The nurse shook her head. ‘Not a patient,’ she said quietly. ‘An American.’ Louisa looked at the nurse, who only shrugged.
She went into the main office. Sitting in the chair by the large oak desk was a middle-aged man with wavy silver hair combed straight back. He looked vaguely familiar, Louisa thought. ‘I’m Dr Quick,’ Louisa said. She could smell a fragrance. There were no flowers here. Was he wearing perfume?
The office was still furnished in the dark timbers Louisa had inherited from her predecessor, a dour surgeon who’d finally retired at the age of eighty-six. Louisa and Ruth had taken over his rooms but they hadn’t bought new furniture and equipment, as they’d needed everything they earned to establish the clinic. There had never been any spare money since to refurnish.
‘Doctor Quick.’ He stood and walked towards her. He was a head taller than Louisa and of slim build. He had a kind of pent-up energy to him, as if he might be called upon to sprint at any moment, but at the same time he seemed perfectly at ease. Over one arm he had a dark overcoat and in that hand, his left, a dark grey trilby. He smiled, held out his other hand. It was one of those disarming smiles that expected to be returned.
Louisa smoothed her hands on her skirt. They were still wet from scrubbing after the final patient. He took her hand in his and for a moment she thought he might kiss it. But he shook it instead and stood there. ‘I’m Manfred Lear Black.’ His voice was soft, his accent stretching and accentuating the ‘a’ in Black. He smiled again and Louisa saw the flash of white teeth, creases at his dark eyes.
‘Mr Black,’ Louisa said. She knew the name, Manfred Lear Black. He’d been in the papers. The mad American, they called him. Something about an aeroplane. ‘Do sit down.’ She flicked her eyes up to the clock on the wall above the desk behind him. He turned.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I had intended to make an appointment but when I telephoned I was told you are booked solid for the next month. I took the liberty of popping by.’ He said ‘popping’ as if trying the word out.
His accent was strong on certain words, like the accents of the Americans she’d worked with at Johns Hopkins. ‘Well, Mr Black, you’re here now. How can I help?’ She smiled gently, the way she did for patients who had something difficult to tell her. She assumed he would be coming about a wife or daughter with a medical problem. Sometimes the men came first, especially if it was an unwanted pregnancy.
‘Yes, I’ll come straight to the point. I’ve been told you are immune to charm.’ Louisa didn’t respond to this. ‘I have a clinic in Baltimore not unlike your Princes Square, linked to Johns Hopkins. I believe you know Dr Emily Masterton.’
‘Emily, of course,’ Louisa said. Emily had done her studies at Johns Hopkins University and had stayed on. ‘We trained together.’ Louisa had gone to Johns Hopkins after she’d finished in Edinburgh, following in her brother Harry’s footsteps. Being at a hospital that cared for the poor, with doctors who were committed to helping others, had helped Harry decide on Thursday Island, but it had also helped Louisa decide to start her own clinic after the war. The Johns Hopkins approach, where doctors respected patients and one another, had been healing for
Louisa herself, she’d often thought. It was a gentle place, and Emily and Louisa had been friends.
‘Emily is now our chief of medicine,’ Manfred Lear Black said. ‘We’re quite similar to your clinic, a kind of social experiment, or so Emily and the other doctors tell our board. The clinic is doing its best to stop people getting sick in the first place: better food, better hygiene, vaccination.’
If only they were doing that at Princes Square, Louisa thought, but they didn’t have the time or the resources. ‘Yes, Emily was very interested in public health,’ she said, glancing up at the clock again. ‘And how do you fit into a medical clinic, Mr Black?’ she asked.
‘My family has an interest in shipping. We’ve benefited substantially from dockworkers and their families. I have always been of the view that we should give something back. A little like Johns Hopkins himself, although I don’t pretend for one minute to fit those shoes. But the clinic.’ Black put his hand to his face, wiped it across his mouth. Louisa didn’t know where this was leading. ‘I have a proposition to put to you, and I thought I ought to come in person so that you’d see I’m sincere.’
‘Go on,’ she said. There was something in his expression, something she liked.
