Within half an hour Iris was by her side. ‘I hear you had trouble during the night, lass. The report doesn’t look good. It says you woke the whole ward and caused a disruption. What was all that about, then? I thought we’d made progress.’

‘Oh, Iris, please help me. It wasn’t like that.’

Iris listened as Mags told her what had happened. ‘Right, we’ve to sort that out. But the report is damning, and I can’t do much about it. It puts you back a step or two.’

‘I have no control over my own destiny, Iris. In that room there’s incidents all night long. I try not to be involved, but what else can I do?’

‘I knaw. But that ward is a stepping stone. I had to wrangle with a lot of the staff to get you in there. You have to bear it and do so quietly, it’s the only way.’

The despair that had visited Mags settled deep in her heart.

‘Look, lass, I do have sommat as will cheer you. Yesterday I gained permission to take you out in the garden for a little while each day, and that’s not been stopped – not as yet, anyroad. So I’ll go and get your coat and we’ll go out. How does that sound, eh?’

Mags felt joy filling her and it blotted out her despair. How often she’d gazed out of the window and longed to walk in the lovely gardens, although part of her knew they were so well kept to create the impression that this was a good, peaceful haven for those who were sick in their mind, which angered her.

The breeze caught Mags’s hair. She knew it must look a mess, as she hadn’t been able to wash or comb it, only try to keep gathering it into a bun with the clips she had been given.

Her mind was in turmoil about how she was going to get through this ordeal, until the day came when they finally released her. Would that day ever come? Her thoughts turned to Betsy, and she wondered what other punishment Harold would have dished out. How would Betsy fare in a court of law?

Harold’s cruelty knew no bounds, and Mags knew that he would delight in the little notes he wrote and had delivered to her. He knew how heart-wrenching it would be for Mags to know that he was suing Betsy, putting her through as much as he possibly could. Oh, how she hated him with a passion that she’d once loved him with.

By counting the days, Mags knew that the court case was yesterday and longed to be made aware of the outcome. No doubt, if it all went Harold’s way, he would soon make sure she knew.

She closed her eyes and tried to let the sounds of the birds chirping soothe her. And although the sun was weak, she leaned her head back, to feel whatever warmth it gave touch her face. When she opened her eyes, it was to see Iris coming across the lawn. Her heart sank, as this probably meant that she had to go back inside. For a moment she was seized with the urge to run – run for all she was worth across the vast lawn towards the gates, and then climb over and never stop running. But she stayed still.