Read Online Finders and Keepers by Catrin Collier - Free Book Online Page B

labour. But Martha looked no more than eight or nine years old. Harry was tempted to ask her age but, aware that Dr Adams might see his question as a criticism, didn’t want to risk irritating him any more than he already had.
    â€˜I’ll tell you what I will do, Mr Evans. I’ll let you decide whether or not your grandfather should come here.’ Dr Adams picked up a bell from his desk and rang it. ‘Miss Adams can show you our private rooms and tell you about the treatment we offer. She is taking a short break from her studies at medical college to further her training here, and although not yet qualified, knows more about lung disease than the average medical practitioner.’
    The door opened and the young blonde woman who had shown Harry into the sanatorium stood in the doorway.
    â€˜Show Mr Evans the private rooms, and explain the treatments we can offer a patient with tuberculosis and pneumoconiosis.’
    â€˜A patient suffering from both?’
    â€˜A prospective patient.’ Dr Adams picked up a newspaper from his desk.
    Sensing that he had been dismissed, Harry murmured, ‘Thank you, Doctor Adams.’
    â€˜My clerk will advise you of our fees and admittance procedure should you decide we have anything to offer your grandfather. If you wish, Miss Adams will take you to his office after your tour. You can give him the details as to when we might expect to receive him. Mr Evans will need a gown and a mask, Diana.’ Dr Evans sat on the sofa, picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea, leaving Harry no choice but to follow Diana Adams out of the room.
    â€˜The prospective patient is your grandfather?’ Miss Adams opened a cupboard in the corridor and handed Harry a white cotton gown and mask identical to the ones she was wearing.
    â€˜Yes.’ In all respects bar one, it was true, and Harry saw little point in explaining his complicated relationship to his stepfather’s father.
    â€˜So he must be,’ she glanced at Harry, ‘sixty years of age or thereabouts?’
    â€˜Sixty-five.’ Harry wondered how his grandfather would react to being treated by a female medical student. He also speculated on the relationship between the doctor and Diana Adams. Were they father and daughter? Uncle and niece?
    â€˜That is rare. Not the pneumoconiosis – we are treating several miners with the illness – but the tuberculosis. The vast majority of patients who contract the disease are under thirty. But then, your grandfather’s lungs would be weakened and susceptible to bacteria.’
    â€˜Do you have many patients with both conditions?’
    â€˜Your grandfather would be the first.’ She halted in front of an iron lift cage and pressed a button.
    â€˜You have an electric lift,’ he commented in surprise.
    â€˜As you see. We couldn’t run a sanatorium in a building of this layout and size without one. It wasn’t purpose-built.’
    Her condescending tone irked him even more than Dr Adams’s had, because she looked even younger than he was. He couldn’t resist biting back.
    â€˜Even people in Pontypridd have heard of Madame Patti and her home at Craig-y-Nos, Miss Adams.’
    Unabashed, she continued to lecture him in the same patronizing tone. ‘This was the first private residence to have electricity in the country. When Madame Patti lived here, it used to take forty tons of coal a day just to generate the power that was needed to heat and light the rooms. However, she had conservatories and a winter garden that has since been dismantled and taken to Swansea. Given that we have no use for tropical plants or exotic birds, and fresh air plays a vital part in our treatments, our present usage is somewhat less.’ The cage descended; she opened the metal grille and stepped inside.
    Much as he resented her talking down to him, Harry thought of his grandfather and curbed his sarcasm. He held up the mask.