purpose
well. Its dull thud, thud, had scarcely ceased vibrating the air when
Michael appeared. As he came towards her, Millicent went to meet him.
He had not yet changed his day clothes.

"Don't come near me!" he called out. "Not any further."

"Why not?" Millicent said. "What's the matter? Are you stricken with
the plague?" She spoke laughingly.

Michael stopped within a few feet of her. "Perhaps I am stricken with
the smallpox," he said. "The saint has got it--it may be of a very
malignant order. We don't know."

Every vestige of colour left Millicent's face. She felt sick. "And
you have been to him? You touched him!"

"Of course. I wished to judge for myself. There is no doubt about it."

"M-i-c-h-a-e-l!" The word was a long-drawn-out expression of horror.
A wave of inexpressible terror and disgust overwhelmed Millicent; she
could scarcely speak or move. "You knew, and yet you went to him. How
could you, oh, how could you?"

He scarcely heard her. "These natives who have never been vaccinated
take it very badly. Smallpox is a scourge with all Africans, from the
north to the south."

Millicent's mind was now working furiously. She did not wish to let
Michael see how terrified she was, or how angry.

"Go and change," she said. "Go at once. Get Abdul to disinfect you--I
brought any amount of stuffs."

"Oh, I'm all right--I'm not afraid. I was with him for a long time
last night. If I'm going to take it, the mischief's done."

Millicent's quick mind travelled. Michael had been with this sick
saint the night before. He, Michael, might be a carrier of the
disease, even if he were immune from it himself. And she had been fool
enough to throw herself into his arms! Oh, what a fool! She might
even now be incubating the horrible, loathsome disease. She was
soul-sick. Her fear and rage were inseparable. But she must, of
course, make a good show.

"Never mind, Mike, about last night. Probably the disease was not at
such an infectious stage as it is now--you may not have contracted it.
Take what precautions you can--go quickly and disinfect yourself. Are
you really sure it's smallpox?" She said the last words with a
shudder. "Ugh! it's horrible!"

"Yes," Michael said. "The spots have appeared on his wrists and at the
back of his neck. Abdul knows the beastly disease only too well--the
vomiting and the headaches and the fall in the temperature. It appears
that he told Abdul