dr. rupert blue left enormous numbers of official letters, but he was, he polesed a challenge to a writer because he was something of a quiet hero. he was a good soldier and never complains and never explains and a very good doctor and scientist but rarely tipped his hands about the emotional reaction of running a plague campaign in a city that denied the plague. so, i went to his home town of marion, south carolina and i found his will at the county courthouse. and i found that although dr. blue, who had been briefly married to an act rest then divorced from her which is -- had no children but he willed his papers to the nephews, the sons of his brother. and i looked up one of the sons of the nephews, michael hughes who lives in jacksonville, florida and said i understand that you have inherited the papers of your ancestor dr. rupert blue and if there are any letters in existence i would love to be able to read them to learn about him. he said well there are supposed to be some alerts in the attic but i have never seen them. so meanwhile i'm on my book leave and the months are passing an