eived at a little distance in the middle of the road, was
compelled to obey.

At Paddington, another disappointment awaited them. The Wheatsheaf was
occupied by two large families, who were flying from the infected city,
and no accommodation could be obtained. Leonard looked wistfully at
Nizza Macascree, as if to ascertain what to do, and she was equally
perplexed; but the difficulty was relieved by Amabel herself, who said
she felt much better, and able to proceed a little further. "Do not
return to London," she continued with great earnestness. "I would rather
die on the road than go home again. Some cottage will receive us. If
not, I can rest for a short time in the fields."

Thinking it best to comply, Leonard proceeded along the Harrow-road.
Soon after crossing Paddington Green, he overtook a little train of
fugitives driving a cart filled with children, and laden with luggage.
Further on, as he surveyed the beautiful meadows, stretching out on
either side of him, he perceived a line of small tents, resembling a
gipsy encampment, pitched at a certain distance from each other, and
evidently occupied by families who had fled from their homes from fear
of infection. This gave a singular character to the prospect. But there
were other and far more painful sights on the road, which could not fail
to attract attention. For the first half-mile, almost at every hundred
yards might be seen some sick man, who, unable to proceed further, had
fallen against the hedge-side, and exhibited his sores to move the pity
of the passers-by. But these supplications were wholly unheeded.
Self-preservation was the first object with all, and the travellers
holding handkerchiefs steeped in vinegar to their faces, and averting
their heads, passed by on the other side of the way.

The pestilence, it may be remarked, had visited with extraordinary
rigour the whole of the higher country at the west and north-west of the
metropolis. The charmingly-situated, and, at other seasons, healthful
villages of Hampstead and Highgate, suffered severely from the scourge;
and it even extended its ravages as far as Harrow-on-the-Hill, which it
half depopulated. This will account for the circumstance of a large
pest-house being erected in the neighbourhood of Westbourne Green, which
the party now approached. Two litters were seen crossing the fields in
the direction of the hospital, and this circumstance called Leonard's
attention to it. Shudderingly averti