go round at once to see them."

Cyril walked fast towards the lodging occupied by the Harveys. It was
at the house of a mercer, but he and his family had, three weeks
before, gone away, having gladly permitted his lodgers to remain, as
their presence acted as a guard to the house. They had brought up an
old servant with them, and were therefore able to dispense with other
attendants. Cyril hurried along, trying, as usual, to pay as little
heed as he could to the doleful cries that arose from many of the
houses. Although it was still broad daylight there was scarce a soul
in the streets, and those he met were, like himself, walking fast,
keeping as far as possible from any one they met, so as to avoid
contact.

As he neared the house he heard a woman scream. A moment later a
casement was thrown open, and Mrs. Harvey's head appeared. She gave
another piercing cry for help, and was then suddenly dragged back,
and the casement was violently closed. Cyril had so frequently heard
similar cries that he would have paid no attention to it had it come
from a stranger, but he felt that Mrs. Harvey was not one to give way
to wild despair, even had her husband been suddenly attacked with the
Plague. Her sudden disappearance, and the closing of the casement,
too, were unaccountable, unless, indeed, her husband were in a state
of violent delirium. He ran to the door and flung himself against it.

"Help me to force it down," he cried to a man who was passing.

"You are mad," the man replied. "Do you not see that they have got
the Plague? You may hear hundreds of such cries every day."