The Lobotomist's Wife(20)

Louise gave a small nod of acknowledgment as Ruth exited the room. Evelyn waved. “Welcome home.”

Home. Ruth hadn’t realized how much she missed this until now. As she walked purposefully down the hallway, she made a mental note to check in with Louise Dillington’s doctor. It seemed she might need an ice bath or a course of convulsions to break her current depressive state.

As much as she would have loved to visit with everyone, there was one girl in particular whom she was most anxious to see. Penelope Connor had been a patient at the hospital for several years now. The poor woman had had an awful bout of bad luck, having lost her parents to influenza as a child. She then married a schemer who left her as soon as he discovered that her money was locked up in a trust administered by her aunt. When Penelope moved back into her aunt’s home, she began harming herself regularly in an effort to “stay clean,” and devolved into periodic fits of fury. Penelope’s aunt had the money in the trust to set Penelope up quite comfortably at Emeraldine, and over the years, she never failed to pay a bill on time. Ever since she dropped Penelope and her trunks at the hospital several years prior, however, her aunt had not visited once. Ruth felt for Penelope and believed that, with the proper support, the woman could surely be cured.

Penelope hadn’t been in art class as Ruth had expected. Now, her room was empty and looked as if it had been for several days. Ruth felt her heart pounding faster. Was the young woman ill? “Nurse Riley?” she called down the hall to a figure bustling with a small white hat atop her head. “Is that you?”

“Miss Emeraldine. Welcome back!”

“It is Mrs. Apter now.” Ruth smiled as the nurse approached her. “Where is Penelope Connor? I was hoping to see her this morning.”

“Ah, congratulations on the wedding, Mrs. Apter!” Nurse Riley shook Ruth’s hand, smiling before her expression turned sour. “Penelope, I am afraid, has been transferred to the security wing.”

“What? That can’t be right! What happened?”

“I told them you would be upset when they transferred her, Miss . . . Mrs. Apter. But when you were away, Penelope started up again. Picking at herself and washing so much her fingers were bleeding, and she started to get scabs on her face so bad I worried about infection. I tried to get her into the continuous-flow bath, and she started throwing things, almost took my eye out with the edge of a book! I told the doctor I was okay, but he insisted she needed to be restrained and, well, it’s not my place to tell him otherwise. I’m just a regular old nurse—not like you.” She smiled earnestly at Ruth.

“Oh my.” Ruth shook her head as she started walking quickly toward the exit of the ward. “Thank you for trying, Nurse Riley,” she called over her shoulder. “And keep up the excellent work.”

Ruth hurried through several buildings, across one of the hospital’s inner courtyards, and down a set of stairs to the secure lower level. While a ten-foot iron fence fortified the perimeter of the entire hospital to ensure the inmates didn’t wander out onto the streets of Manhattan, they were relatively free to move about their own wards. The secure wings, on the other hand, featured a series of bars and doors, much like a jail. A secure area was necessary for the safety of the patients and the staff, but Ruth still shuddered as she unlocked the gates with her master key. She couldn’t imagine why Penelope, who had always been so gentle, would be placed in here.

When she finally arrived at Penelope’s room, Ruth’s sunny greeting of “Hello, Penny!” turned into a distressed gasp as she took in the scene in front of her. “Why is she in restraints like that?” Ruth welled with rage. Penelope was a slight woman, no more than ninety-five pounds, and not only had they removed her from the comfort of her room in the ladies’ wing, they had placed her here among the most violent and difficult of all of Emeraldine’s patients and immobilized her in a tight straitjacket.

“Doctor’s orders, Miss. You’ll have to ask him.”

“Oh, I intend to, but in the meantime, I insist that you remove them. Penelope is as gentle as a lamb. There is no need for her to be restrained in this way. Penny, dear, are you all right?” Penelope nodded, but as Ruth looked at her face, she saw it was covered with scratches and scabs, her eyes rimmed red from crying and ringed with the black circles of sleeplessness. “Oh dear, you’ve been scrubbing and picking again?” Ruth tried to catch her gaze, but Penelope dropped her head, looking at the floor.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right.” Ruth encircled Penelope in a gentle embrace. Turning again to the orderly, she said with quiet emphasis, “Please, remove these restraints at once. This woman does not need to be bound this way.” She watched him hesitate. “Sir, do you know who I am?” He stared at her like a stunned deer. “I am the assistant superintendent of this hospital. I can assure you that if Dr. Chisolm knew I was giving this order, he would oblige. And, I can also promise that I plan to take up these inappropriate actions with him straight away.”

While the man hesitantly followed her directive, she went to the hallway sink to warm a washcloth and returned to Penelope’s bedside, where she began gently stroking her head. As soon as the orderly left, Penelope burst into tears.

“I thought you were gone. That you had left me! I’m so sorry. I was so nervous. And I was just trying to stay clean. To stay healthy. But they told me to stop washing my hands. And wouldn’t let me clean my face. But I had to get clean!”