"Ay, truly, so long as the cases are duly reported," she repeated
slowly. "But do you think, sir, that that is ever done where means
may be found to avoid it?"

The Master Builder looked a little startled at the question.

"Surely all good folks would wish to do what was right by their
neighbours. They would not harbour a case of plague, and not make
it known in the right quarter."

"You think not, perhaps. Had you seen as much of the sick as I
have, you would know that men so fear and dread the distemper, as
they most often call it, that they will blind their eyes to it to
the very last, and do everything in their power to make it out as
something other than what they fear. I have seen enough of the ways
of folks with sickness to be very sure that all who have friends to
protect the fearful secret, will do so if it be possible. It is
when a poor stranger dies of a sudden that it becomes known that
the plague has found another victim. Why are there double the
number of deaths in this week's bill, if more than are set down as
such be not the distemper?"

All the faces in the room looked very grave at that, for in truth
it was a most disquieting thought. The sailor came a few steps
nearer the fire, and remarked:

"It has all come from those hounds of Dutchmen! Right glad am I
that we are to go to war with them at last, whether the cause be
righteous or not. They have gotten the plague all over their land.