Betty would moan again, and Mrs Price and even old Miss Wilson would shudder and hide their heads. I didn''t know why. The word was a peculiar one and no-one would explain it: I could only suppose it must involve being pumped, like a drain, with a black rubber sucker. That thought was so horrible that soon whenever Nurse Bacon said it I began to shudder, too.
''I don''t know what you''re quaking at,'' she would say to all of us, nastily, as she went back to her bed. ''Wasn''t one of you that went off, was it?''░思░兔░網░
But then, one time, it was. We woke to the sound of choking and found sad Mrs Price on the floor beside her bed, biting her fingers so hard she was making them bleed. Nurse Bacon went for the bell, and the men and Dr Christie came running: they bound Mrs Price and carried her off downstairs