George shook his head. ‘She’s refusing to go anywhere without Dilys, a friend she made at the asylum. She too was placed in there against her wishes by her family when she became pregnant some years ago, and they’ve paid to keep her there ever since. It seems that Mrs Pembroke was paying for Ruby to be detained but I’ve given both Ruby and Dilys a thorough examination and as far as I’m concerned, they are both as sane as you or I and should never have been put in there in the first place. They won’t be the only ones either. You can rest assured I shall be assessing all the patients and recommending that those who shouldn’t be there be discharged.’

‘But in the meantime what shall we do about Ruby if she won’t come out without this friend of hers?’ Serena was wringing her hands.

‘That’s easy, we shall have her friend here as well and they can convalesce together,’ Oscar said decisively. ‘That’s the very least we can do for her, and once she’s home I’m afraid we shall have a lot of explaining to do. Would you like us to come back with you to fetch her, George?’

George shook his head. ‘I think it might be better if I went alone, but I could be some time. We’ll have to come by train and then I’ll get a cab from the station to here when we get back into Birmingham – that is if they agree to come. Perhaps you could get some rooms prepared for them while I’m gone?’

‘Of course,’ Serena said hurriedly. ‘And we should let Hermione know what’s happened too, dear,’ she suggested to Oscar. ‘She’s been just as worried as we have.’

‘Yes, yes of course,’ he agreed. ‘I’ll get Bill to take the train to tell her.’

And so when George left to fetch the girls, Oscar arranged for Bill to pay a visit to Hermione while Serena set about making two of the bedrooms as comfortable as she possibly could for when the two young women got back with George.

It was early evening before the carriage carrying Ruby, Dilys and George arrived and by then Serena was a bag of nerves as she thought of the explaining she was going to have to do.

Hermione and Mrs B were also there waiting after returning on the train with Bill, as were Maddie, Nell and Mrs Petty who had called in almost daily since Ruby’s disappearance to see if there was any news of her.