"And can't Mr. Spencer come home?" asked Mrs. Spencer.
"No; unless he stays here after he comes in. He can not go back and forth to New York every day."
Mrs. Spencer looked utterly bewildered. Accustomed to depend upon her husband in any emergency, she felt quite unable to meet this situation.
"And there is danger of these two girls having diphtheria?" she said, in a scared voice, as if anxious to know the worst at once.
"There is grave danger, Mrs. Spencer, for all in the house. But we will hope by careful treatment to avoid that. The quarantine, however, is imperative. You must not let your servants or your family go out into the street, nor must you allow any one except myself to come in."
"Oh, Doctor Mendel," cried Marjorie, "how can I see Mother?"
"You can't see her. I'm sorry, Marjorie, but you simply can not go home, nor can she come here."
"And I'll have to have diphtheria, and die, without seeing her at all!"
"Tut, tut! You're not going to have diphtheria, I hope. These precautions are necessary, because of the law, but you're by no means sure to take the disease."
"Delight will," said Mrs. Spencer, in a hopeless tone. "She's so delicate, and so subject to throat affections. Oh, how can I stand all this without any one to help me? Can't I have a trained nurse?"