same very serious way, "I have been this day into the heart of the
city. I have spoken with many of the authorities there. The Lord
Mayor and the Magistrates are in great anxiety, and I fear me there
can be no longer any doubt that the distemper is spreading
fearfully. It has not yet appeared within the city nor upon the
other side of the river; but in the western parishes it is
spreading every way, and they say that all who are able are fleeing
away from their houses. Perchance for those who can do so this may
be the safest thing to do. But soon they will not be permitted to
leave, unless they have a bill of health from the Lord Mayor, as in
the country beyond the honest folks are taking alarm, and are
crying out that we are like to spread the plague all over the
kingdom."

"I, too, have heard sad tales of the mortality," said Dinah,
raising her calm voice and speaking very seriously. "I met a good
physician, under whom I often laboured amongst the sick, and he
tells me that there be poor stricken wretches from whom all the
world flee in terror the moment it appears they have the distemper
upon them. Many have died already untended and uncared for, whilst
others have in the madness of the fever and pain burst out of the
rooms in which they have been shut up, and have run up and down the
streets, spreading terror in their path, till they have dropped
down dead or dying, to be carried to graveyard or pest house as the
case may be. But who can tell how many other victims such a
miserable creature may not have infected first?"

"Ay, that is the terror of it," said Harmer. "All are saying that
nurses must be found to care for the sick, and many are very
resolved that the houses where the distemper is found should be