“He’s getting well quite as quickly as I want him to. Perhaps a little more quickly. The fever is broken and he is beginning to peel.”
“Then what’s the difficulty?” inquired Mr. Clyde.
“Just this. Charley is a sturdy boy. The light attack he’s had hasn’t begun to exhaust his vitality. From now on, he is going to be a bundle of energy, without outlet.”
“From now on till when?” It was Grandma Sharpless who wanted to know.
“Two weeks anyway. Perhaps more.”
“Are you going to keep that poor child in bed for two weeks after he’s practically well?” said the mother.
“For three weeks if the whole family will help me. It’s not going to be easy.”
“Isn’t that a little extreme, Strong?” asked Mr. Clyde.
“Only the precaution of experience. The danger-point in scarlet fever isn’t the illness; it’s the convalescence. People think that when a child is cured of a disease, he is cured of the effects of the disease also. That mistake costs lives.”
“Because the poison is still in the system?”