Smoke smiled at her. “Seems to me like you asked that question before.”
“Did it do me any good to ask it?”
Smoke kissed her again, on the lips. Seeing that a chair had been pulled up alongside her bed, he sat down, then reached out and took her hand. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t think I would be up to a brisk horseback ride,” she said.
“Really? Damn, and I had just such a thing planned, too. I thought we might go up to your secret overlook and have a picnic.”
Sally smiled. “You don’t know about my secret overlook.”
Smoke snapped his fingers. “That’s right, I don’t. How could I know? It’s a secret.”
“I’m sorry that you had to come back, Smoke. I know finding those men is important to you.”
“Don’t be silly. Nothing is as important to me as you are. And whether I find those men now, or later, I will find them.”
They were quiet for a moment, with Smoke sitting beside her, holding her hand as she lay in bed, taking shallow breaths.
“Smoke?”
“Yes, love?”
“I’m glad you came home. I stayed awake for you, you know.”
“Yes, I know.”
“But I think I’m going to sleep now.”
Smoke lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.
Sally managed a smile. “I told you, I’m not some grand dame in the queen’s court.”
“Any court in the world would be glad to have you as the grandest of their grand dames,” Smoke said.
“Why, Smoke, sometimes you really can be downright romantic,” Sally replied.
He sat there until her breathing became more regular, then quietly left the bedroom and walked up to the parlor. It was getting dark, and three lanterns burned brightly to push away the darkness. Dr. Colton was still there, and Pearlie and Cal had also come into the house.
“I put Seven away,” Cal said.
“Yes, I saw you through the window. Thanks, Cal.”
“I wish I could do more. I wish I could ... ,” Cal choked up and quit talking.
“I know you do.”
“It’s my fault, Smoke. It’s all my fault.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Cal. Sally’s having a hard enough time fighting this, she doesn’t need your guilt to contend with as well. Especially when you don’t have anything to feel guilty about.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling him as well,” Pearlie said. “There wasn’t nothin’ he coulda done, even if he had been there. ’Cept maybe get ’em both kilt.”
Cal hung his head and Smoke reached up to squeeze his shoulder. Then he looked over at Dr. Colton. “All right, Doc, give it to me straight. What are her chances?”
“I don’t like to roll dice with people’s lives,” Dr. Colton said. “Like I told you before, let’s keep a positive attitude.”
“Yeah, well, I had a positive attitude when I left. I thought the worst was over. Then I got the telegram from Pearlie. How did it happen? How did she go from mending, to—well—to this?”
“According to man named Louis Pasteur, infections like this are caused by bacteria.”
“What is bacteria?” Cal asked.
“They are little organisms, so small that the only way you can see them is by looking through a microscope,” Dr. Colton said. “We don’t know exactly where they come from, but sometimes, not all the time, mind you, but sometimes they can get into a body, either through a sore, or the mouth, or the nose, and when they do, it upsets the natural order of things.”
“And you think that’s what Miss Sally has? She has the bacteria?” Cal asked.
Dr. Colton drew a breath as if to explain it further, but thought better of it. “Yeah. For the time being you can say that she has the bacteria.”
“How do we get rid of it for her?” Smoke asked.
“That is the big question, isn’t it? Fortunately, the human body seems quite capable of fighting off the bacteria on its on, at least most of the time. And aloe, as well as honey and lard also do a pretty job.”
“Good enough?”
“We can only hope and pray that it is good enough,” Dr. Colton said. “It’s good that you are here, Smoke. Tonight is critical. If the fever breaks tonight, then she will have beaten it. And having you here with her, helps. I am convinced of that.”
The doctor went over to the hat rack and retrieved his bowler. “I’m going to go back into town. I will come back out first thing tomorrow.”
