Nurse Lauriston

In the short story The Edge, Nurse Lauriston is a nurse who is sent to take care of Claire Halliwell after her mental breakdown. Claire had been very miserable earlier on but Nurse Lauriston had a good record of success with mental cases. Her strategy was to "humour them". She play-acted a scenario that fitted Claire's own delusions. Nurse Lauriston pretended to be a wardress from Pentonville Prison and told Claire that she was serving penal servitude for room. Claire's room was fitted up to look like a cell. This strategy apparently worked.