Hester felt some of the tension slip away from her. The room was warm and comfortable. There was a fire in the hearth. It was a different world from the coldness and the dirt of the hospital, the guttering candles and the smell of too many people unwashed, close together in their pain.

Hester sat on the edge of the bed.

“Callandra and Mary are still well, though very tired,” she replied. “And Kristian is still fighting the council, but I don't think he has won a yard of ground. And yes, I think the fever is lessening a little. Certainly there are fewer deaths. We sent two people home today, both well enough to leave.”

“Who are they? Did I know them?”

“Yes,” Hester said with a broad smile. “One is the little boy you were so fond of, the one you thought could never survive . . . .”

“He's all right?” Enid said in amazement, her eyes lighting. “He's recovered?”

“Yes. He went home today. I don't know what gave him the strength, but he survived.”

Enid leaned back against her pillows, a great sweetness in her face, almost a radiance. “And the other?” she asked.

“A woman with four children,” Hester answered. “She went home to them today as well. But how are you? That's what I came to know.”

It was a question only of friendship. She would make her own determination.

The improvement in Enid was great. Her eyes were clearer, her temperature down to normal, but the fever had wasted her and she looked at the very end of her strength.

Enid smiled. “Very impatient to feel better,” she confessed. “I hate feeling so weak. I can barely lift my hands to feed myself, much less comb my hair. It's absurd. I lie here uselessly. There is so much to do, and I am spending three quarters of my life asleep.”

“It is the best thing,” Hester assured her. “Don't fight against it. It is nature's way of healing you. You will be better the faster if you submit to it.”

Enid clenched her teeth. “I hate to surrender!”

“Military tactics.” Hester leaned forward conspiratorially. “Never fight when you know your enemy has the advantage. Pick a time, don't let him do it for you. Retreat now, and return when the advantage is yours.”

“Ever thought of being a soldier?” Enid asked with a giggle which turned into a cough.

“Frequently,” Hester replied. “I think I could make a better fist of it than many who do it now. Certainly I could barely do worse.”

“Don't let my husband hear you say that!” Enid warned happily.

Hester's reply was cut off by Genevieve's appearance. She looked less harassed than when Hester had seen her last, although she must have been tired, and Hester knew from Monk's remark that there had been no good news.