World Without End Page 0,475

such a request without hesitation, but those days were over. "No," she said. "I don't think so."

He reddened immediately. "You can't refuse to speak to me!"

"I didn't. I refused to go to your palace. I decline to be summoned before you like a subordinate. What do you want to talk about?"

"The hospital. There have been complaints."

"Speak to Brother Sime - he's in charge of it, as you well know."

"Is there no reasoning with you?" he said exasperatedly. "If Sime could solve the problem I would be talking to him, not you."

By now they were in the monks' cloisters. Caris sat on the low wall around the quadrangle. The stone was cold. "We can talk here. What do you have to say to me?"

Philemon was annoyed, but he gave in. He stood in front of her, and now he was the one who seemed like a subordinate. He said: "The townspeople are unhappy about the hospital."

"I'm not surprised."

"Merthin complained to me at the guild's Christmas dinner. They don't come here any more, but see charlatans like Silas Pothecary."

"He's no more of a charlatan than Sime."

Philemon realized that several novices were standing nearby, listening to the argument. "Go away, all of you," he said. "Get to your studies."

They scurried off.

Philemon said to Caris: "The townspeople think you ought to be at the hospital."

"So do I. But I won't follow Sime's methods. At best, his cures have no effect. Much of the time they make patients worse. That's why people no longer come here when they're ill."

"Your new hospital has so few patients that we're using it as a guest house. Doesn't that bother you?"

That jibe went home. Caris swallowed and looked away. "It breaks my heart," she said quietly.

"Then come back. Figure out a compromise with Sime. You worked under monk-physicians in the early days, when you first came here. Brother Joseph was the senior doctor then. He had the same training as Sime."

"You're right. In those days, we felt that the monks sometimes did more harm than good, but we could work with them. Most of the time we didn't call them in at all, we just did what we thought best. When they did attend, we didn't always follow their instructions exactly."

"You can't believe they were always wrong."

"No. Sometimes they cured people. I remember Joseph opening a man's skull and draining accumulated fluid that had been causing unbearable headaches - it was very impressive."

"So do the same now."

"It's no longer possible. Sime put an end to that, didn't he? He moved his books and equipment into the pharmacy and took charge of the hospital. And I'm sure he did so with your encouragement. In fact it was probably your idea." She could tell from Philemon's expression that she was right. "You and he plotted to push me out. You succeeded - and now you're suffering the consequences."

"We could go back to the old system. I'll make Sime move out."

She shook her head. "There have been other changes. I've learned a lot from the plague. I'm surer than ever that the physicians' methods can be fatal. I won't kill people for the sake of a compromise with you."

"You don't realize how much is at stake." He had a faintly smug look.

So, there was something else. She had been wondering why he had brought this up. It was not like him to fret about the hospital: he had never cared much for the work of healing. He was interested only in what would raise his status and defend his fragile pride. "All right," she said. "What have you got up your sleeve?"

"The townspeople are talking about cutting off funds for the new tower. Why should they pay extra to the cathedral, they say, when they're not getting what they want from us? And now that the town is a borough, I as prior can no longer enforce the payment."

"And if they don't pay...?"

"Your beloved Merthin will have to abandon his pet project," Philemon said triumphantly.

Caris could see that he thought this was his trump card. And, indeed, there had been a time when the revelation would have jolted her. But no longer. "Merthin isn't my beloved any more, is he?" she said. "You put a stop to that, too."

A look of panic crossed his face. "But the bishop has set his heart on this tower - you can't put that at risk!"

Caris stood up. "Can't I?" she said. "Why not?" She turned away, heading