“True,” replied the other; “and of the thousands who used formerly to throng this street not one is left.  Wo to London!—­wo!—­wo!”

Leonard echoed the sentiment, and fell into a melancholy train of reflection.  It has been more than once remarked that the particular day now under consideration was the one in which the plague exercised its fiercest dominion over the city; and though at first its decline was as imperceptible as the gradual diminution of the day after the longest has passed, yet still the alteration began.  On that day, as if death had known that his power was to be speedily arrested, he sharpened his fellest arrows, and discharged them with unerring aim.  To pursue the course of the destroyer from house to house—­to show with what unrelenting fury he assailed his victims—­to describe their sufferings—­to number the dead left within their beds, thrown into the streets, or conveyed to the plague-pits—­would be to present a narrative as painful as revolting.  On this terrible night it was as hot as if it had been the middle of June.  No air was stirring, and the silence was so profound, that a slight noise was audible at a great distance.  Hushed in the seemingly placid repose lay the great city, while hundreds of its inhabitants were groaning in agony, or breathing their last sigh.

On reaching the upper end of Nicholas-lane, Rainbird stood still for a moment, and pointed out a large house on the right, just below the old church dedicated to the saint from which the thoroughfare took its name.  They were about to proceed towards it, when the smith again paused, and called Leonard’s attention to two figures quickly advancing from the lower end of the street.  As the apprentice and his companion stood in the shade, they could not be seen, while the two persons, being in the moonlight, were fully revealed.  One of them, it was easy to perceive, was Chowles.  He stopped before the door of his dwelling and unfastened it, and while he was thus occupied, the other person turned his face so as to catch the full radiance of the moon, disclosing the features of Sir Paul Parravicin.  Before Leonard recovered from the surprise into which he was thrown by this unexpected discovery, they had entered the house.

He then hurried forward, but, to his great disappointment, found the door locked.  Anxious to get into the house without alarming those who had preceded him, he glanced at the windows; but the shutters were closed and strongly barred.  While hesitating what to do, Rainbird came up, and guessing his wishes, told him there was a door at the back of the house by which he might probably gain admittance.  Accordingly they hastened down a passage skirting the churchyard, which brought them to a narrow alley lying between Nicholas-lane and Abchurch-lane.  Tracking it for about twenty yards, Rainbird paused before a small yard-door, and trying the latch, found it yielded to his touch.