Jack Higgins - Chavasse 02 by Year of the Tiger Page B

ask why?” Chavasse said.
    â€œIt’s quite simple really.” Hoffner leaned forward and gazed into the heart of the fire. “I came here as a medical missionary. I wanted to save souls as well as lives. But I found myself amongst a people already deeply religious, who believed in the way of gentleness to an extent almost incomprehensible to the Western mind. What could I offer these people spiritually?”
    â€œI see your point,” Chavasse said. “What was the solution?”
    â€œTo give them medical aid when they needed it,” Hoffner said. “Apart from that, to try to understand them and to be their friend.”
    â€œForgive me for asking a question which might possibly embarrass you, but I’d like to get as complete a picture as possible. Have the Chinese interfered with your work in any way?”
    â€œAs a matter of fact they’ve encouraged me wonderfully,” Hoffner said. “My clinic is more crowded than ever. Mind you, I’m not allowed outside the city walls, but that’s only for my own protection. The country’s still in rather an unsettled state, as you’ve found out for yourself.”
    â€œYou would say then that any change of government has been for the better?”
    â€œMost decidedly. Take medical supplies, for example. In the old days, everything I needed had to come in from India by caravan.”
    â€œAnd now?”
    â€œColonel Li gets me what I want with no difficulty. You know, before the Chinese came this country was still medieval, its people backward and ignorant. All that is changing now.”
    Chavasse kept a smile on his face, but inside he was worried, because the old man sounded as if he really meant it. Before he could continue the conversation, Katya stood up and smiled. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you to get on with your talk. I must visit the kitchen.”
    The door closed behind her and Chavasse said, “A remarkable young woman.”
    Hoffner nodded. “Her father was a Russian archaeologist. He was working for the Chinese government in Peking in charge of the excavations at the old Imperial Palace. He was given permission to visit Lhasa before returning home, but died on the way there. Katya came through here with the caravan a week after burying him.”
    â€œAnd she decided to stay?”
    â€œColonel Li could have made arrangements to send her through to Yarkand,” Hoffner told him, “but then I was taken ill with serious heart trouble. For six months, she nursed me back to health. Since then, the question of her leaving has simply never arisen.”
    â€œThis all makes most interesting material,” Chavasse said. “On the whole, then, you would say that you lead a contented life?”
    â€œCertainly!” Hoffner waved his hand round the room. “I have my books and my piano, and there’s always the clinic.”
    â€œThe piano interests me particularly,” Chavasse said. “Rather an unusual item to find in so isolated a region. I’ve been told that your playing is quite remarkable.”
    â€œI wouldn’t say that,” Hoffner said, “but it would be a great blow to me if I ever had to do without music. I had this piano carried in by caravan from India before the war. The lamplight flatters its appearance, mind you, but the tone is still quite good.”
    He moved across to the piano, lifted the lid and sat down. He played a few chords, a snatch of a Chopin polonaise, and looked up. “Is there anything you would particularly like to hear?”
    Chavasse was still standing at the fire, taking his time in lighting another cigarette. He blew out a long tracer of smoke and said casually in English, “Oh I don’t know. What about somemusic suitable for a May evening in Cambridge?”
    Every wrinkle seemed to disappear from the old man’s face, and for a moment, it was so quiet that Chavasse could hear the