City of God by Beverly Swerling Page B

hammer.
    “Conditions seem quite terrible at your Bellevue,” Sam remarked. “I was appalled at what I saw.”
    If anything the place was worse now that warmer weather had arrived. To make more room on the wards, the insane, still in their shackles and straitjackets, were transferred to outdoor cages at sunup. They were supposed to be brought inside to sleep, but they seldom were. Nick had an almighty row with Grant about it. That didn’t change anything. “I told you how bad things were when I came to see you the first time, Cousin Samuel. It’s why I want the council to look into the matter. Tobias Grant is stealing from the poor and the indigent, not to mention the New York taxpayers.”
    “Look, I’m in your debt and I know it. But I have very little influence on the council. And if what you say is true, increasing the hospital’s budget would just mean more for Grant to skim.”
    “He serves at the council’s pleasure. They can be rid of him whenever they like.”
    “And give the job to you, perhaps?”
    “I wouldn’t take Grant’s job if anyone were daft enough to offer it to me. I’m no administrator. And contrary to what you seem to think, I’m not ambitious. I’m interested in medical research, Cousin Samuel.”
    “So you say. Look, Tobias Grant has powerful friends on the council. He couldn’t get away with his activities otherwise. It’s far more likely you’d be the one to go if questions about his practices were raised.”
    Nick shrugged. “I’m a decent enough doctor. I’ll always find work.”
    “You’re better than decent on my evidence. I wasn’t threatening you, Cousin. Simply telling you how the land lies.” Sam reached into the breast pocket of his coat. “This is for the hospital, but I’ve made it out to you. Do with it what you will.”
    Sam held out a check, but Nick didn’t take it. “All you owe me is the fee for a night visit to a sickbed. That’s a dollar here in New York, I’m told. In any case, it’s waived.”
    “Don’t be pigheaded, man, take the money. I’m in your debt. A few weeks ago you were keen to have me finance a laboratory for the hospital. This isn’t anywhere near the two thousand you wanted, but it’s a start. And as you say, the hospital is in dire need.”
    Nick hesitated a moment more, than took the check. It was, as Devrey had said, made out to him; three hundred dollars drawn on what appeared to be Sam Devrey’s personal account. “That’s extremely generous.”
    “As much as I can afford just now,” Sam said. “There may be more in the future.”
    “Look, I’m not…I told you, your personal circumstances are no concern of mine.”
    “I know you’re not an extortionist, Cousin Nicholas. I’m simply grateful.”
    “Then on behalf of the Bellevue patients, thank you.”
    “Not at all. Now I have two questions. About medicine.”
    “Happy to answer if I can.”
    “First, that business of washing your hands the other night. What was that all about?”
    “Germs,” Nick said. “Minute beasties. There’s a theory that they cause the spread of disease by being transferred from the sick to the healthy. A Dutchman named Antoni van Leeuwenhoek first identified them nearly two hundred years ago. Most medical men don’t agree, say the germs are spontaneously generated by the disease itself. Happens I subscribe to the former theory. So I try to wash my hands before touching a patient.”
    “Soap and water flushes away these invisible germs, does it?”
    “Mostly. What’s the second question?”
    Sam turned so he was once more staring at the river. “These pills and powders that are supposed to stop a woman conceiving a child. Are they any good?”
    “On the evidence,” Nick said quietly, “it doesn’t seem that they are.”
    “On the evidence, not much good at all,” Sam agreed. “Is there nothing to be done then? If it’s not the right moment for a child, I mean.”
    “If the sperm doesn’t have an opportunity to