all about the family of her young companion, from having
listened to Dorcas's chatter when in the mood. Keenly interested in
the spread of the plague, which had driven away all her fashionable
friends, she was eager for news about it, and the more ghastly the
tales that were told, the more did she seem to revel in them. To
have news first hand from those who actually tended the sick seemed
to her a capital plan; and Dinah recognized at once the advantage
of having admittance for herself and the two girls to this solitary
and commodious house, where rest and refreshment could be readily
obtained, and where their coming and going would not be likely to
be observed or to hurt any one.

"If your ladyship really means it--" she began.

"My ladyship generally does mean what she says--as Dorcas will tell
you if you ask her," was the rather short, sharp reply. "Say no
more, say no more; I hate chitter-chatter and shilly-shally. The
thing's settled, and there's an end of it. Go your ways, go your
ways; I'm none too ill for Dorcas to look to, now that the little
fool is assured that I haven't got the plague. But you may have
brought it here yourself, so you are bound in duty to come back and
look after us the first moment you can. Go along with you all, and
bring me word what London is doing, and what the streets are like.
They say there be courts down in the worst parts of the town where
not a living person remains, and where there be none left to give
notice of the deaths. You go and bring me word about all that.

"A fine thing truly for our grand city! The living soon will not be
enough to bury the dead! Go! go! go! I shall wait and watch for
your return. None will interfere with anything that goes on in my
house. You can come and go at will. Dorcas will give you a key. I
will trust you. You have a face to be trusted."

"It is quite true--nobody ever dares interfere with her," said
Dorcas, as she led the way downstairs. "They think she is a witch;
and truly, methinks she is the strangest woman that ever drew
breath! But I shall love her for what she has said and done today.
I pray you be not long in coming again. None can want you much more
sorely than I do!"

CHAPTER VIII. IN THE DOOMED CITY.

The clocks in the church steeples were chiming the hour of ten as
Dinah and her two companions started forth a second time upon their
errand of mercy and charity. It was an hour at which in ordinary
times all the city shou