dies away, well and good. If it gets bad, we can shut ourselves up.
You say that the Captain has laid in a great store of provisions, so
that you could live without laying out a penny for a year, and it is
as sure as anything can be, that when the cold weather comes on it
will die out. Besides, John, neither you nor I are afraid of the
Plague, and it is certain that it is fear that makes most people take
it. If it becomes bad, there will be terrible need for help, and
maybe we shall be able to do some good. If we are not afraid of
facing death in battle, why should we fear it by the Plague. It is as
noble a death to die helping one's fellow-countrymen in their sore
distress as in fighting for one's country."

"That is true enough, Master Cyril, if folks did but see it so. I do
not see what we could do, but if there be aught, you can depend on
me. I was in a ship in the Levant when we had a fever, which, it
seems to me, was akin to this Plague, though not like it in all its
symptoms. Half the crew died, and, as you say, I verily believe that
it was partly from the lowness of spirits into which they fell from
fear. I used to help nurse the sick, and throw overboard the dead,
and it never touched me. I don't say that I was braver than others,
but it seemed to me as it was just as easy to take things comfortable
as it was to fret over them."

Towards the end of the month the Plague spread rapidly, and all work
ceased in the parishes most affected. But, just as it had raged for
weeks in the Western parishes outside the City, so it seemed
restricted by certain invisible lines, after it had made its entry
within the walls, and while it raged in some parts others were
entirely unaffected, and here shops were open, and the streets still
retained something of their usual appearance. There had been great