Andrew felt very miserable. On Sunday morning, while lying in bed, he suddenly shouted at Christine: 'I don't mind about the money! It's the idea of making these payments that angers me. Why can't I forget about it? Why don't I like Llewellyn?'

'I think you are jealous of Llewellyn!' said Christine.

'What!' Andrew shouted. 'Why should I be jealous of him?'

'Because he's very good at his work, and - well, because he's a better qualified doctor than you are.'

'God! Now I know what you really think of me!' He jumped out of bed and began to walk about the room. 'What do qualifications matter?'

'Well, love, you don't want to remain here all your life, do you? If you had a good degree, it would help you to get a better post.'

Andrew swung round. 'Chris, you're right!' He thought for a moment. 'But no - it isn't possible! To take a degree, I should have to learn some foreign languages.'

Christine ran up and kissed him. 'You would only need a little knowledge of the languages. And I could help you. Remember: your wife was once a schoolteacher!'

They made plans excitedly all day, and that evening Christine gave Andrew his first lessons. She helped him every evening. Andrew studied to such a late hour each night that when he went to bed he was often too tired to sleep. He lost weight and became thinner in the face. But Chris was always there to comfort and encourage him.

By August, which was a very hot month, Andrew was ready to do some practical work in medicine. This presented another difficulty: where could he get this experience? It was Christine who thought of Challis and his important post at Cardiff University. When Andrew wrote to him, Challis immediately agreed to let him work at the University.

'You were quite right, Chris!' Andrew said. 'It is nice to have friends. And I didn't want to go to the Vaughans' that night when we met Challis!'

Andrew bought himself an old motorcycle. There were three afternoon hours during which Andrew was not on duty. So on those days, after lunch, he rode 50 kilometres to Cardiff, worked at the University for one hour, and then rode back again. The work and the long journey in the heat made him so tired that he was almost ill.

At last he had covered every subject in which he would be examined. He went alone to London to sit for his degree. Now that the event was so near, Andrew felt that he knew nothing. But when his examination began, he wrote and wrote, never looking at the clock.