The laundry yard

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Ruth laughed when Mrs Penrose warned her not to remain in the laundry yard after dusk. The old woman saw danger in every shadow. Ruth took the empty basket from her and went outside, leaving the wash-house door open behind her.

Long rows of linen stretched across the yard. In the failing light, the sheets had lost their familiar shapes and become white walls, dividing the ground into narrow passages. Ruth began with the nearest line, pulling out the wooden pegs and dropping them into her apron pocket. Their brisk little knocks kept her company.

At the far end of the yard, the knocking stopped. Six pegs lay on the ground in three careful pairs. Ruth stared at them. The wind might scatter pegs, she thought, but it would not arrange them.

She gathered another sheet and pushed it deep into the basket. Leaving the remaining washing on the lines, she started back towards the wash-house. The linen behind her began to rise. One sheet lifted, then another, each swelling as if somebody had stepped silently inside it. Ruth quickened her pace. The wash-house doorway seemed much farther away than before.

“Ruth.”

The voice was quiet and close. She did not turn. She reached the final line, where a single sheet barred her path. Taking hold of one corner, she pulled it aside.

For a moment, the cloth resisted her. Then Ruth felt the linen tighten between her fingers as another hand, hidden on the opposite side, pulled back.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to show Ruth’s growing unease. Support your answer with references to the passage.