‘I want you to come to Baltimore and spend some time with my doctors. We’re planning to offer a major shift to confinement care in hospital. Most women deliver at home, which is not ideal, according to my doctors. We wanted a family specialist to provide us with up-to-date advice on women’s health.’
‘Me,’ Louisa said. ‘I’m a surgeon.’ Was he being coy about abortion? Louisa was one of the few doctors willing to be outspoken on the issue and on others besides. Princes Square was shameless, an editorial in The Times had claimed recently. Girls the Sally Ann had rejected as amoral had been provided with succour by Louisa Quick and her doctors. Louisa, who tried hard to stay out of the newspapers, couldn’t bear this kind of self-righteousness. The Sally Ann refused pregnant women a place to stay if they were unmarried, turned them out on the street. That was what was shameless, as far as Louisa was concerned.
‘Your clinic offers family medicine,’ Black said.
‘But if it’s medicine, you’d be better off talking to my colleague, Dr Luxton.’
‘Well, I’m talking to you,’ he said. He smiled. ‘My doctors know you. They know your work. They’ll listen to you.’
‘But they’re in Baltimore,’ Louisa said.
‘Yes, that’s what I’m suggesting. If you could see your way to visiting us later in the year, you could advise us.’
‘Visit Baltimore?’ Louisa said. ‘I can’t possibly leave here.’ She thought of the clinic, and now Catherine. There was no way she could go abroad in the foreseeable future.
‘Of course, we would pay all your expenses, and make a contribution to cover your absence. I know there are moves afoot here in London to require establishments such as yours to meet new health standards. I’d envisage that would involve some additional costs for you. I could be helpful.’
Louisa nodded. How did he know about the new health standards? There had been another letter from the Inspectorate. They were finalising details of a visit. Louisa knew her clinic didn’t have a chance of passing the inspection. If they closed the clinic, what would happen to all those families?
‘We don’t have to decide anything today,’ Black said, regarding her carefully. ‘But if you want to test my bona fides, perhaps you might speak with your brother.’
‘You know Alexander?’ Louisa said. She sat back in her chair.
‘His company has joined with us in the past, and we’re about to invest together in a new line. Four more ships, London to New York. Alex is good on the money side.’
‘Yes he is,’ Louisa said.
Black smiled, tilted his head and regarded her. ‘I must say, he’s not nearly as charming as his sister.’
‘When Alexander told you I was immune to charm, Mr Black, did he also tell you that I once split his lip for calling me a sissy-girl?’
‘No, he didn’t,’ Black said, chuckling. ‘As a matter of fact, Dr Quick, we’ve never discussed you. It was a staff member of mine whose family knows you who gave me that warning, not your brother. I’d hate to be the cause of a second split lip for Alex, although I imagine he could hold his own.’ He laughed. ‘Come to think of it, he has been a tough negotiator. More than once over the years, I’ve wished he was on my side of the table not the other. So perhaps another split lip wouldn’t worry me unduly. But we must stick to the truth. It wasn’t Alex. Now, tell me, am I right in assuming the swimmer I saw on the Thames yesterday is related to you?’
‘My niece,’ Louisa said, ‘Catherine. You saw the newspaper?’
He nodded. ‘I saw the swim,’ he said. ‘Is she Harry’s daughter?’
&nb
sp; ‘You knew Harry too?’
‘Through Alex. Harry helped me set up the clinic when he was at Johns Hopkins. I should have said at the outset, I’m sorry for your loss.’
Louisa nodded. She’d hardly thought of Harry these last months. ‘Catherine lives with me now.’
He nodded. ‘Harry’s wife, Julia, awful business. I introduced them, you know.’
‘Harry and Julia?’ Louisa said.
‘Yes, she was a Freebody. My mother was a Freebody. Harry came to a little party I had at my house on Long Island. But I lost track after they left Baltimore. I knew they’d had a child, of course. As I say, awful business about poor Julia.’ Louisa saw the look of pain on his face, the lines down his cheeks. ‘Harry did some wonderful work to set up our clinic. He was one of the most egalitarian fellows I’ve ever had the privilege to know. A good man.’
