It was not a time to prattle of the sea-maid to either Madame
Le Maitre or O'Shea, who both of them worked at his side in the battle
against death, and were, Caius verily believed, more heroic and
successful combatants than himself. Some solution concerning his
lady-love there must be, and Caius neither forgot nor gave up his
intention of probing the lives of these two to discover what he wished;
but the foreboding that the discovery would work him no weal made it the
easier to lay the matter aside and wait. They were all bound in the same
icy prison; he could afford patience.
The question of the hospital had been solved in this way. Madame Le
Maitre had taken O'Shea and his wife and children to live with her, and
such patients as could be persuaded or forced into hospital were taken
to his house and nursed there. Then, also, as the disease became more
prevalent, people who had thus far refused all sanitary measures, in
dire fear opened their doors, and allowed Caius and O'Shea to enter with
whitewash brushes and other means of disinfection.
Caius was successful in this, that, in proportion to the number of
people who were taken ill, the death-rate was only one third of what it
had been before he came. He and his fellow-workers were successful also
in a more radical way, for about the end of January it was suddenly
observed among them that there were no new cases of illness.
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