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When she went into the great chamber she found Andrew in the middle of an unpleasant operation, lancing the carbuncles which were one sign of plague, and which were found in the most tender and heated parts of the body.
She turned her head aside in retching nausea as the long, thin scalpel did its work and a gush of evil-smelling pus ran out.
Andrew reached round for a basin which stood behind him, and she hurried to assist him. He took a cloth from the warm water in the basin, gently cleansing the wound.
‘She is very ill.’
Cornelia nodded. ‘Will she live?’ she asked, in a whisper, for fear Nan might hear her.
‘A week ago I would have given little hope for anyone who took the contagion,’ he said slowly. ‘But lately I have seen some faint signs of hope. Those who are catching it are not dying quite so rapidly. I do not know why—but more people are recovering, and even those who die are not dying so soon.’
‘You think the worst is over?’ she asked, her breath catching.
He grimaced. ‘Oh, as to that, it is far too soon to say. It has just begun—the summer is at its height. People are still dying like flies. Yet I have an instinct, backed by what I have seen, that the pace is halting just a fraction.’
‘Then I will pray harder than ever that Nan may not die,’ she said fiercely.
He wiped Nan’s hot face with a cool, damp cloth. ‘You will have to nurse her,’ he said, sighing. ‘I would not ask you, but there is no one else.’
‘I would not allow anyone to do so, anyway,’ she said, quite angrily. ‘Nan is my dear Nan. She would have nursed me if I had fallen sick. Do you think I would leave her now?’
Andrew took the basin of filthy, soiled water, the foul cloths he had used. ‘These are infected and must be disposed of at once. Keep her warm. You know what to do now.’
‘I know,’ she said, half sighing, half smiling.
‘Are there any servants left alive? I have not heard for a day or two from Nan.’
‘None, I think,’ she said miserably. ‘Nan was very busy. Oh, Andrew, was it my fault she caught it? I did nothing to help her. She nursed the other servants alone. They were worse than useless and I knew it’
‘She would not hear of having your help,’ he said, soothing her. ‘You know that. Just as you would not allow her to help you nurse your mother. You all of you have acted for the best. Do not blame yourself. That would be merely a waste of your energy.’
She sat down beside Nan, watching her with a mixture of hope and tension which made her whole body ache as though it were stretched on the rack.
/> Andrew left, having other patients to tend about the city.
She heard her father slowly moving about in the next room. He called her, in a voice as fretful as that of a sick child. ‘Cornelia? Where is my food? You promised to bring me some. Where is it? What is happening?’
‘In a little while, Father,’ she called, forcing herself to keep her voice calm. She could not permit herself to be angry with him. The disaster which had overtaken their whole household had made him hasten down the slope into premature senility. It was not his fault.
‘Where are you? What are you doing?’ he wailed, thumping on the floor with his feet.
‘I am nursing Nan,’ she whispered from the doorway, watching the twisting figure on the bed all the while for fear of awakening Nan from the fevered sleep she was held by now.
‘Nan?’ he shrieked. ‘What do you mean? Nursing the servants while I am dying of hunger? It is not right, do you hear me?’
Rendel’s footsteps broke in upon the ragged, moaning voice.
The Alderman fell silent, listening. ‘Who is that in the house? Is that Andrew?’
She did not answer him.
Rendel came towards Cornelia, who shrank back at the door, crying, ‘No, do not come in. No nearer, my dearest love, for God’s sake.’
He stopped at the threshold, smiling at her with tender reassurance. ‘What can I do, then? What ails your father?’
‘He is hungry. Can you find food? I do not know if it would be safe for you to go into the kitchen. The servants died there.’
‘I will manage something,’ he promised, and went down the stairs.
