The Private Patient Read Online Free PDF Page B

a C-of-E priest and looks the part, so it’s rather like having an uncomfortable public conscience on two legs stalking the place to remind one of one’s sins. And there’s a strange girl they’ve picked up from somewhere, Sharon Bateman, who’s a kind of runner, doing unspecified jobs in the kitchen and for Miss Cressett. She mooches around carrying trays. That’s about all as far as you’ll be concerned.”
    â€œHow do you know all this, Robin?”
    â€œBy keeping eyes and ears open when I’m drinking with the locals in the village pub, the Cressett Arms. I’m the only one who does. Not that they’re given to gossiping with strangers. Contrary to common belief, villagers don’t. But I pick up a few unconsidered trifles. The Cressett family in the late seventeenth century had a fiendish row with the local parson and no longer went to church. The village sided with the parson and the feud continued down the centuries, as they often do. George Chandler-Powell has done nothing to heal it. Actually it suits him. The patients go there for privacy, and he doesn’t want a lot of chat about them in the village. A couple of village women come in as part of the house-cleaning team, but most of the staff come from further afield. And then there’s old Mog—Mr. Mogworthy. He worked as gardener-handyman for the Cressetts and George has kept him on. He’s a mine of information if you know how to get it out of him.”
    â€œI don’t believe it.”
    â€œBelieve what?”
    â€œI don’t believe that name. It’s totally fictitious. Nobody can be called Mogworthy.”
    â€œHe is. He tells me there was a parson of that name at Holy Trinity Church, Bradpole, in the late fifteenth century. Mogworthy claims to be descended from him.”
    â€œHe could hardly be. If the first Mogworthy was a priest, he would be a Roman Catholic celibate.”
    â€œWell, descended from the same family. Anyway, there he is. He used to live in the cottage which Marcus and Candace now occupy, but George wanted the cottage and kicked him out. He’s now with his aged sister in the village. Yes, Mog’s a mine of information. Dorset is full of legends, most of them horrific, and Mog is the expert. Actually, he wasn’t born in the county. All his forebears were but his dad moved to Lambeth before Mog was born. Get him to tell you about the Cheverell Stones.”
    â€œI’ve never heard of them.”
    â€œOh, you will if Mog’s around. And you can hardly miss them. It’s a Neolithic circle in a field next to the Manor. The story is rather horrible.”
    â€œTell me.”
    â€œNo, I’ll leave it to Mog or Sharon. Mog says she’s obsessed with the stones.”
    The waiter was serving their main courses, and Robin was silent, contemplating the food with gratified approval. She sensed he was losing interest in Cheverell Manor. The talk became desultory, his mind obviously elsewhere, until they were drinking their coffee. Then he turned his eyes on her and she was struck again by the depth and clarity of their almost inhuman blueness. The power of his concentrated gaze was unnerving. Stretching his hand across the table, he said, “Rhoda, come back to the flat this afternoon. Now. Please. It’s important. We need to talk.”
    â€œWe have been talking.”
    â€œMostly about you and the Manor. Not about us.”
    â€œIsn’t Jeremy expecting you? Shouldn’t you be instructing your clients on how to cope with terrifying waiters and corked wine?”
    â€œThe ones I teach mostly come in the evening. Please, Rhoda.”
    She bent to pick up her bag. “I’m sorry, Robin, but it’s not possible. I’ve a lot to get through before I go to the Manor.”
    â€œIt is possible, it’s always possible. You mean you don’t want to come.”
    â€œIt’s possible, but at the moment it