and laid her wet cheek on his. "God bless you now and always."

"Forever and ever, amen," whispered Olly back, with an impression that
Phebe was saying her prayers over him. "And oh, I say, Pheeb, can't you
let us have some of that jelly cake with raisins in it, to take with us
for luncheon to-morrow?"

And Phebe promised she would, and laughed and went away feeling, somehow,
a little comforted.

And so Gerald and Olly and De Forest all disappeared from the scene
together, and shortly after the Dexters went to Morocco on a visit, and
the Masters adjourned to Bethany to do their fall shopping; and there
were whisperings around that something was wrong; there was more and more
talk of the fever; of how it ought to be checked, and why it had not been
checked, and what would be the dire consequences if it were not checked.
The summer guests all slipped quietly away, leaving Joppa alone to its
growing trouble. Every day brought some new case, sometimes a death, and
people began to look suspiciously at each other in the streets and to
avoid each other on the flimsiest pretexts. Miss Lydia cried helplessly
in her room and said she was sure she should take it and die of it. Mr.
Hardcastle found he was too busy at home to have time for neighborly
visits, and went around the block rather than pass a door where he saw
the doctor's gig. When one has a family, one owes it duties that should
not be neglected. Mrs. Upjohn declared the panic to be ridiculous. _She_
shouldn't be scared away by a red flag, like a crow from a cornfield.
There had never been a case of typhoid known in Joppa, and places were
like people, they never broke out with diseases that were not already in
their constitutions. It was all arrant nonsense. However, she was
perfectly willing that Maria should make that proposed visit to her aunt
in Boston if she liked, and it was quite proper that Mr. Upjohn, in the
character of gallant father, should escort her there; the girl couldn't
go alone. So every day saw some new flight from the village. The doctors
began to look overworked and very grave, and Mr. Hardcastle appeared less
and less outside his gates, and took to walking always in the middle of
the streets, whence he could wave a salutation to his passing friends
without stopping to speak to them. Dick said he'd like to see the fever
catch _him_, and pursued the rough tenor of his ways fearlessly as of
old, though he assured his anxious father that it was wholly