We went over to him, touched his hands, and kissed him very gently on his cheeks. Tom rather clumsily asked, 'How are you Andrew?'
'How am I?' He paused, shook his head, and said, 'I'm like an old wreck held together by lengths of thin twine. Not beaten yet though. How was the drive up here?'
He told us to help ourselves to soft drinks from a sideboard. Behind the hotel, in the extensive gardens, the river had been dammed and diverted to form pools for bathing. 'After we've had our drinks perhaps we could take a walk,' he suggested, 'if you don't mind pushing my chair. The native flora is interesting, you probably saw something of it from the car, and of course there is the river. The water has a high mineral content and is supposed to contain a special type of algae that cures skin diseases. Nothing that will do me any good, unfortunately. Having the conservatory and the gardens to sit in is the great benefit of this place for me.'
We showed him photographs from the party, and he asked us about his staff and friends from the Beckford Arms. We said nothing of Jamie or about me being mugged, and noticing that we avoided mentioning any problems he said doubtfully, 'Wonderful how smoothly everything runs when I'm not there.'
'There's nothing that's worth worrying you about, really. They miss you at the garden centre, naturally, but they've got used to me and my naivety about horticulture. They didn't have much option. The garden centre manager was a bit resentful of my interference at first, but we're friends now.'
After we had talked for perhaps an hour we all went outside for some air. I wheeled Andrew to the lift, through the conservatory, down a ramp and into the gardens. Tom and Darren went off to look at a tributary stream that tumbled over rocks down a gully under the road, leaving Andrew and me on the broad central path. 'Sit down here for a while,' he said as we approached a bench. 'Let's talk now we have a few minutes to ourselves.'
The gardens were quiet and deserted. 'Do they still use these pools?'
'Yes, they have two or three sessions a week when little groups come to immerse themselves in the water. You must tell me honestly now, how do you feel about the hotel? Are you sorry you left your career in the City?'
'No, I never belonged there. If the hotel had not provided a way out, something else would. The only question was when and how.'