evelry
till yesterday, when the three women died, and he fell sick. He did not,
however, give in, but continued carousing until an hour before his
death."

Too much shocked to make any reply, the young man proceeded towards the
hutch. Beneath a doorway, at a little distance from it, sat a watchman
with a halberd on his shoulder, guarding the house; but it was evident
he would be of little further use. His face was covered with his hands,
and his groans proclaimed that he himself was attacked by the
pestilence. Entering the hutch, the young man pulled the cord of the
bell, and the summons was soon after answered by the grocer, who
appeared at the window. "What, Leonard Holt!" he exclaimed, in surprise,
on seeing the young man--"is it you?--what ails you?--you look
frightfully ill."

"I have been attacked a second time by the plague," replied the
apprentice, "and am only just recovered from it."

"What of my child?" cried the grocer eagerly--"what of her?"

"Alas! alas!" exclaimed the apprentice.

"Do not keep me in suspense," rejoined the grocer. "Is she dead?"

"No, not dead," replied the apprentice, "but--"

"But what?" ejaculated the grocer. "In Heaven's name, speak!"

"These letters will tell you all," replied the apprentice, producing a
packet. "I had prepared them to send to you in case of my death. I am
not equal to further explanation now."

With trembling eagerness the grocer lowered the rope, and Leonard having
tied the packet to it, it was instantly drawn up. Notwithstanding his
anxiety to ascertain the fate of Amabel, Mr. Bloundel would not touch
the packet until he had guarded against the possibility of being
infected by it. Seizing it with a pair of tongs, he plunged it into a
pan containing a strong solution of vinegar and sulphur, which he had
always in readiness in the chamber, and when thoroughly saturated, laid
it in the sun to dry. On first opening the shutter to answer Leonard's
summons, he had flashed off a pistol, and he now thought to expel the
external air by setting fire to a ball composed of quick brimstone,
saltpetre, and yellow amber, which being placed on an iron plate,
speedily filled the room with a thick vapour, and prevented the entrance
of any obnoxious particles. These precautions taken, he again addressed
himself, while the packet was drying, to Leonard, whom he found gazing
anxiously at the window, and informed him that all his family had
hitherto escaped contagion.

"A