Her French seemed somewhat limited.
Then she turned and spoke to the other woman in another language, which must have been Arabic.
She went away.
Then Malva sat up, smoothing back her hair from her face and trying to breathe naturally although it was a tremendous effort.
A few minutes later the woman who had left the room came back with a tray on which there was a glass of what looked like wine.
She handed it to Malva, who took it and sipped what she thought was a strange but rather sweet wine.
She felt relief from the dryness of her mouth.
“Drink it all and you will feel better,” one of the women said.
Because her throat was feeling parched and she was finding it difficult to express herself, Malva did as she was told.
Then, as she finished the glass, she realised that she had be
