that would shame the most undisciplined conscripts from the coal towns of Lancashire!
The other soldier, recognising the bearing of a fellow officer, seemed more wary. – And who might you be, Sir?
– Colonel Marcus Cox, of the House of Cranborough, and of the 3rd Division of the Sussex Rangers. And you: who would be the rogue who sullies the colours of his fine regiment by insulting a lady of status in society and a ward of the Earl of Denby?
– You know, Sir? Lorraine asked in surprise. Her disguise had been enough to fool the grieving Denby, he who could not wait to return from his London duties to his stupid sheep,
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