His shoulders slumped a little, looking narrower under his plain, dark jacket. She judged him to be in his fifties, but hard work-much of it dangerous and unpleasant, plus many years of poverty-might have taken more of a toll on his strength than she had allowed. He might be younger than that. She remembered how he had helped all of them at the clinic, but most especially her, tenderly and fearlessly. "What would you like me to do?" she asked.

He smiled, realizing she had given in. She hoped profoundly that he did not know why.

"If anyone'd said ter me a year ago as a lady oo'd bin ter the Crimea would take ol' Squeaky Robinson's place an' turn it inter an 'ospital fer tarts off the street," he answered, "an then get other ladies ter cook and clean in it, I'd 'a throwed a bucket o' water at 'em till they sober'd up. But if anyone can do somethin' ter get them builders ter be'ave a bit safer, it's you." He finished his tea and stood up. "If you can come wi' me, I can show you the machine's wot I'm talkin' about."

She was startled.

"It'll be quite safe," he assured her. "We'll go ter one o' 'em that's open, but yer can think wot it'd be like underneath. Some tunnels is dug down, then covered over. Cut and cover, they call 'em. But some is deep down, like a rat'ole, under the ground all the way." He shivered very slightly. "It's 'em that scares me. The engineers might be clever wi' all kinds o' machines an' ideas, but they don't know 'alf o' wots down there, secret for 'undreds o' years, twistin' an' seepin'." She felt a chill at the thought, a coldness in the pit of her stomach. The daylight was coming in brighter now through the windows into the scullery. There was a sound of footsteps across the cobbled yard where deliveries were made.

She stood up. "How close will they let me come?"

"Borrer a shawl from one o' yer patients an' keep yer eyes down, an' yer can come right up close wi' me."

"I'll go and speak to Miss Ballinger."

But it was Claudine she met just outside the kitchen door. She began to explain that she was going to be away for a few hours. The books would have to wait. She was happy enough to stretch out the task as long as she could.