“Bravely. Anne contrived our carrying her up-stairs, and it is the greatest comfort to Raymond to lie and look at her, and Susan looks after them both.”
“Then he can’t be so very ill.”
“Not so acutely, but there are symptoms that make Worth anxious. Shall I give you a note for Mrs. Fuller?”
“Do, and put me at your disposal for all you can spare for, or I can do. Have you written to Bindon?”
“I don’t know where, within some hundred miles. But, Herbert, I think we ought to undertake the help that is wanted at Wil’sbro’. Smith of Duddingstone is too weakly, and poor old Mr. Moulden neither could nor would. We are the nearest, and having it here already, do not run the risk of spreading it. As things are, I cannot be very long away from home, but I would come in for an hour or so every day, if you could do the rest.”
“Yes, that was what I meant,” said Herbert.
“Worth says the best protection is never to go among the sick hungry or exhausted. He says he keeps a biscuit in his pocket to eat before going into a sick house. I shall make Rosamond keep you supplied, and you must promise to use them.”
“Oh yes, I promise.”
“And never drink anything there. There is to be a public meeting to-morrow, to see whether the cause of this outbreak is not traceable to the water down there.”
“Mrs. Duncombe’s meddling?”