must add, sir, that
I'd hoped you knew me better than to believe it."
-- Good shot. Holinshed prides himself on "how well I know my staff."
"As to the so-called 'insults': did she tell you what they were?"
Holinshed hesitated. "Actually," he admitted, "Mrs Weddenhall described
them as unrepeatable."
"I think 'nonexistent' would be more precise," Paul murmured. "Have you
looked over the emergency admission report from last night yet?"
"Of course not! You saw me arrive just now."
"Did Mrs Weddenhall happen to mention an offer of help which she made to
Inspector Hofford of the county police?"
"I was just about to come to that. I had to reassure her that if one
of our patients had escaped I would certainly have been notified. But
there was, was there not, some violently disturbed person who attacked
a passer-by?"
"I can hardly imagine that you , sir, would approve of hunting down a
mentally deranged person with guns and wolfhounds! Inspector Hofford was
as horrified as I was, and if I did speak sharply to Mrs Weddenhall
I know I was expressing views which he and probably yourself would agree
with. The alleged maniac, by the way, proved to be a girl five feet
tall and weighing seventy-nine pounds who came away with me without the
least resistance."
-- I think I'm getting the measure of my boss: plenty of "sir" and an
imitation of his own stilted diction!
Paul cheered up; the morning seemed brighter suddenly. Studying him
with eyebrows drawn tightly together, Holinshed said eventually, "Did
you ask Mrs Weddenhall if she had ever been criminally assaulted?"
-- This will call for a little more weaseling out of.
"There were nail-marks on the injured man's face like those often found
on rapists. In fact, one of the constables on the spot mentioned having
seen similar ones on a man he'd helped to arrest. Since Mrs Weddenhall
is a JP I did ask her -- yes, I remember clearly now -- if she'd had
any experience of cases of rape. If I phrased my question badly, I'm
sorry. But I was extremely agitated at the prospect of a posse with guns
turning out to search the area.
He waited. At length Holinshed gave a grunt and reached towards his
in-tray.
"Very well, Fidler. We'll say no more about it. Just bear in mind that
our relations with the public are absolutely crucial, and you mustn't
let your professional zeal overcome your tact. Understood?"
"Of course." Repressing the desire to grin, Paul rose.
"Thank you. That's all."
Paul entered his own office with a sigh of relief. He went to the window
instead of sitting down to tackle the morning's heap of paper-work,
and lit a cigarette while watching the outside working-parties disperse
towards their jobs.
-- One consolation about Chent: they don't keep the poor devils sitting
around on their backsides in the wards all day. I wonder who broke the
dam in that area. Can't have been Holinshed. The one before, the one
before that?
It was hardly a fine day, but at least it was drier than yesterday. Around
a yawn he stared at the gardens detail waiting for issue of their safe
tools -- insofar as any implement was safe. But patients weren't given
anything more risky than a birch besom or a wheelbarrow unless they were
comparatively stabiised.
-- Hard to tell the difference between inmates on occupational therapy and
the employed maintenance staff if it weren't for the former always being
accompanied by nurses in white jackets. . . . Wonder if a mental hospital
should be run like a medieval monastery, a totally self-sufficient
community. Could be done. Except that too much enclosure of the patients
runs counter to the aim of giving them back to the outside world.
The first of the morning's knocks came on his door. The visitor was
Oliphant, remarkably fresh after what for him had probably been
I'd hoped you knew me better than to believe it."
-- Good shot. Holinshed prides himself on "how well I know my staff."
"As to the so-called 'insults': did she tell you what they were?"
Holinshed hesitated. "Actually," he admitted, "Mrs Weddenhall described
them as unrepeatable."
"I think 'nonexistent' would be more precise," Paul murmured. "Have you
looked over the emergency admission report from last night yet?"
"Of course not! You saw me arrive just now."
"Did Mrs Weddenhall happen to mention an offer of help which she made to
Inspector Hofford of the county police?"
"I was just about to come to that. I had to reassure her that if one
of our patients had escaped I would certainly have been notified. But
there was, was there not, some violently disturbed person who attacked
a passer-by?"
"I can hardly imagine that you , sir, would approve of hunting down a
mentally deranged person with guns and wolfhounds! Inspector Hofford was
as horrified as I was, and if I did speak sharply to Mrs Weddenhall
I know I was expressing views which he and probably yourself would agree
with. The alleged maniac, by the way, proved to be a girl five feet
tall and weighing seventy-nine pounds who came away with me without the
least resistance."
-- I think I'm getting the measure of my boss: plenty of "sir" and an
imitation of his own stilted diction!
Paul cheered up; the morning seemed brighter suddenly. Studying him
with eyebrows drawn tightly together, Holinshed said eventually, "Did
you ask Mrs Weddenhall if she had ever been criminally assaulted?"
-- This will call for a little more weaseling out of.
"There were nail-marks on the injured man's face like those often found
on rapists. In fact, one of the constables on the spot mentioned having
seen similar ones on a man he'd helped to arrest. Since Mrs Weddenhall
is a JP I did ask her -- yes, I remember clearly now -- if she'd had
any experience of cases of rape. If I phrased my question badly, I'm
sorry. But I was extremely agitated at the prospect of a posse with guns
turning out to search the area.
He waited. At length Holinshed gave a grunt and reached towards his
in-tray.
"Very well, Fidler. We'll say no more about it. Just bear in mind that
our relations with the public are absolutely crucial, and you mustn't
let your professional zeal overcome your tact. Understood?"
"Of course." Repressing the desire to grin, Paul rose.
"Thank you. That's all."
Paul entered his own office with a sigh of relief. He went to the window
instead of sitting down to tackle the morning's heap of paper-work,
and lit a cigarette while watching the outside working-parties disperse
towards their jobs.
-- One consolation about Chent: they don't keep the poor devils sitting
around on their backsides in the wards all day. I wonder who broke the
dam in that area. Can't have been Holinshed. The one before, the one
before that?
It was hardly a fine day, but at least it was drier than yesterday. Around
a yawn he stared at the gardens detail waiting for issue of their safe
tools -- insofar as any implement was safe. But patients weren't given
anything more risky than a birch besom or a wheelbarrow unless they were
comparatively stabiised.
-- Hard to tell the difference between inmates on occupational therapy and
the employed maintenance staff if it weren't for the former always being
accompanied by nurses in white jackets. . . . Wonder if a mental hospital
should be run like a medieval monastery, a totally self-sufficient
community. Could be done. Except that too much enclosure of the patients
runs counter to the aim of giving them back to the outside world.
The first of the morning's knocks came on his door. The visitor was
Oliphant, remarkably fresh after what for him had probably been
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