Dr Gaskell held out his cup for more tea, his brow furrowed. ‘Well, I can’t think of a reason why not. I have already told Nurse Brogan what an excellent nurse you thought Dr Marcus’s young lady would make.’

Matron frowned. ‘I did say that, and I meant it at the time, but I’m afraid moral standards are equally as important. I’m not sure we could have someone living in the nurses’ home who had… well, you know.’

Dr Gaskell shook his head at her.

‘Don’t you give me that look,’ she said. ‘You know what I mean. Where would it end if I dropped my standards that far?’

‘Matron’ – he put on the voice he used when he was about to win an argument with her or get his own way – ‘we both know that if a widow applied for a job and she was suitable, you’d take her on in a flash, because that’s what you’re like.’

‘Yes, but—’

‘There are no “yes, buts” about it. Now, I’m not saying this is something you should encourage, but in the case of Mary Kate, I think it’s an exception to the rule that you could overlook.’ He had won with very little effort and he knew it. Matron appeared chastened, but as he was only too well aware, there would be a price to pay.

‘Well, I am going to go to Ireland and I insist you come with me. We leave this week.’

He almost spluttered his reply. ‘I can’t do that, I’m operating tomorrow.’

‘Yes, I know,’ she cut in, ‘and by the evening you’ll know if all has gone well. Assuming there haven’t been any complications, your registrar can take over and deal with the list. After all, you’re always saying that you should hand over more responsibility. I thought we could get the boat over early the following morning. I’m sure you’ll be excited to know that I have already arranged accommodation and set up a meeting with a solicitor in Galway who will help me with introductions to an agency. If it goes well, you and I can report back to the board the following week.’

She began to pour herself more tea and he noted the look of triumph on her face.

‘I can tell there’s no point in my resisting this, is there? You want me there so that at the board meeting I can back you up.’

‘Exactly. And now that you’ve had your nap and your tea, you can take a look at these plans with me. We’ll need more than ten new nurses, I think. With the new clinic extension, it’s going to be more like thirty. We have a great deal of work to do.’

*

Cat and Mrs O’Keefe had been in the village for a couple of days, but they still felt like royalty whenever they sat in the back of Michael’s car. Right now he was driving them to the post office. Mary Kate was in the front next to her father.