Mrs. Spencer wanted to send the little one to the hospital, but Doctor Mendel said that would not be allowed. So the house was to be disinfected, and a strict quarantine maintained until all danger should be past.
"The woman and her child must be put in certain rooms, and not allowed to leave them," said the doctor; "and no one in the house must go out of it, and no one out of it may come in."
"What!" cried Mrs. Spencer, in dismay, thinking of Marjorie. And Marjorie and Delight, unable to keep away any longer, came into the room just in time to hear the doctor's statement.
"What's the matter, mother?" cried Delight. "Tell me about it! Is Maggie's little boy going away?"
"You tell her, Doctor Mendel," said Mrs. Spencer; "I can't."
"Why, Marjorie Maynard?" exclaimed the doctor, "are you here? Well, this is a pretty kettle of fish!"
Although the Spencers had never seen Doctor Mendel before, he was the Maynards' family physician, and he realized at once the great misfortune of Marjorie's presence in the infected house.
"Yes, I'm here," said Midget; "can't I go home?"
"No, child," said Doctor Mendel, gravely; "you cannot leave this house until all danger of infection is over. That will be two weeks at least, and perhaps more."
"And can't Mr. Spencer come home?" asked Mrs. Spencer.
"No; unless he stays here after he comes in. He can not go back and forth to New York every day."
Mrs. Spencer looked utterly bewildered. Accustomed to depend upon her husband in any emergency, she felt quite unable to meet this situation.
"And there is danger of these two girls having diphtheria?" she said, in a scared voice, as if anxious to know the worst at once.
"There is grave danger, Mrs. Spencer, for all in the house. But we will hope by careful treatment to avoid that. The quarantine, however, is imperative. You must not let your servants or your family go out into the street, nor must you allow any one except myself to come in."
"Oh, Doctor Mendel," cried Marjorie, "how can I see Mother?"
"You can't see her. I'm sorry, Marjorie, but you simply can not go home, nor can she come here."
"And I'll have to have diphtheria, and die, without seeing her at all!"
"Tut, tut! You're not going to have diphtheria, I hope. These precautions are necessary, because of the law, but you're by no means sure to take the disease."
