It will well be understood that in such days as these the need for nurses for the sick was terribly great.  The majority of those so-called nurses were women of the lowest class, whose motive was personal gain, not a loving desire to mitigate the sufferings of the stricken.

Whether all the dismal tales told by the miserable beings shut up in their houses, and left to the mercy of watchmen and nurses, were true may be well open to doubt.  Many poor creatures became half demented by terror, and scarcely knew what they said.  But enough was from time to time substantiated to prove how very terrible were the scenes which sometimes went on within these sealed abodes; and more than once some careless watchman or thieving and neglectful nurse had been whipped through the streets for misdemeanours brought home to them by the authorities.

But now things were growing too pressing for individual cases to attract much attention.  Do as men would to cope with the evil, the spread of the fell disease was something terrible to witness.  Up till quite recently, the cases in the southern and eastern parishes and within the city walls had been few as compared with those in the north and west; but now the scourge seemed to have fallen upon the city itself, and the resources of the authorities were taxed to the uttermost.

The Harmer family welcomed back Dinah with joy; but when they heard of Gertrude’s resolve, they looked grave and awed.  Then Janet stepped forward suddenly, and addressing her father, said: 

“Dear father, what Gertrude has desired for herself is nothing less than what I myself have often wished.  Let me go forth also to tend the sick.  If our neighbour can dare to let his only child do this thing, surely thou wilt spare me.  Every day brings terrible tales of the woe and the pressing need of hundreds and thousands around us.  Let me go, too.  I am like to be safer than many, seeing that I may already have been touched by the distemper, though I knew it not.”

The example of his neighbour was not without effect upon the worthy citizen.  Moreover, it seemed to him that those who went about their daily duties, and shrank not from contact with the sick when it was needful, fared better than many who shut themselves up at home, and feared to look forth even from their windows.  As an examiner of health he was frequently brought into contact with the sick, and his son even oftener, and yet both kept their health wonderfully.  True, there were many amongst those who filled these perilous offices who did fall victims, but not more in proportion than others who shunned all contact with peril.  Steady nerves and a stout heart seemed as good preventives as any antidote; and the physicians who laboured ceaselessly and devotedly amongst the stricken ones seemed seldom to suffer.  Moreover, after all these weeks of terror, the minds of persons of all degrees were growing used to the sense of uncertainty and peril, and Janet’s request aroused no very strenuous opposition from any member of her family.