‘Yes,’ Louisa said. ‘We were very close growing up, and I’m now Catherine’s guardian. You said you saw the swim?’
‘I was at a meeting at Globe Wharves to do with this deal we’re negotiating. We were called to the window to see this slip of a girl crossing the Thames. Just extraordinary, dodging barges and ferries, swimming against that tide. And then this morning when I saw the name in the newspaper, I put two and two together. My, what spirit she has. She must take after her father,’ Black said.
‘Perhaps,’ Louisa said, feeling the weight of responsibility for Catherine.
‘You don’t approve, Dr Quick?’
She sighed. Something about his manner encouraged Louisa to open up in a way she wouldn’t usually. ‘Actually, Mr Black, the swim was not sanctioned by me or by Catherine’s school.’ She frowned. ‘Especially by Catherine’s school. As a matter of fact, Catherine is at home right now, waiting for me to get there and tell her what we’re going to do. And I have absolutely no idea.’ He looked concerned. ‘There’s no defence I can think of to remedy the situation. She was supposed to be in school. She took eight students with her to watch and now she’s been expelled.’
He laughed loudly.
‘You think this is funny?’ Louisa said.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ he said, becoming serious. But then he started to chuckle again. ‘I mean, can’t they see the merit in what she did? How does a girl organise a swim like that?’
Louisa hadn’t really thought about that. How did she organise it? ‘It was a thoroughly irresponsible act.’
‘Do you think?’ he said. ‘Strikes me as a thoroughly courageous act. She swam the Thames, Dr Black. How old is she?’
‘Fifteen.’
‘Could you have managed something like that at fifteen? I couldn’t.’
‘I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.’
‘I have some contacts in swimming, as it happens.’ He pulled at one of his earlobes, a gesture Louisa found vaguely attractive. ‘Not here but back at home.’
‘Swimming,’ Louisa said.
‘Well, I’m just thinking out loud here but there’s a swimming group in New York—Charlotte Epstein, the Women’s Swimming Association. I give them money.’
‘Women’s swimming.’
‘Yes. They teach girls to swim. They trained last year’s Olympic team. They won everything.’
‘And you give them money?’ Louisa couldn’t think why.
He put his hand up and flicked the air, dismissing his largesse. ‘A little,’ he said. ‘I lost a sister to drowning.’ A look of pain crossed his face then. ‘Couldn’t swim.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Louisa said.
He shook his head. ‘It was a long time ago. Anyway, it’s just an idea. Your niece could come with you—to America, I mean—and swim with the Association while you’re in Baltimore. She’s at least as strong as Mercedes Gleitze, maybe stronger.’
‘Mercedes Gleitze?’
‘You don’t know who Mercedes Gleitze is?’ Louisa shook her head. ‘No woman has yet swum across the English Channel. Heck, only five men have succeeded. Mercedes Gleitze is English, from Brighton, and she’s come the closest so far. She’s trying again this year, and one of our swimmers—that is, the WSA swimmers—Gertrude Ederle, plans to do it first. Matter of fact, she’s swimming right now, as we speak. She set out at first light today. Surely you saw that in the paper?’ Louisa shook her head. She hadn’t seen anything about it. She didn’t have time to read the real news, let alone anything about women’s swimming. ‘It’s an exciting battle between England and America, and it may be over tonight. But your young niece would have given both of them a run for their money, I’d warrant.’
Louisa stood. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Black. This has been very illuminating, but I’m afraid I really must go. Your proposal is … totally unexpected. Give me some time to think and perhaps I can write you here in London.’ What a ridiculous notion, Louisa thought, running off to Baltimore while Catherine swam. She’d write a polite ‘no’ after a decent interval.
‘Of course.’ He stood too. ‘Dr Quick, can I say it has been an honour to meet you? Emily speaks so highly of you, and I know my doctors would value your help as we go forward.’ He took a breath in and out. ‘I had hoped to tempt you with the challenge I presented but I can see you have a full dance card when it comes to challenges with your own clinic and now your young niece. And given that our time is up, I shall have to be the crass American your newspapers love to paint me as.’
