from the mattress. My eyes were streaming water, but beyond the circle of nurses I could see Betty and Miss Wilson and Mrs Price, looking on and shaking but pretending to sleep. They were afraid of what might be done to them. I don''t blame them. I let my head fall back, and again shut tight my jaws. Now came Nurse Bacon. Her cheeks were still flushed, and her swollen hands so red against the white of her arms, she might have had gloves on.
She sat astride of me as Nurse Flew had, and flexed her fingers.
''Now, Maud,'' she said. She caught hold of the hem of my nightgown, and pulled it and made it tidy. She patted my leg. ''Now then, Miss Muffet. Who''s my own good girl?''
Then she came upon me. She came faster than the others, and the shock and the weight of her was awful. I cried out, and the nurses clapped. ''Ten points!'' they said. Nurse Bacon laughed. I felt the shudder of it, like rolling-pins; and that made me screw up my eyes and cry out louder. Then she shuddered again, on purpose. The nurses cheered. Then she did this. She pushed herself up on her hands, so that her face was above me but her bosom and stomach and legs still hard on my own; and she moved her hips. She moved them in a certain way. My eyes flew open. She gave me a leer.