“No, thank you, mother,” replied Blaize.  “I have had enough of that.  But if there should be a box of rufuses amongst the store, you can bring it, as I think a couple might do me good.”

Three days after this event, the apprentice was sent forth to ascertain the precise state of the city, as, if all proved favourable, the grocer proposed to open his house on the following day.  Leonard set out betimes, and was speedily convinced that all danger was at an end.  A severe frost had set in, and had completely purified the air.  For the last few days there had been no deaths of the plague, and but little mortality of any kind.  Leonard traversed several of the main streets, and some narrow thoroughfares, and found evidences of restored health and confidence everywhere.  It is true there were many houses, in which whole families had been swept off, still left untenanted.  But these were only memorials of the past calamity, and could not be referred to any existing danger.  Before returning to Wood-street, an irresistible impulse led him to Finsbury Fields.  He passed through the postern east of Cripplegate, and shaped his way towards the lesser plague-pit.  The sun, which had been bright all the morning, was now partially obscured; the air had grown thick, and a little snow fell.  The ground was blackened and bound by the hard frost, and the stiffened grass felt crisp beneath his feet.  Insensible to all external circumstances, he hurried forward, taking the most direct course, and leaping every impediment in his path.  Having crossed several fields, he at length stood before a swollen heap of clay, round which a wooden railing was placed.  Springing over the enclosure, and uttering a wild cry that evinced the uncontrollable anguish of his breast, he flung himself upon the mound.  He remained for some time in the deepest affliction, and was at last roused by. a hand laid upon his shoulder, and, raising himself, beheld Thirlby.

“I thought it must be you,” said the new comer, in accents of the deepest commiseration.  “I have been visiting yonder plague-pit for the same melancholy purpose as yourself,—­to mourn over my lost child.  I have been in search of you, and have much to say to you.  Will you meet me in this place at midnight tomorrow?” Leonard signified his assent.

“I am in danger,” pursued Thirlby, “for, by some means, the secret of my existence has been made known, and the officers of justice are in pursuit of me.  I suspect that Judith Malmayns is my betrayer.  You will not fail me?”

“I will not,” returned Leonard.  Upon this, Thirlby hurried away, and leaping a hedge, disappeared from view.