He was also an invaluable howler at night, and so cooperated with
Dr. Wolf's bugs and fleas to avert sleep, that vile foe to insanity and
all our diseases, private asylums included.
Alfred treated Mrs. Archbold with a distant respect that tried her hard.
But that able woman wore sweetness and unobtrusive kindness, and bided
her time.
In Drayton House the keeperesses eclipsed the keepers in cruelty to the
poorer patients. No men except Dr. Wolf and his assistant had a pass-key
into their department, so there was nobody they could deceive, nobody
they held worth the trouble. In the absence of male critics they showed
their real selves, and how wise it is to trust that gentle sex in the
dark with irresponsible power over females. With unflagging patience they
applied the hourly torture of petty insolence, needless humiliation,
unreasonable refusals to the poor madwomen; bored them with the poisoned
gimlet, and made their hearts bleeding pin-cushions. But minute cruelty
and wild caprice were not enough for them, though these never tired nor
rested; they must vilify them too with degrading and savage names.
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