The year is 1879. When thirteen-year-old Ruth Merritt Holbrook emerges from her family's burning estate, bloody and charred, but entirely numb--She makes headlines. Reporters believe she is deranged. They accuse her of having set the fire. All the h...
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Mr. Gabriel Farley,
I write to you regarding your request to have your dependent, Miss Ruth Merritt Holbrook, attend your upcoming nuptials. While I would find it pleasing to report that she is well enough, after nearly three years of asylum confinement, to reenter society and stand witness to your happy occasion, I find that I cannot. In recent weeks I have been given reason to believe that perhaps Miss Holbrook has in fact regressed in her treatment.
When she first arrived at St. Agatha's Private Home Asylum she was but a child, frightened, willful and uncooperative. In the last three years, she has grown, gained our trust and learned her place in the world. These are all wonderful and much-needed discoveries. I had hoped that with these new self-evaluations she might prove herself deserving of freedom. I'd discussed ways that she might leave the asylum for short breaks.
To my dismay, all of my hopes were dashed when I was called to St. Agatha's to tend to a patient—a young girl whose real name I am unable to give. This girl suffered from melancholia and was under close watch at St. Agatha's because she had, in recent months, taken to trying to end her own life. It wasn't until this day, the 15 of November, that the lady in question finally succeeded in this horrid deed. She was found in the bath with her wrists slit.
I regret to inform you that your dependent, Miss Holbrook, was found with this girl and had been given the trusted task of keeping an eye on the young girl. It was under Miss Holbrook's neglectful eye, and perhaps verbal encouragement, that this child was able to end her own life. When found and questioned by authorities both in St. Agatha's and without, she refused to speak of what had happened. Finally, after many threats and much duress, she admitted to having allowed the girl to kill herself. Miss Holbrook told myself, and attending authorities, that she had been able to feel the young girl's pain and that she could not bare to force the girl to remain how she was.
While the courts, with your help, decreed her not guilty for the treacherous murder of her beloved family, we at St. Agatha's have recently come to suspect that Miss Holbrook did indeed play a part in their demise. I do not in any way believe that your dependent could feel the melancholia of our recently deceased patient, but I trust that she is deranged enough to believe it herself.
It is with this in mind that I will ask that you understand our refusal to allow Miss Holbrook to leave our facility to attend your wedding. She is currently in solitary confinement where she will remain until I feel that she can safely interact with other patients. I assure you she is under the best of care and that she is being treated with abundant compassion.
I would like to take this time to ask that you allow me to consider different options for Miss Holbrook moving forward. I have heard news of doctors making great strides in the psychological field, all of which I'm sure would gladly welcome your dependent as a new addition to their study. Please feel free to address me directly with any concerns you may have. I have high hopes for Miss Holbrook's recovery, but I currently feel ill-equipped to help her any further.
I hope this letter finds you well.
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