"Such things are too subtle for an old man, my child, too subtle,
perhaps, for any man either young or old," he said hurriedly and
confusedly. "You women see and feel many things that fly high above our
heads. And then I am duller than usual to-night. I am anxious about
business matters. The river is rising rapidly, there is danger of a
disastrous flood. My boats are not in safe places, and worst of all the
Cold Plague broke out to-day on one of them. The boat is tied up to the
island. I sent it over there immediately so that you, and the rest of
the family, might be in no danger from the spread of the epidemic. But
it worries me, and one of the boatmen is said to be dying."
"Send for my Paul. He can cure him. The plague-stricken hardly ever die
if he can get to them in time."
She said this with a pretty air of pride in her lover, and a gentle lift
of her head. He made no reply, and she turned her eyes from the fire to
his face to see why he was silent so long. He was pale with a strange
gray pallor, and he met her gaze with a startled, alarmed look.
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