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‘How is he?’ she asked immediately, her voice sharp with fear.
Hester put out her hand and laid it on Adrienne’s arm, holding her, feeling the strength with which she pulled away.
‘He’s resting,’ she answered firmly. ‘And he has taken some beef tea with a little tonic in it. Dr Rand is hoping to begin the treatment soon.’
Adrienne was still pulling away, as if she would not believe anything until she saw it for herself.
Hester kept hold of her.
‘You must take more care of yourself,’ she said gently. ‘Once treatment begins, we will need your help. You need to be well, in order to look after him.’
Adrienne stared at her. She was exhausted, frightened and desperately in need of belief that the long battle could be won.
‘Come and have a cup of tea,’ Hester asked. ‘I need to tell you certain things about caring for him that you need to know.’
Adrienne hesitated.
‘You have done an excellent job so far.’ Hester could see the doubt in the other woman’s eyes, the hunger to check for herself that Radnor was indeed all right. As soon as she was in the room he would ask her to do one small task after another, all of them unnecessary, and she would obey. Hester had already seen how he needed to feel the power of ordering her around, and she never refused him anything. Whether it was love, fear of losing him, or guilt that he had imbued her with over the years, she could not tell. And it made no difference. He was drawing the strength out of her, and what Hester had told her about how she would be needed later on was perfectly true, even if that was not the reason she said so now.
‘I’ve tried.’ Adrienne smiled very slightly, searching Hester’s face to see if she were telling the truth, or just trying to be kind.
‘I doubt he would still be alive if you had been any less diligent.’ Hester meant that. Radnor might well have survived out of sheer will to feed on the relationship. ‘Please come so I can tell you more of what will happen,’ she added.
Adrienne yielded and followed Hester along the corridor to the small room where nurses could take the necessary breaks now and then. There was a small burner where a kettle could be boiled and Hester immediately lit it and began to prepare the teapot and two cups.
There was nothing of real importance to tell Adrienne, but she could make it up easily enough. What she really wanted was to persuade her of the necessity of getting several hours of sleep herself. Tired people made mistakes. Every fear was larger when the emotional strength was worn out. Whatever they did, Radnor would die someday. Adrienne needed to be free of the guilt for living on, being younger, stronger, most of her life still ahead.
She made the tea, piping hot, and they sat together sipping it, along with some excellent biscuits, and she was glad to see that Adrienne ate until the plate was empty. She wondered when Adrienne had last eaten a full meal.
Adrienne had finished her tea. She leaned forward a little as if to stand up.
‘Your father has told me about some of his adventures,’ Hester said quickly. ‘He has seen so many things most of us don’t ever imagine, and he describes them so vividly.’
Adrienne smiled and relaxed back again. ‘Oh, yes. He will live more fully in one year than most men do in their whole lives.’ Her face was bright with admiration.
Radnor had spoken only of himself. Was that self-obsession, or did he assume Hester would take it for granted that Adrienne had been on at least some of his adventures?
‘I have been only to the Crimea, and to America once, at the very start of their civil war,’ Hester said.
‘That doesn’t sound very pleasant.’ Adrienne looked at her with interest, perhaps even a touch of compassion. ‘I’ve been to Paris. It’s a wonderful city, so beautiful, so . . . special. There’s a magic in the air. Does that sound silly?’
‘Not at all. Tell me something about it.’
‘My father took me,’ Adrienne began. ‘It was a little while ago now, but I shall remember it as long as I live.’
Hester listened for half an hour, reboiled the kettle and drank more tea as Adrienne told her about Paris, how her father knew it so well, his passion for the beauty of it, the history, and the little out-of-the-way corners most people never found.
Her face was animated; her eyes bright, her voice lifted with enthusiasm, and admiration, not for the city so much as the man so passionately alive who had shown it to her.
She mentioned nowhere else. Radnor had spoken of a dozen places. Was Paris the only one to which he had taken her?
When at last Adrienne left, still determined to check on her father, Hester finally escaped Magnus Rand’s attention and hurried back to the children’s ward to see Maggie and Charlie. She wanted to know for herself how they were, even though Magnus had assured her that they were doing well. More than that, she had questions to ask them.
She found all three of them sitting on Charlie’s bed, playing cat’s cradle with long pieces of string tied into loops. Until they noticed her, they were all concentrating on weaving patterns with their fingers.
Then some movement caught Maggie’s eye and she looked up. Her face filled with delight and she dropped the thread of string, ran over to Hester and threw her arms around her.
Hester hugged her back before she gave a thought to the impropriety of it, or not.
