e knew that
should he sicken of the plague he would be taken away to the pest
house to be tended there, and as she believed assuredly to die, she
burst into wild weeping, and declared that she would risk
everything sooner than that should happen. So it had been speedily
arranged that the unhappy youth should be provided with a vinegar
and herb bath and a complete change of raiment out there in the
disused shop, and that then he should come into the house, his
mother being willing to take the risk rather than banish him from
home.

This had been quickly done, under the direction of good James
Harmer, who as one of the examiners of health was well qualified to
give counsel in the matter. He also told his neighbour that should
the young man be attacked by the plague, he would strive if
possible to gain for him the services of his sister-in-law, Dinah
Morse, who was one of the most tender and skilful nurses now
working amongst the sick. She was always busy; but so fell was the
action of the plague poison, that her patients died daily, despite
her utmost care, and she was constantly moving from house to house,
sometimes leaving none alive behind her in a whole domicile. A
certain number recovered, and these she made shift to visit daily
for a while; but her main work lay amongst the dying, whose friends
too often left them in terror so soon as the fatal marks appeared
which bespoke them sickening of the terrible distemper.

The Master Builder received this promise with gratitude, having
heard gruesome stories of the evil practices of many of those who
called themselves plague nurses, but who really sought their own
gain, and often left the patient alone and untended in his agony,
whilst they coolly ransacked the house from which the other inmates
had often contrived to flee before it was shut up.

Frederick, utterly unnerved and overcome by the horror of the thing
which had befallen him, looked already almost like one stricken to
death. His mother was striving to get him to swallow some of the
medicines which were considered as valuable antidotes, and to sip
at a cup of so-called plague water--a rather costly preparation
much in vogue amongst the wealthier citizens at that time. But the
nausea of the horrible smell of the plague patient was still upon
him, sickening him to the refusal of all medicine or food, and to
Gertrude's eyes he looked as though he might well be smitten
already.

Her father was the only person w