To Save a Love - Alexa Aston Page 0,29
began chattering.
“It’s the treatment,” one man said. “They disobey and they get the water.”
The other picked up a full bucket and dashed it against Lady Jergens again.
“Stop!” Dez demanded.
“Come here at once, Lord Torrington.”
He turned and saw Cheshire standing in the doorway, a shocked Lord Shelton beside him.
He rushed toward the man. “This is inhumane. Why do you do this?”
“The water actually soothes them,” the physician said, arrogance pouring from him. “You know nothing about medicine.”
“Neither do you if you subject innocent women to this barbaric—”
“You may think the method is barbaric but it has proven most effective.”
“Have you done this to Anna?” he demanded.
Cheshire remained silent. “Come along.”
Dez raced back to Lady Jergens. “I will get you out of her, my lady. I promise.” Then he rejoined the other men and they left the room.
“You shouldn’t have told her that,” Cheshire admonished. “It will give her false hope. Her husband is the only one who can legally remove her from Gollingham.”
“Then I will find him and convince him to do so.”
The doctor smirked. “Be my guest.”
“Take us to my cousin,” Lord Shelton said, his voice quivering. “And if you think I would leave her in this place after what we just witnessed, you are sadly mistaken.”
Cheshire shrugged and continued down the hall. They passed another dozen women, sitting mute, and Dez tried to put them from his mind. He needed to focus on Anna’s welfare now.
They stopped before a door and an attendant rushed up, key in hand.
“It’s been a bad day, Doctor.”
Cheshire turned and gave them a knowing smile. “You will see that she is demented. That her case is hopeless. Open it,” he said to the attendant.
The key went into the lock and Dez tried to brace himself for what he would see as the door swung open.
The first thing to hit him was the horrendous smell, much worse in here than in the hallway, which had been awful enough. Bars covered the lone window, which was closed. The air felt heavy. His eyes swept across the room and found the single bed near the corner. A shape lay on it. He rushed toward it and faltered, gasping.
He could barely tell it was a woman, much less Anna. Her beautiful, strawberry blond hair had been shorn short and was so filthy he couldn’t tell what color it should be. She lay motionless on the bed, her eyes closed, a rope wrapped around her several times and underneath what was a cot, effectively tying her to it. What puzzled him was something that bound her, her arms crossed in front of her.
“What is this contraption?”
“It is called a straitjacket,” Cheshire replied. “Quite effective, I must say. Restraints are often needed to control behaviors such as tearing clothes and demonstrating lewd behavior.”
Dez shuddered.
The doctor continued. “We find restraints helpful in stopping patients from harming themselves or others. It also keeps them from attempting suicide at night when no one is watching them.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing and looked at Lord Shelton in disbelief.
“You are insane, Cheshire, if you believe this helps individuals committed here, the vast majority which I assume are not mad. You are shutting innocent women away from the world.”
The physician shrugged. “They are deemed mad by their families, my lord. I am merely providing a service. We don’t promise a cure. We do confine them so they and their loved ones are safe.”
“Get this . . . thing off her at once,” he barked at the attendant.
The man looked to Cheshire, who nodded grimly.
The attendant first loosened the ropes that bound her to the cot. When he flipped Anna over, Dez could see all the many ties up the back.
Then Anna began jerking and making wheezing, guttural noises.
*
Anna had gone to her special place. She only went there when she was placed in her room. Not when she sat on the hard wooden benches for twelve hours a day. Others were around her and even though they never spoke, she liked to keep her world private.
She imagined being at the lake again, the one that sat in the middle where Shelton Park ended and Torrington lands began. So many happy days had been spent at this lake. Skimming stones. Swimming. Picnicking. Walking along the shore. She pictured the blue of the water sparkling in the sun. A clear sky. Birds chirping in the trees behind her as the woods started.
Her legs were straight out in front of her as she sat on a blanket.