Ruby thought it quite strange that it needed two of them to direct her to her mother’s room but she followed them anyway, wondering if this had been such a good idea after all as the first stirrings of unease flared to life deep in her stomach.

They led her along the hallway and up the sweeping staircase, and the higher they climbed the louder the sounds of wailing and crying became.

‘I-is my mother very ill?’ she asked in a faint voice.

The two nurses glanced at each other and grinned. ‘Not at all,’ Nurse Keen told her. ‘You just come along now and you’ll see for yourself soon enough.’

She found herself on a very long landing with doors either side and in each door was a small window with bars on the inside. Vacant eyes stared out at her from some of them and a large lump rose in her throat as she looked into their hopeless faces. But worse than this, the further they ventured along the landing, the worse the putrid smell of stale urine and vomit became, until Ruby had to place her hand across her mouth. But she didn’t have long to think of it before Nurse Keen stopped at a door and after fiddling with the keys on a chatelaine about her ample waist, she selected one and unlocked it.

‘Here we are then, in you go nice and quietly now.’

Ruby frowned thinking what a strange thing that was to say, and when she stepped inside, suddenly the door slammed shut behind her and glancing around she found herself alone. Rushing to the door she peered through the glass shouting, ‘Excuse me, I think you’ve made a mistake. This room is empty.’ But the women were already retreating along the landing as she began to rattle the doorknob, her heart thumping so hard that she was sure it would leap out of her chest and tears clogging her throat as her shouts became more frantic.

‘Hello . . . Hello, can anybody hear me? Please . . . somebody . . . anybody!’ But the only answer was the sobs and cries of the poor souls in the rooms on either side of her.