第 37 页

his room on the first floor.

"Neglect no precaution," the minister said. "No one should throw away

his life. I myself, although not a smoker, nor accustomed to take

snuff, use it now, and would, as the doctors advise, chew a piece of

tobacco, but 'tis too nasty, and when I tried it, I was so ill that I

thought even the risk of the Plague preferable. But I carry camphor

in my pockets, and when I return from preaching among people of whom

some may well have the infection, I bathe my face and hands with

vinegar, and, pouring some on to a hot iron, fill the room with its

vapour. My life is useful, I hope, and I would fain keep it, as long

as it is the Lord's will, to work in His service. As a rule, I take

wine and bread before I go out in the morning, though to-day I was

pressed for time, and neglected it. I should advise you always to do

so. I am convinced that a full man has less chance of catching the

infection than a fasting one, and that it is the weakness many men

suffer from their fears, and from their loss of appetite from grief,

that causes them to take it so easily. When the fever was so bad in

St. Giles's, I heard that in many instances, where whole families

were carried away, the nurses shut up with them were untouched with

the infection, and I believe that this was because they had become

hardened to the work, and ate and drank heartily, and troubled not

themselves at all at the grief of those around them. They say that

many of these harpies have grown, wealthy, loading themselves with

everything valuable they could lay hands on in the houses of those

they attended."

After the meal, in which he insisted upon Cyril joining him, was

concluded, Mr. Wallace uttered a short prayer that Cyril might safely

pass through the work he had undertaken.

"I trust," he said, "that you will come here frequently? I generally

have a few friends here of an evening. We try to be cheerful, and to

strengthen each other, and I am sure we all have comfort at these

meetings."

"Thank you, I will come sometimes, sir; but as a rule I must return

home, for my friend, John Wilkes, would sorely miss my company, and

is so good and faithful a fellow that I would not seem to desert him

on any account."

"Do as you think right, lad, but remember there will always be a

welcome for you here when you choose to come."

John Wilkes was dismayed when he heard of Cyril's intention.

"Well, Master Cyril," he said, after smoking his pipe in silence for

some time, "it is not for me to hinder you in what you have made up

your mind to do. I don't say that if I wasn't on duty here that I

mightn't go and do what I could for these poor creatures. But I don't

know. It is one thing to face a deadly fever like this Plague if it

comes on board your own ship, for there is no getting out of it; and

as you have got to face it, why, says I, do it as a man; but as for

going out of your way to put yourself in the middle of it, that is

going a bit beyond me."

"Well, John, you didn't think it foolish when I went as a Volunteer

to fight the Dutch. It was just the same thing, you know."

"I suppose it was," John said reluctantly, after a pause. "But then,

you see, you were fighting for your country."

"Well, but in the present case I shall be fighting for my countrymen

and countrywomen, John. It is awful to think of the misery that

people are suffering, and it seems to me that, having nothing else to

do here, it is specially my duty to put my hand to the work of

helping as far as I can. The risk may, at present, be greater than it

would be if I stayed at home, but if the Plague spreads--and it looks

as if all the City would presently be affected--all will have to run

the risk of contagion. There are thousands of women now who

voluntarily enter the houses as nurses for a small rate of pay. Even

robbers, they say, will enter and ransack the houses of the dead in

search of plunder. It will be a shame indeed then if one should

shrink from doing so when possibly one might do good."

"I will say nothing more against it, Master Cyril. Still, I do not

see exactly what you are going to do; with one arm you could scarce

hold down a raving man."

"I am not going to be a nurse, certainly, John," Cyril said, with a

laugh. "I expect that the doctor wants certain cases watched. Either

he may doubt the nurses, or he may want to see how some particular

drug works. Nothing, so far, seems of use, but that may be partly

because the doctors are all so busy that they cannot watch the

patients and see, from hour to hour, how medicines act."

"When I was in the Levant, and the pest was bad there," John Wilkes

said, "I heard that the Turks, when seized with the distemper,

sometimes wrapped themselves up in a great number of clothes, so that

they sweated heavily, and that this seemed, in some cases, to draw

off the fever, and so the patient recovered."

"That seems a sensible sort of treatment, John, and worth trying with

this Plague."

On calling on Dr. Hodges that afternoon, Cyril found that he had

rightly guessed the nature of the work that the doctor wished him to

perform.

"I can never rely upon the nurses," he said. "I give instructions

with medicines, but in most cases I am sure that the instructions are

never carried out. The relations and friends are too frightened to

think or act calmly, too full of grief for the sick, and anxiety for

those who have not yet taken the illness, to watch the changes in the

patient. As to the nurses, they are often drunk the whole time they

are in the house. Sometimes they fear to go near the sick man or

woman; sometimes, undoubtedly, they hasten death. In most cases it

matters little, for we are generally called in too late to be of any

service. The poor people view us almost as enemies; they hide their

malady from us in every way. Half our time, too, is wasted uselessly,

for many are there who frighten themselves into the belief that they

are ill, and send for us in all haste. So far, we feel that we are

working altogether in the dark; none of us can see that any sort of

drug avails even in the slightest degree when the malady has once got

a hold. One in twenty cases may live, but why we know not. Still the

fact that some do live shows that the illness is not necessarily

mortal, and that, could the right remedy befound, we might yet

overcome it. The first thing, however, is to try to prevent its

spread. Here we have ten or more people shut up in a house with one

sick person. It is a terrible necessity, for it is a sentence of

death to many, if not to all. We give the nurses instructions to

fumigate the room by evaporating vinegar upon hot irons, by burning

spices and drugs, by sprinkling perfumes. So far, I cannot see that

these measures have been of any service, but I cannot say how

thoroughly they have been carried out, and I sorely need an assistant

to see that the system is fairly tried. It is not necessary that he

should be a doctor, but he must have influence and power over those

in the house. He must be calm and firm, and he must be regarded by

the people as a doctor. If you will undertake this, you must put on a

wig, for you know that that is looked upon as a necessary part of a

doctor's outfit by people in general. I shall introduce you as my

assistant, and say that you are to be obeyed as implicitly as if I

myself were present. There is another reason why you must pass as a

doctor, for you would otherwise be a prisoner and unable to pass in

and out. You had best wear a black suit. I will lend you one of my

canes and a snuff-box, and should advise you to take snuff, even if

it is not your habit, for I believe that it is good against

infection, and one of the experiments I wish to try is as to what its

result may be if burnt freely in the house. Are you ready to

undertake this work?"

