The Citadel Read Online Free PDF Page B

Place and went in to see the patient.
    The case was, as Manson had inferred, one of unusual interest, involving a rare instance of persistence of the thymus gland. He was genuinely proud to have diagnosed it and he experienced a warm sense of communicative ardour as he invited Bramwell to share the thrill of the discovery.
    But Doctor Bramwell, despite his protestations, seemed unattracted by the opportunity. He followed Andrew into the room haltingly, breathing through his nose, and in lady-like fashion approached the bed. Here he drew up and, at a safe range, made a cursory investigation. Nor was he disposed to linger. Only when they left the house, and he had inhaled a long breath of the pure fresh air, did his normal eloquence return. He glowed towards Andrew.
    ‘I’m glad to have seen your case with you, my boy, firstly because I feel it part of a doctor’s calling never to shrink from the danger of infection and secondly because I rejoice in the chance of scientific advancement. Believe it or not, this is the best case of inflammation of the pancreas I have ever seen!’
    He shook hands and hurried off, leaving Andrew utterly nonplussed. The pancreas, thought Andrew dazedly. It was no mere slip of the tongue which had caused Bramwell to make that crass error. His entire conduct at the case betrayed his ignorance. He simply did not know. Andrew rubbed his brow. To think that a qualified practitioner, in whose hands lay the lives of hundreds of human beings, did not know the difference between the pancreas and the thymus, when one lay in the belly and the other in the chest – why, it was nothing short of staggering!
    He walked slowly up the street towards Denny’s lodging, realising once again how his whole orderly conception of the practice of medicine was toppling about him. He knew himself to be raw, inadequately trained, quite capable of making mistakes through his inexperience. But Bramwell was not inexperienced and because of that his ignorance was inexcusable. Unconsciously Andrew’s thoughts returned to Denny who never failed in his derision towards this profession to which they belonged. Denny at first had aggravated him intensely by his weary contention that all over Britain there were thousands of incompetent doctors distinguished for nothing but their sheer stupidity and an acquired capacity for bluffing their patients. Now he began to question if there were not some truth in what Denny said. He determined to reopen the argument this afternoon.
    But when he entered Denny’s room, he saw immediately that the occasion was not one for academic discussion. Philip received him in morose silence with a gloomy eye and a darkened forehead. Then, after a moment, he said:
    ‘Young Jones died this morning at seven o’clock. Perforation.’ He spoke quietly, with a still, cold fury. ‘And I have two new enterics in Ystrad Row.’
    Andrew dropped his eyes, sympathising, yet hardly knowing what to say.
    ‘Don’t look so smug about it,’ Denny went on bitterly. ‘It’s sweet for you to see my cases go wrong and yours recover. But it won’t be so pretty when that cursed sewer leaks your way.’
    ‘No, no! Honestly, I’m sorry,’ Andrew said impulsively. ‘We’ll have to do something about it. We must write to the Ministry of Health.’
    ‘We could write a dozen letters,’ Philip answered, with grim restraint. ‘And all we’d get would be a doddering commissioner down here in six months’ time. No! I’ve thought it all out. There’s only one way to make them build a new sewer.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘Blow up the old one!’
    For a second Andrew wondered if Denny had taken leave of his senses. Then he perceived something of the other’s hard intention. He stared at him in consternation. Try as he might to reconstruct his changing ideas, Denny seemed fated to demolish them. He muttered:
    ‘There’ll be a heap of trouble – if it’s found out.’
    Denny glanced up arrogantly.
    ‘You needn’t come in