While roaming London and Cheapside, Merivel meets a group of "Plague Flagellants," who go about whipping themselves. When asked why they do it, they answer that by doing so they do not feel the pain of the plague-ridden city, only their own pain. Wondering how a physician could help with the plague, Merivel finds a formula in one of Pearce's old books for a preventive potion for the plague. He has an apothecary make up a batch, and he gives the first batch to a woman whose husband has died of the plague. When weeks later the woman is not sick, she spreads the word of the plague "prophylactic" she has taken. From then on, Merivel has no trouble selling it.
With Katherine becoming very large with child, Merivel's birthday comes and.....
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