"Quite ready, sir."

"Then come round here at eight in the morning. I shall have heard by

that hour from the examiners of this parish of any fresh case they

have found. They begin their rounds at five o'clock."

The next day Cyril presented himself at the doctor's, dressed in

black, with white ruffles to his shirt, and a flowing wig he had

purchased the night before.

"Here are the cane and snuff-box," Dr. Hodges said. "Now you will

pass muster very well as my assistant. Let us be off at once; for I

have a long list of cases."

Cyril remained outside while Dr. Hodges went into three or four

houses. Presently he came down to the door, and said to him,--

"This is a case where things are favourable for a first trial. It is

a boy who is taken ill, and the parents, though in deep grief, seem

to have some sense left."

He turned to the watchman, who had already been placed at the door.

The man, who evidently knew him, had saluted respectfully when he

entered the house.

"This gentleman is my assistant," he said, "and you will allow him to

pass in and out just as you would myself. He is going to take this

case entirely in hand, and you will regard him as being in charge

here."

He then re-entered the house with Cyril, and led him to the room

where the parents of the boy, and two elder sisters, were assembled.

"This is my assistant," he said, "and he has consented to take entire

charge of the case, though I myself shall look in and consult with

him every morning. In the first place, your son must be taken to the

top storey of the house. You say that you are ready to nurse him

yourselves, and do not wish that a paid nurse should be had in. I

commend your determination, for the nurses are, for the most part,

worse than useless, and carry the infection all over the house. But

only one of you must go into the room, and whoever goes in must stay

there. It is madness for all to be going in and out and exposing

themselves to the infection when no good can be done. When this is

the case, one or other is sure to take the malady, and then it

spreads to all. Which of you will undertake the duty?"

All four at once offered themselves, and there was an earnest contest

between them for the dangerous post. Dr. Hodges listened for a minute

or two, and then decided upon the elder of the two sisters--a quiet,

resolute-looking girl with a healthy face.

"This young lady shall be nurse," he said. "I feel that I can have

confidence in her. She looks healthy and strong, and would, methinks,

best resist the malady, should she take it. I am leaving my assistant

here for a time to see to the fumigation of the house. You will

please see that his orders are carried out in every respect. I have

every hope that if this is done the Plague will not spread further;

but much must depend upon yourselves. Do not give way to grief, but

encourage each other, and go about with calm minds. I see," he said,

pointing to a Bible on the table, "that you know where to go for

comfort and strength. The first thing is to carry the boy up to the

room that we chose for him."

"I will do that," the father said.

"He had better be left in the blankets in which he is lying. Cover

him completely over with them, for, above all, it is necessary that

you should not inhale his breath. You had better take the head and

your daughter the feet. But first see that the room upstairs is

prepared."

In a few minutes the lad was transferred to the upper room, the

doctor warning the others not to enter that from which he had been

carried until it had been fumigated and sprinkled with vinegar.

"Now," he said to the girl who was to remain with the patient, "keep

the window wide open; as there is no fireplace, keep a brazier of

charcoal burning near the window. Keep the door shut, and open it

only when you have need for something. Give him a portion of this

medicine every half hour. Do not lean over him--remember that his

breath is a fatal poison. Put a pinch of these powdered spices into

the fire every few minutes. Pour this perfume over your handkerchief,

and put it over your mouth and nose whenever you approach the bed. He

is in a stupor now, poor lad, and I fear that his chance of recovery

is very slight; but you must remember that your own life is of value

to your parents, and that it behoves you to do all in your power to

preserve it, and that if you take the contagion it may spread through

the house. We shall hang a sheet, soaked in vinegar, outside the

door."

"We could not have a better case for a trial," he said, as he went

downstairs and joined Cyril, whom he had bidden wait below. "The

people are all calm and sensible, and if we succeed not here, there

is small chance of our succeeding elsewhere."

The doctor then gave detailed orders as to fumigating the house, and

left. Cyril saw at once that a brazier of charcoal was lighted and

carried upstairs, and he called to the girl to come out and fetch it

in. As soon as she had done so the sheet was hung over the door. Then

he took another brazier, placed it in the room from which the boy had

been carried, laid several lumps of sulphur upon it, and then left

the room. All the doors of the other rooms were then thrown open, and

a quantity of tobacco, spices, and herbs, were burnt on a red-hot

iron at the foot of the stairs, until the house was filled with a

dense smoke. Half an hour later all the windows were opened.

CHAPTER XVI

FATHER AND SON

The process of fumigation had well-nigh suffocated the wife and

daughter of the trader, but, as soon as the smoke cleared away, Cyril

set them all to work to carry up articles of furniture to another

bedroom on the top floor.

"When your daughter is released from nursing, madam," he said, "she

must at once come into this room, and remain there secluded for a few

days. Therefore, it will be well to make it as comfortable as