London Clinic

The London Clinic is the hospital where Emma Harte is treated for a severe recurrence of pneumonia at the age of seventy-eight. Her admission brings a sudden physical crisis into the midst of her efforts to secure her business empire: there, the limits of her strength sharpen her resolve to live and finish protecting what she has built.

Admission and illness

On a Monday morning, intense chest pain and impaired breathing leave Emma unable to get out of bed. She has suspected for several days that her pneumonia has returned. After Dr Rogers examines her, she is taken by ambulance to the London Clinic. The previous weekend, she had signed, witnessed, and sealed most of the legal documents intended to preserve her stores, wealth, and chosen succession; only after completing much of this work does she allow herself to be ill.

The hospital stay

Emma asks Paula to bring Henry Rossiter to see her that day. He arrives late in the afternoon to find her in an oxygen tent, surrounded by medical equipment and attended by nurses and doctors. Weak enough that she can barely return the pressure of his hand, Emma whispers a question about whether everything will be all right. Henry takes her to mean her health and repeatedly reassures her that she will soon be home. In fact, she is asking about the liquidation of her assets, which he is handling. His misunderstanding leaves her indignant and helplessly angry, and underlines her sense that, in grave matters, she is ultimately alone.

Recovery and significance

Emma spends three weeks at the London Clinic before leaving it after another attack of bronchial pneumonia and its accompanying complications. Others call her survival miraculous and marvel at her recovery; she privately attributes it to the strength of her will to live. The hospital episode thus tests the determination on which her business plans depend. Once home, she rests for only two days before returning to the store, convinced she has recovered and impatient with Paula’s anxious care. The Clinic marks a temporary interruption, not a retreat from the work she believes she must complete.