Shame washed through her as she realised that Nurse Downes knew that she had wet herself. There had been no choice for there was not even a bucket in the room. The nurse’s kind voice brought tears to her eyes and she tried not to look at her as she crossed the room and began to undo the ties on the straitjacket. The moment she was free of it, pain coursed through her from where her arms had been kept tied so tightly to her sides and pins and needles stabbed at her fingers. Head down she followed the nurse to the washroom where a clean shift had been laid ready for her and she was grateful when Nurse Downes turned her back while she did her ablutions and quickly changed her soiled clothes.

‘Oh, Ruby, if only you would stop making a fuss,’ Nurse Downes said sadly. ‘Life would be so much easier for you then.’

Ruby glared at her, even though she knew the nurse was giving her sound advice. She was the only one who seemed to have an ounce of kindness in her. ‘So you think I should just stand there and allow that disgusting woman to paw me, do you? And I shouldn’t even be here!’ she told her heatedly. ‘It isn’t fair and I’m not mad, I assure you.’

‘Then show the rest of the staff that,’ Nurse Downes answered. ‘Especially Nurse Keen. Don’t give her an excuse to fetch the doctor to you or dole out punishment. Here . . . use this.’

She produced a hairbrush from the depths of her pocket and taking it from her Ruby ran it over her head. Although her hair had been almost completely cut off, there were a few tufts left, and the familiar movement and feel of the soft brush over her skin gave her some comfort.

‘That’s better, isn’t it?’ Nurse Downes smiled encour-agingly before leading her into the corridor again. ‘And now I’m going to take you to the dining room. You’ve been in the punishment cell for almost a whole day so you must be hungry. Will you at least try to eat something . . . for me?’

Ruby opened her mouth to say she didn’t want anything but then, thinking better of it, she snapped it shut again. Nurse Downes was the only ally she had in the place and she didn’t want to estrange her too so when she entered the dining room she took her place at Dilys’s side and did her best to swallow some of the unappetising mess that was placed in front of her. It was some sort of pie but the pastry case was so hard that when she tried to break into it, it almost shot off her spoon, but still she diligently ate some of it.

‘Have you been in the padded cell?’ Dilys asked in a whisper after a while.

Ruby nodded.