She told him the number who had already died; and then they came past the cemetery upon the hillside, and she pointed out the new-made graves.

It appeared that, although at that time there was an abatement in the number of cases, diphtheria had already made sad ravages among the little population; and as the winter would cause the people to shut up their houses more and more closely, it was certain to increase rather than to diminish.

Then Madame Le Maitre told him of one case, and of another, in which the family bereavement seemed particularly sad.

The stories she told had great detail, but they were not tedious.

Caius listened, and forgot that her voice was musical or that her hood and cloak were ugly; he only thought of the actors in the short sad idylls of the island that she put before him.
When they entered the first house, he discovered that she herself had been in the habit of visiting each of the sick every day as nurse, and, as far as her simple skill could go, as doctor too.