Danuta dragged on her coat, beret and scarf, and once Jack had locked the workshop door, quickly hopped into the cab, so grateful she could have hugged him – but of course she didn’t, for it would have embarrassed both of them.

The journey took no time at all, and soon he was pulling up at the bottom of the front steps. She jumped out and ran for cover beneath the portico as he unloaded the bike and brought it to her. ‘If you want a lift back, give me a ring,’ he said, handing her a business card. ‘I’m in the workshop all day.’

‘You are very kind, Jack. Thank you so much.’

He shot her a wink and ran back through the rain to the truck and within minutes he’d gone.

Danuta stowed her bike in the shelter of the portico and carried her medical bag into the mansion which had been turned into a respite hospital for those who were not yet well enough to be released to their homes. Stanislaw’s room was at the back of the building on the ground floor, and as she made her way there she exchanged greetings with many of the patients and nursing staff she’d come to know over the years since her return to England.

She saw Sister Brown in the corridor, and knowing she was looking after Stanislaw, she stopped to talk to her.

‘Hello, Danuta. How lovely to see you. You’re looking very well, I must say.’

‘Thank you, but I am worried about Stanislaw,’ she replied. ‘Is he not well?’

Sister Brown bit her lip, clearly reluctant to discuss her patient even though it was with another nurse. ‘He’s been better,’ she hedged. ‘The doctor has prescribed total bed rest.’

‘He has done too much, I think.’

‘Look, Danuta, I shouldn’t really be telling you this, but as you’re a nurse and he has no family to care about him, I should warn you he isn’t in a good way.’

Danuta’s pulse thudded and she felt the colour drain from her face. ‘What has happened?’

‘He’s been overdoing everything – especially the drinking – and he’s not been taking care of his stumps properly and doing too much walking; consequently, he has to go without his prosthetics until the stumps are healed. He also has a chest infection which we’re monitoring closely in case it turns to pneumonia.’

She took a breath and let it out on a sigh. ‘All in all, Danuta, he’s a sick man and we’re all worried about him.’

‘I must see him. I can go now?’

‘Don’t be too hard on him, Danuta. He’s had an earful from the doctors as well as me, and knows he’s been a silly billy.’

Danuta had never heard that expression before, but could guess what it meant. She thanked Sister Brown and hurried down the corridor to Stanislaw’s room. Knocking lightly on the door, she waited a moment and when there was no reply, she opened it a crack and peeked in.