Part 1: Pages 56-74 Summary

2 October 1874. Ellis, a maid in the Prior household, gives her notice. Ellis claims there are ghosts in the attic above her room, even though it is above Miss Prior's room and she has never heard anything. To escape her mother's anger at this abandonment, Miss Prior goes to the reading room at the British Museum where she used to go often with her father. Miss Prior spends the day studying prisons.

6 October 1874. Miss Prior goes to Millbank and visits the infirmary. The infirmary is not very full and most of the women there are accused of causing their own injuries, such as Wheeler who purposely cut her leg and pressed rust into it. It is at this point when Miss Prior first hears the term 'special friend' when she learns that some of the women make romantic connections with...