Chapter 21

XXI A MODEL WIFE

Colonel Preston, returning from a trip to Boston, in which, probably, he had been unconsciously exposed to the terrible disease referred to, was taken sick, and his wife, wholly unsuspicious of her husband's malady, sent for the doctor.

The latter examined his patient and, on leaving the sick-chamber, beckoned Mrs. Preston to follow him.

"What is the matter with him, doctor?" asked Mrs. Preston. The physician looked grave.

"I regret to say, Mrs. Preston, that he has the smallpox."

"The smallpox!" almost shrieked Mrs. Preston. "Oh! what will become of me?"

Dr. Townley was rather disgusted to find her first thought was about herself, not about her stricken husband.

"It's catching, isn't it, doctor?" she asked, in great agitation.

"I am sorry to say that it is, madam."

"Do you think I will take it?"

"I cannot take it upon myself to say."

"And I was in the same room with him," wailed Mrs. Preston, "and never knew the awful danger! Oh, I wouldn't have the smallpox for this world! If I didn't die, I should be all marked up for life."

"You haven't much beauty to spoil," thought the doctor; but this thought he prudently kept to himself.

"I must leave the house at once. I will go to my brother's house till he has recovered," said Mrs. Preston, in agitation.

"What!" exclaimed the doctor, in surprise, "and leave your husband alone!"

"I can't take care of him�you must see that I can't," said Mrs. Preston, fretfully. "I can't expose my life without doing him any good."

"I expose myself every time I visit him," said the doctor. "I never had the smallpox. Have you been vaccinated?"

"Yes, I believe so�I'm sure I don't know. But people sometimes take the smallpox even after they have been vaccinated. I should be so frightened that I could do no good."

"Then," said the doctor, gravely, "you have decided to leave your husband?"

"Yes, doctor, I must. It is my duty�to my boy," answered Mrs.
Preston, catching at this excuse with eagerness. "I must live for him,
you know. Of course, if I could do any good, it would be different.
But what would Godfrey do if both his father and mother should die?"

She looked up into his face, hoping that he would express approval of her intentions; but the doctor was too honest for this. In truth, he was disgusted with the woman's selfishness, and would like to have said so; but this politeness forbade. At any rate, he was not going to be trapped into any approval of her selfish and cowardly determination.

"What do you wish to be done, Mrs. Preston?" he asked. "Of course, your husband must be taken care of."

"Hire a nurse, doctor. A nurse will do much more good than I could. She will know just what to do. Most of them have had the smallpox. It is really much better for my husband that it should be so. Of course, you can pay high wages�anything she asks," added Mrs. Preston, whose great fear made her, for once in her life, liberal.

"I suppose that will be the best thing to do. You wish me, then, to engage a nurse?"

"Yes, doctor, if you will be so kind."

"When do you go away?"

"At once. I shall pack up my clothes immediately. On the whole, I think I will go to the town where Godfrey is at school, and board there for the present. I must see him, and prevent him from coming home."

"You will go into your husband's chamber and bid him good-by?"

"No; I cannot think of it. It would only be useless exposure."

"What will he think?"

"Explain it to him, doctor. Tell him that I hope he will get well very soon, and that I feel it my duty to go away now on Godfrey's account. I am sure he will see that it is my duty."

"I wonder what excuse she would have if she had no son for a pretext?" thought the doctor.

"Well," he said, "I will do as you request."

"See that he has the best of care. Get him two nurses, if you think best. Don't spare expense."

"What extraordinary liberality in Mrs. Preston," thought the physician.

He went back into the chamber of his patient.

"Doctor," said Colonel Preston, "you didn't tell me what was the matter with me. Am I seriously sick?"

"I am sorry to say that you are."

"Dangerously?"

"Not necessarily. You have the smallpox."

"Have I?" said the patient, thoughtfully.

"It's an awkward thing to tell him that his wife is going to leave him," the doctor said to himself. "However, it must be done."

