"Have a care, sir," said Reuben, in a low voice; "he may be
infected already by the contact."

But the Master Builder only uttered a deep sigh like a groan, as he
answered, "I fear me he is infected by a distemper worse then the
plague. I thank you, lads, for your kindly thoughts towards him and
towards me, but I must e'en take this business into mine own hands.
Get you away, and take your sister with you. It is not well for
maids to be abroad in a city where such things can happen. Lord,
indeed have mercy upon us!"



CHAPTER VI. NEIGHBOURS IN NEED.


Gertrude Mason sat in the topmost attic of the house, leaning out
at the open window, and drinking in, as it were, great draughts of
fresh air, as she watched the lights beginning to sparkle from
either side of the river, and the darkening volume of water
slipping silently beneath.

This attic was Gertrude's haven of refuge at this dread season,
when almost every other window in the house was shuttered and
close-curtained; when she was kept like a prisoner within the walls
of the house, and half smothered and suffocated by the fumes of the
fires which her mother insisted on burning, let the weather be ever
so hot, as a preventive against the terrible infection which was
spreading with fearful rapidity throughout all London.