e of these changes, Judith Malmayns had been
advanced to the post of chief nurse at the cathedral. Both she and
Chowles had been attacked by the plague, and both had recovered. Judith
attended the coffin-maker, and it was mainly owing to her that he got
through the attack. She never left him for a moment, and would never
suffer any one to approach him--a necessary precaution, as he was so
much alarmed by his situation that he would infallibly have made some
awkward revelations. When Judith, in her turn, was seized, Chowles
exhibited no such consideration for her, and scarcely affected to
conceal his disappointment at her recovery. This want of feeling on his
part greatly incensed her against him, and though he contrived in some
degree to appease her, it was long before she entirely forgave him. Far
from being amended by her sufferings, she seemed to have grown more
obdurate, and instantly commenced a fresh career of crime. It was not,
however, necessary now to hasten the end of the sick. The distemper had
acquired such force and malignity that it did its work quickly
enough--often too quickly--and all she sought was to obtain possession
of the poor patients' attire, or any valuables they might possess worth
appropriating. To turn to the brighter side of the picture, it must not
be omitted that when the pestilence was at its height, and no offers
could induce the timorous to venture forth, or render assistance to the
sufferers, Sir John Lawrence the Lord Mayor, the Duke of Albermarle, the
Earl of Craven, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, devoted themselves to
the care of the infected, and supplied them with every necessary they
required. Among the physicians, no one deserves more honourable mention
than Doctor Hodges, who was unremitting in his attentions to the
sufferers.

To return to the grocer. While the plague was thus raging around him,
and while every house in Wood-street except one or two, from which the
inmates had fled, was attacked by the pestilence, he and his family had
remained untouched. About the middle of August, he experienced a great
alarm. His second son, Hubert, fell sick, and he removed him to one of
the upper rooms which he had set aside as an hospital, and attended upon
him himself. In a few days, however, his fears were removed and he
found, to his great satisfaction, that the youth had not been attacked
by the plague, but was only suffering from a slight fever, which quickly
yielded to the remed