After a long walk, we reached the Jewish quarter off the Via del Campo. Several wooden houses with thatched roofs stood clustered together. There was little to distinguish the simple homes of the Jews from those of their Christian neighbors.

Gabriella led me to the house at the back that belonged to her father. As soon as we entered, we were enveloped by heat from a roaring fire. Jacob lay on his bed on the far side of the room wrapped in a fur blanket. In spite of the warmth, he shook violently. I was reminded of the chills I had endured at the whim of the pestilence, which even the fires of hell could not have warmed.

Stay back, Gabriella! Jacob said in a voice no louder than a croak and yet still heavy with authority.

Gabriella turned to me with pleading eyes. He will not let me tend him, she said.

With good reason, I said, as Jacob began to cough.

His wet bark sounded like bones rattling. And I knew it to be a death sentence as certain as the noose of the hangman around his neck.

Leave us for a minute, please, Gabriella, I said.

Her eyes held mine for a long doubtful time before she turned and left the house.

Jacob held out a hand in warning, but it did not deter my approach. My phlegm is rife with foul blood, he said. You of all people must understand how contagious it makes me.

Have you ever seen a man contract the pestilence twice? I asked.

So few have survived the initial bout, he said. But no, I have not seen the same person twice afflicted.

As I neared, Jacob still turned his head from me and covered his mouth with the edge of the blanket. The color of his skin, what I could see of it, was pallid. He shook as if taken by a fit. When he spoke, his voice trembled as much as his body. Each word was a labor for him to produce.

I am surprised to have survived the night, he said.

Was it only last night that you fell ill?

With fever, yes. The aches overcame me the day before. I had no doubt the plague was taking grip, but I could not bring myself to tell Gabriella.

I could go to Don Marco, I said. To ask if he will provide more of his special rats.

Even if those humors did help you, and I am not convinced they did, it is too late for me.

Maybe so.

I am ashamed to confess it, Jacob said. Cowardly as I am, I was hoping death would claim me in my sleep.

There is no shame in that. I remember feeling the same when I was most afflicted.

Jacob broke into a weak laugh. Look at us two, he said. We have dedicated our lives to a profession of such futility and folly.

You cannot believe this to be so, my friend.