able, and yet grotesque
appearance. His plump person was greatly reduced in bulk, and his round
cheeks had become hollow and cadaverous. He was strapped, as he had
stated, to the pallet, which in its turn was fastened to the adjoining
pillar. A blanket was tightly swathed around him, and a large cloth was
bound round his head in lieu of a nightcap. Leonard instantly set about
releasing him, and had just unfastened the straps when he heard
footsteps approaching, and looking up, perceived the stranger and Judith
Malmayns advancing towards him.

II.

THE SECOND PLAGUE-PIT.

Judith, being a little in advance of her companion, took Leonard in the
first instance for a chirurgeon's assistant, and called to him, in a
harsh and menacing voice, to let her charge alone. On drawing near,
however, she perceived her mistake, and recognising the apprentice,
halted with a disconcerted look. By this time, the stranger had come up,
and remarking her embarrassment, inquired the cause of it.

"Look there," cried Judith, pointing towards the apprentice. "Yonder
stands the very man you seek."

"What! Leonard Holt," cried the other, in astonishment.

"Ay, Leonard Holt," rejoined Judith. "You can now put any questions to
him you think proper."

The stranger did not require the suggestion to be repeated, but
instantly hastened to the apprentice. "Do you remember me?" he asked.

Leonard answered in the affirmative. "I owe you a large debt of
obligation," continued the stranger, "and you shall not find me slow in
paying it. But let it pass for the moment. Do you know aught of Nizza
Macascree? I know she was taken to Oxford by the king, and subsequently
disappeared."

"Then you know as much as I do of her, sir," rejoined Leonard.

"I was right, you see, Mr. Thirlby," interposed Judith, with a malicious
grin. "I told you this youth would be utterly ignorant of her retreat."

"My firm conviction is, that she is in the power of Sir Paul
Parravicin," observed Leonard. "But it is impossible to say where she is
concealed."

"Then my last hope of finding her has fallen to the ground," replied
Thirlby, with a look of great distress. "Ever since my recovery from the
plague, I have been in search of her. I traced her from Ashdown Park to
Oxford, but she was gone before my arrival at the latter place; and
though I made every possible inquiry after her, and kept strict and
secret watch upon the villain whom I suspected, as you do, of carrying