“Ah, I don’t say that. But he will find it, for it’s certainly here. I satisfied myself of that yesterday.”
“From your beggar friend?”
“What made you think that, O most acute observer?”
“What else would you be talking to him of, with such interest?”
“You’re correct. Bubonic always starts in the poor quarters. To know how people die, you have to know how they live. So I cultivated my beggar friend and listened to the gossip of quick funerals and unexplained disappearances. I’d have had some real arguments to present to Mr. Brewster if he had cared to listen.”
“He’ll listen to Dr. Pruyn. They’re old friends.”
“No! Are they?”
“Yes. Since college days. So perhaps the quarantine will be easier to get through than the blockade.”
“Do you think so? I’m afraid you’ll find that pull doesn’t work with the service that Dr. Pruyn is in.”
“And you think that there will be quarantine within four days?”