A portion of the Infirmary of the town was added to that already
set apart for a fever-ward; the smitten were carried thither at
once, whenever it was possible, in order to prevent the spread of
infection; and on that lazar-house was concentrated all the
medical skill and force of the place.
But when one of the physicians had died, in consequence of his
attendance--when the customary staff of matrons and nurses had
been swept off in two days--and the nurses belonging to the
Infirmary had shrunk from being drafted into the pestilential
fever-ward--when high wages had failed to tempt any to what, in
their panic, they considered as certain death--when the doctors
stood aghast at the swift mortality among the untended sufferers,
who were dependent only on the care of the most ignorant
hirelings, too brutal to recognize the solemnity of Death (all
this had happened within a week from the first acknowledgment of
the presence of the plague)--Ruth came one day, with a quieter
step than usual, into Mr. Benson's study, and told him she wanted
to speak to him for a few minutes.
"To be sure, my dear! Sit down:" said he; for she was standing
and leaning her head against the chimney-piece, idly gazing into
the fire. She went on standing there, as if she had not heard his
words; and it was a few moments before she began to speak. Then
she said--
"I want to tell you, that I have been this morning and offered
myself as matron to the fever-ward while it is so full.
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