He gathered his coat and hat from the chair beside him, put out a hand. She took it. He held it. ‘The truth is this. I am a man of considerable means, Dr Quick. I can help you in your work in the East End, if you can help us in Baltimore. We need you. If I may be so bold,’ he said. ‘Is that how you English put it? If I may be so bold, I will pay whatever it costs. I would envisage your own clinic is going to require substantial work in order to pass the coming inspection. I do want you to know that the money isn’t going to be the issue here.’ He still had her hand. She was shaking her head, about to let him know she couldn’t possibly leave the clinic, when it occurred to her that she could. Of course she could. She could go to Baltimore and visit Mr Black’s clinic. She could take Catherine, just as he suggested, and Catherine could swim with this New York group, which was surely what Catherine would want to do. Louisa could do it, and then Mr Black could give them the money they needed to upgrade the clinic. How marvellous.
‘Sit back down, Mr Black,’ she said suddenly. ‘How would this work? When?’
He smiled but didn’t sit, released her hand. ‘Ideally, before the end of this year,’ he said. ‘I go back in November, and any time after that would suit us.’
She regarded him. Gardenias, that was the fragrance. ‘For some reason, I find myself liking your idea, Mr Black, and there is nothing crass about money as far as I’m concerned. We run a clinic for the poor. They have no one but us and if we were closed, they’d have no one.’
‘You’re a lot like your younger brother, Dr Quick. And actually, if you are thinking of bringing your niece, I’ve realised that the winter swim season is much easier in New York than here, as we have so many heated tanks.
‘Say, I’m giving a little soirée this Saturday. Perhaps you could attend and bring your niece. I’d like to meet her.’ She was about to decline but he held up a hand. ‘No need to answer now. There’s been a lot to digest. I’ll have my man pop by with an invitation tomorrow. May I say again it’s been an honour, Dr Quick.’
‘Mr Black,’ she said, walking him to the office door. She looked behind her at the clock. Five pm. Normally to get home from the rooms, Louisa would take the train from The Regent’s Park to Waterloo and change for Aldgate. She could walk from Aldgate. But she’d still be late.
‘Let me drive you home,’ he said when she turned back to farewell him. ‘I have a car outside.’ She started to protest but lamely. He shook his head. ‘Truly, it’s the least I can do. ’
Black’s car was a Daimler, parked right outside Louisa’s building. When the driver opened the door for her and she stepped in, she felt like the
other Harley Street doctors who cared for London’s well-to-do. The rich smells of leather and cigars reminded Louisa of her childhood in Edinburgh, at her grandfather’s house, when the men would sit around telling stories and smoking cigars. She’d fall asleep in her father George’s lap, their voices drifting into her ears.
Black opened the other rear door, got in and sat beside her. She could smell that fragrance again. He was easy company for the journey, making jokes at his own expense about his reputation in the English papers as the mad American, which amused him greatly. He owned a newspaper himself in Baltimore, he said, so he knew the business. But they’d be proven wrong one day, he said. He was sure flight was the way to travel anywhere, he continued, pointing out the traffic they encountered; nothing like New York, he said, but it still takes an age to get anywhere in a motor car. ‘And yet, you Londoners don’t think we’ll take to the sky.’ If he’d flown her home, she’d be there now, he said. Louisa should come up some time, he added, and she’d see what he meant.
As they’d pulled up outside her house, Louisa found herself in a happy mood. What a delightful chap, she thought. The driver opened Louisa’s door for her. Black got out on his side and came around to her on the footpath.
‘I’m sorry that I can’t ask you in, Mr Black,’ she said. ‘I need to talk with my niece about the Thames business and it may be quite delicate.’
He waved her away. ‘Wouldn’t think of imposing, Dr Quick,’ he said. ‘My, you have me in good cheer, though. No wonder your patients speak so highly of you.’ He leaned down and kissed her cheek and while she found herself shocked at the intimacy, he leaned back out and smiled and she couldn’t help but return his smile. ‘Be kind to your niece,’ he said. ‘She really has done something extraordinary.’ Talk about extraordinary, she thought on the way up the front path. She could still feel the warmth of his lips on her cheek.
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