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Book, page 21 / 156 "It's only a few blocks now, ma'am," he said, as he opened the door. "I haven't much time--" Madeleine almost sprang out. She opened her purse. He accepted the large bill with a grin on his good-natured face. "That's all right, Mrs. Talbot. I wouldn't have spoke of it nohow. The Doctor and me's old friends. But I'm just glad old Ben got what he deserved. The impudence of him! You--well!--Good day, ma'am." He paused as he was climbing back to the box. "If you don't mind my giving ye a bit of advice, Mrs. Talbot--I've seen a good bit of the world, I have--this is a hot city, all right-- I just wouldn't say anything to the doctor. Trouble makes trouble. Better let it stop right here." "Thanks, Thomas. Good-by." And Madeleine strode down the street as if the furies pursued her. VI Madeleine was spared the ordeal of confession; it was six weeks before she saw her husband again. He telegraphed at six o'clock that he had a small-pox patient and could not subject her to the risk of contagion. The disease most dreaded in San Francisco had arrived some time before and the pest house outside the city limits was already crowded. The next day yellow flags appeared before several houses. Before a week passed they had multiplied all over the city. People went about with visible camphor bags suspended from their necks, and Madeleine heard the galloping death wagon at all hours of the night. Howard telegraphed frequently and sent a doctor to revaccinate her, as the virus he had administered himself had not taken. She was not to worry about him as he vaccinated himself every day. Finally he commanded her to leave town, and she made a round of visits.
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