"Who's got it?"
"Colonel Preston; and his wife won't stay in the house. She is packing up to go off, and I expect the poor man'll die all by himself, unless somebody goes and takes care of him, and then it'll spread, and we'll all die of it."
This was certainly startling intelligence. Andy pitied the colonel, who had always treated him well. It occurred to him that his mother had passed through an attack of smallpox in her youth, and could take care of the colonel without danger. He resolved to consult her about it at once.
CHAPTER XXI — A MODEL WIFE
Colonel Preston, returning from a trip to Boston, in which, probably, he had been unconsciously exposed to the terrible disease referred to, was taken sick, and his wife, wholly unsuspicious of her husband's malady, sent for the doctor.
The latter examined his patient and, on leaving the sick-chamber, beckoned Mrs. Preston to follow him.
"What is the matter with him, doctor?" asked Mrs. Preston. The physician looked grave.
"I regret to say, Mrs. Preston, that he has the smallpox."