‘Willpower, that’s all.’ He shuffled back to his bed and sat down on its edge, where General Esterhazy’s heavy knuckles had recently rested.

‘Well, anyway, it’s time for your medication.’ She was holding a tiny paper cup filled with liquid in one hand, and a yet smaller cup containing a mixture of tablets in the other. Dreyfuss accepted both. He put the liquid down on his bedside cabinet and picked one of the tablets out at random, holding it between forefinger and thumb. It was oval-shaped and purple in colour.

‘What’s this?’ he asked. He felt bolder now that Parfit had arrived.

‘What do you mean? It’s just medication.’

‘No, come on, you’re a nurse. What kind of medication? What’s its purpose? What’s its medical name?’

She seemed flustered. Dreyfuss had not seen her flustered before.

‘Well?’ he goaded.

She smiled. ‘Major Dreyfuss, if you don’t want to take the tablets, that is your concern. But I should warn you that I’ll have to report—’

Dreyfuss laughed, shaking his head. ‘Get out of here,’ he said. ‘Go on, shove off.’ His grin was purposeful. ‘You’re not a nurse. A nurse on the wards would know what the drugs were called, nicknames, medical names, Christian names. A real nurse would know that. But you, Nurse Carraway, you don’t know anything. As General Esterhazy might put it, you don’t know squat! Incidentally,’ he was on his feet again, shuffling forwards, ‘which one of them do you work for, Stewart or Esterhazy?’

‘Major Dreyfuss,’ she spluttered, ‘I … I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘What’s more,’ he went on, enjoying this, ‘the doctor who came to see me that first time had never seen you before. Plus,’ he said, staring at her legs, ‘I can’t see too many nurses wearing silk hosiery, can you?’

She was staring at her legs too now, as though unable to believe their treachery.

‘Go on,’ he said tiredly, ‘go and make your report.’ And with this he fell back onto the bed and lay there shading his face with his arms. There was a pause of several seconds before he heard her shoes squeak. She had turned round and was going to the door, which opened silently. Dreyfuss felt tired and tricked and used. His head was thumping, and he wondered if any of the tablets in the cup would ease it.

‘Bravo.’

It was Parfit’s voice. Dreyfuss took his arms from his face and jerked his head up. Parfit was standing in the doorway, holding the door open with the tip of a polished black leather brogue. He came into the room, letting the door close softly. His shoes made a solid clacking noise on the flooring as he approached the bed.

‘Do you always eavesdrop on people’s conversations?’ asked Dreyfuss.

‘Goes with the territory, I’m afraid. So how are you?’

‘Fine.’