“Ah, how glad I am to see thee!  I was praying thou mightst still be at home.  Lady Scrope has been suddenly seized by some malady, I know not what.  Everyone in the house but the old deaf man and his wife has fled.  Three servants left before, afraid of passing to and fro.  The rest only waited for the first alarm to seize whatever they could lay hands upon and fly.  I could not stop them.  I did what I could, but methinks they would have rifled the house had it not been that the mistress, ill as she was, rose from her bed and chased them forth.  They feared her more than ever when they thought she had the plague upon her.  And now I have come forth for help; for I am alone with her in the house, and I know not which way to turn.

“Ah, good aunt, come back with me, I prithee.  I am at my wit’s end with the fear of it all.”

Without a moment’s delay the party turned towards the house in Allhallowes, and speedily found themselves at the grim-looking portal, which Dorcas opened with her key.  The house felt cool and fresh after the glare of the hot streets.  Although by no means a stately edifice outside, it was roomy and commodious within, and the broad oak staircase was richly carpeted—­a thing in those days quite unusual save in very magnificent houses.  Doors stood open, and there were traces of confusion in some of the rooms; but Dorcas was already hurrying her companions up the stairs, and the silence of the house was broken by the sound of a shrill voice demanding in imperious tones who were coming and what was their business.

“Fear not, mistress, it is I!” cried Dorcas, springing forward in advance of the others.

She disappeared within an open door, and her companions heard the sharp tones of the answering voice saying: 

“Tush, child! who talks of fear?  It is only fools who fear!  Dost think I am scared by this bogey talk of plague?  A colic, child—­a colic; that is all I ail.  I have always suffered thus in hot weather all my life.  Plague, forsooth!  I could wish I had had it, that I might have given it as a parting benediction to those knaves and hussies who thought to rob me when I lay a-dying, as many a woman has been robbed before!  I only hope they may sicken of pure fright, as has happened to many a fool before now!  Ha! ha! ha! how they did run!  They thought I was tied by the leg for once.  But I had them—­I had them!  I warrant me they did not take the worth of a sixpence from my house!”

The chuckling laugh which followed bespoke a keen sense of enjoyment.  Certainly this high-spirited old lady was not much like the ordinary plague patient.  Dinah knocked lightly at the door, and entered, the two girls following her out of sheer curiosity.

“Heyday! and who are these?” cried Lady Scrope.

That redoubtable old dame was sitting up in bed, her great frilled nightcap tied beneath her chin, her hawk’s eyes full of life and fire, although her face was very pinched and blue, and there were lines about her brow and lips which told the experienced eyes of the sick nurse that she was suffering considerable pain.