person rose higher; authority beamed from his countenance. He looked on the

peasant, who began to tremble, while he still gazed; his knees knocked

together; his teeth chattered. He at last fell down in convulsions. "That

man has the plague," said the maniac calmly. A shriek burst from the lips

of the poor wretch; and then sudden motionlessness came over him; it was

manifest to all that he was dead.

Cries of horror filled the place--every one endeavoured to effect his

escape--in a few minutes the market place was cleared--the corpse lay

on the ground; and the maniac, subdued and exhausted, sat beside it,

leaning his gaunt cheek upon his thin hand. Soon some people, deputed by

the magistrates, came to remove the body; the unfortunate being saw a

jailor in each--he fled precipitately, while I passed onwards to the

Castle.

Death, cruel and relentless, had entered these beloved walls. An old

servant, who had nursed Idris in infancy, and who lived with us more on the

footing of a revered relative than a domestic, had gone a few days before

to visit a daughter, married, and settled in the neighbourhood of London.

On the night of her return she sickened of the plague. From the haughty and

unbending nature of the Countess of Windsor, Idris had few tender filial

associations with her. This good woman had stood in the place of a mother,

and her very deficiencies of education and knowledge, by rendering her

humble and defenceless, endeared her to us--she was the especial

favourite of the children. I found my poor girl, there is no exaggeration

in the expression, wild with grief and dread. She hung over the patient in

348

The Last Man