The Thrift has been in operation for some months now, and the strain of too much work with too few staff is beginning to show. Lady Cora is acting as administrator, but she is feeling decidedly unwell.
When a 16-year-old labourer, Wilf, is brought in to the Thrift after an accident and cannot feel anything, a broken neck is suspected. Lady Cora has learned of a contraption called an X-Radiography machine, and approaches Sir Herbert at the East London Hospital to beg the use of one. Sir Herbert is warned by the radiographer, but overexposes Wilf to the X-rays and burns him horribly, though Wilf cannot feel it. Back at the Thrift, Nurse Carr believes Wilf when he says he thinks he can feel his toes, but Dr. Marsham thinks he's imagining things, and this leads to sharp words with Nurse Carr.
Lady Cora has called in Sir Herbert for help with the Thrift as well as for medical advice for herself. For Lady Cora he diagnoses, without bothering to examine her, a spastic colon and prescribes rest, rest, and rest. This suits his plans for the Thrift, which he intends to take over. When Eleanor belatedly discovers these plans, she sees it would quickly lead to patients being admitted only if they could pay.
Then while Lady Cora is visiting Robert and Eleanor at home, she suffers an attack of acute pain. It is clear that she has appendicitis. When Sir Herbert arrives, a confrontation is inevitable. But for Lady Cora, the operation may be already too late.