"Have you told my wife, doctor?"

"I just told her."

"What does she say?"

"She is very much startled, and (now for it), thinks, under the circumstances, she ought not to run the risk of taking care of you on account of Godfrey."

"Perhaps she is right," said Colonel Preston, slowly.

He was not surprised to hear it, but it gave him a pang, nevertheless.

"She wants me to engage a nurse for you."

"Yes, that will be necessary."

There was a pause.

"When is she going?" he asked, a little later.

"As soon as possible. She is going to board near the school where
Godfrey is placed."

"Shall I see her?"

"She thinks it best not to risk coming into the chamber, lest she should carry the infection to Godfrey."

"I suppose that is only prudent," returned the sick man, but in his heart he wished that his wife had shown less prudence, and a little more feeling for him.

"Have you thought of any nurse?" he asked.

"I have thought of the widow Burke."

"She might not dare to come."

"She has had the disease. I know this from a few slight marks still left on her face. Of course, you would be willing to pay a liberal price?"

"Any price," said Colonel Preston, energetically. "It is a service which, I assure you, I shall not soon forget."

"I must see her at once, for your wife will leave directly."

"Pray, do so," said Colonel Preston. "Tell my wife," he said, after a pause, "that I hope soon to have recovered, so that it may be safe for her to come back."

There was a subdued bitterness in his voice, which the doctor detected, and did not wonder at. He gave the message, as requested.

"I am sure I hope so, Dr. Townley," said Mrs. Preston. "I shall be tortured with anxiety. I hope you will write me daily how my poor husband is getting along?"

"Perhaps the paper might carry the infection," said the doctor, testing the real extent of her solicitude.

"I didn't think of that," answered Mrs. Preston, hastily. "On the whole, you needn't write, then. It might communicate the disease to Godfrey."

"She finds Godfrey very useful," the doctor thought.

"I will bear my anxiety as I can," she continued. "Have you thought of anyone for a nurse?"

"I have thought of Mrs. Burke."

"She is poor, and will come if you offer her a good price. Try to get her."

"I think she will come. I must go at once, for your husband needs immediate attention."

"Get her to come at once, Dr. Townley! Oh, do! My husband may want something, and I can't go into the room. My duty to my dear, only son will not permit me. I hope Mr. Preston understands my motives in going away?"

"I presume he does," said the doctor, rather equivocally.

"Tell him how great a sacrifice it is for me to leave his bedside. It is a terrible trial for me, but my duty to my son makes it imperative."

The doctor bowed.

He drove at once to the humble dwelling of Mrs. Burke.

His errand was briefly explained.

"Can you come?" he asked. "I am authorized to offer you ten dollars a week for the time you spend there."

"I would come in a minute, doctor, but what shall I do with Mary?"

"She shall stay at my house. I will gladly take charge of her."

"You are very kind, doctor. I wouldn't want to expose her, but I don't mind myself. I don't think I am in danger, for I've had the smallpox already."

"Can you be ready in five minutes? Tell Mary to pack up her things, and go to my house at once. We'll take good care of her."

In less than an hour Mrs. Burke was installed at the bedside of the sick man as his nurse. As she entered the house, Mrs. Preston left it, bound for the railway depot.

"I'm so glad you're here," she said, greeting the widow Burke with unwonted cordiality. "I am sure you will take the best care of my husband. I have told the doctor to pay you whatever you ask."

"I'll do my best, Mrs. Preston, but not for the money," answered Mrs.
Burke. "Your husband shall get well, if good care can cure him."

"I've no doubt of it; but the carriage is here, and I must go. Tell my husband how sorry I am to leave him."

So Mrs. Preston went away, leaving a stranger to fulfill her own duties at the bedside of her husband.

Thus it happened that, when Andy came home, he found his mother already gone, and his sister on the point of starting for the doctor's house. His idea had already been carried out.