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the blame for that!
    But Ted was agreeing wholeheartedly. 'Your father is a wise man, as well as an exceptionally clever one,' he said.
    At the clinic that afternoon Yona saw Dr Redmond's old cases while Ted took the new patients. The first two were routine, but the third rang some bells.
    Mrs Smith had been diagnosed as having rheumatoid arthritis—that was, the definitive sheepcell test had been positive—but today she was complaining most of her sore eyes. 'And it seems like I'm never free of the cold, Doctor.
    It's cough, cough, cough all the time and my husband says I'm driving him mad.'
    'It can't be much fun for you either,' said Yona, thinking, Honestly! Some men! 'Do you cry much?' she asked.
    'Oh, no, Doctor—he's not that bad!' She'd quite misunderstood Yona's question. 'Anyway, I don't think I could cry if I tried. My eyes feel that dry—and my mouth.'
    'Just as I expected,' confirmed Yona as she examined Mrs Smith's eyes, finding the tell-tale ulceration of the cornea. 'I'm going to prescribe some special eye drops which you should find comforting.' Then she asked if the patient was taking her chloroquine and aspirin regularly, as prescribed.
    'Like clockwork, Doctor,' came the answer. 'I haven't forgotten what a state I was in before I started.'
    'That's the ticket! The pharmacy here will give you enough of the eye drops to get you started and I'll write to your GP today so that he'll know what we're giving you when they're finished.' That's only the second case of Sjogren's syndrome I've ever seen, Yona realised as Mrs Smith went out.
    She told Ted all about it as they compared notes on the clinic afterwards, while strolling towards the exit. Naturally, he wanted all the details.
    'No hair loss or nail changes—just the keratoconjunctivits and dryness of the upper respiratory tract so far, so I hope we can contain it with hydrocortisone eye drops. She's such a dear little woman, Ted! Why is it that only nice folk get ill in this horrible world?'
    'Wait until you're my age, Yona,' he advised with a rueful smile. 'I've met a few who asked for all they got— and so will you before you're done with the job.' Then he changed the subject by saying, 'Do you know, I can't remember the last time I finished work before six. I only hope Meg doesn't have a heart attack when she sees me home at a decent hour for once.'
    'Meg doesn't have a cardiac problem, does she?' Yona asked quickly.
    'Bless you, no—and I trust she never will. I'd be lost without Meg.'
    'I know,' she said impulsively. 'You two are like the two sides of a coin.'
    'It's a great piece of luck to find your one and only early in life,' he declared with heart-warming simplicity. 'It saves all those wrong leaps in the wrong direction other people seem to make,' he added whimsically.
    'All the men I've felt inclined to leap at so far have preferred their women to be thick as two short planks,' Yona was astounded to hear herself admitting—but, then, Ted, like his wife, was so easy to talk to.
    'Then they were the dumb ones—and a sight too dumb to deserve you,' he declared, causing her to laugh aloud.
    'That's better,' he said, laughing himself. 'Now, be off home with you while you have the chance of escape.'
    'Not before I've been back to the unit to check on Mrs Kavanagh, boss. She was a bit depressed this morning so I promised I would.'
    'You're a kind girl,' he told her warmly. 'And kindness in a doctor is as important as skill. Not that you haven't the skill,' he added hastily. 'I wasn't saying that.'
    'I'm sure you weren't.' Yona gave him her widest smile and an impulsive pat on the arm. 'Drive safely, now,' she said. 'Salchester's rush-hour traffic is as bad as Edinburgh's—and that's saying something.'
    She was turning away, still smiling and thinking how lucky she was in her new boss, when she saw Mike Preston standing in the doorway of his consulting room, frowning. Saw Ted and me laughing together and doesn't approve, she thought. Well, see