rushed off to summon the ambulance. Then the reason struck her and she assured him, ‘I’ll personally see to it you get your fee, Doctor. I’ll have it sent round to yer surgery. Now, I’d appreciate it if you’d get that am’blance here quick.’
Without a word, he picked up his black bag and left also.
Her face thoughtful, Fanny followed him out with her eyes. So that was the new doctor who had taken over James McHinney’s practice after the old doctor had served the community tirelessly for forty or so years. Several months ago, the seventy-six-year-old Doctor Mac, as the locals had affectionately called him, who had originated from Donegal in Ireland and whose thick Irish brogue at times had been very difficult for them to decipher, unexpectedly died in his sleep from natural causes. Until the end, though, he’d been lively and active, still agile enough to give chase and clip round the ear any cheeky kid and his brain as sharp as it had always been. He’d been a formidable character – woe betide you if you crossed him, whoever you were – but possessed of a kindly streak, would part with his last penny to help out anyone in dire need. He’d been well respected by everyone who knew him. All in all, a hard act to follow.
Until two weeks ago when this new chap arrived on the scene, the locals, including herself, had resigned themselves to the fact that they’d never get a replacement for Doctor Mac, and when in need would now have to go further afield for their medical help, else go without. Though to Fanny’s mind it wasn’t surprising that new doctors hadn’t exactly been clamouring to fill Doctor Mac’s place. A simple living, marginally better than the locals could scratch for themselves, could doubtless be had here, but a fortune was never going to be made ministering to the sick of these parts.
The majority of Doctor Mac’s patients had paid his dues in kind: with goods, such as a bucket of coal or pile of wood, a meat pie, cake or casserole; or by tackling his sewing and mending, ironing, washing, and maintenance jobs around his house and garden. The arrangement had worked well for them all. The sick who wouldn’t normally have been able to afford his professional services had been treated, and the bachelor doctor received a regular supply of homecooked meals and didn’t have to fork out to have jobs done around his house.
Fanny had a feeling that method of payment wasn’t going to be acceptable to the new doctor. He hadn’t seemed ready to budge until she had assured him he’d receive the fee for his attendance. Since it appeared extremely unlikely that Cedric would willingly hand over the money, it was apparent that it was she herself who was going to have to do so. It would have to come out of her pitifully few Christmas savings, but in the circumstances she didn’t begrudge a penny. Neighbours in these parts came to each other’s aid in dire times, and Win would have done the same for her if the circumstances had been reversed and she’d been in a position to help. Fanny had been friends with her long enough to know that.
To her, though, this new chap didn’t look old enough to be a doctor, barely out of nappies, let alone have studied years for his medical qualification. It was difficult to tell what part of the country he hailed from as he’d no accent, but from his cultured tones and the quality of his clothes he came from a moneyed background. He was certainly good looking, fine featured and with thick cornblond hair, and those eyes … she’d never seen such a mesmerising shade of pale turquoise-green before. He’d certainly have women’s hearts around these parts fluttering, those single ones who could afford the price of paying regular trips to his surgery anyway. They’d be dead set on making themselves known to him, she was sure, since one thing they all knew about the new doctor was that he was single.
But he certainly hadn’t displayed any of the qualities old Doctor Mac had possessed. He most definitely wouldn’t have waited to be given the go ahead by the likes of Cedric. Doctor Mac would not have held back from blasting the miserable bully with a piece of his mind then gone ahead without his permission, taking Win to the hospital himself in his old jalopy and