“I am glad you are come,” he said to me, when we were at last alone; “I can only spare a few minutes, and must tell you much in that time.  The plague is now in progress—­it is useless closing one’s eyes to the fact—­the deaths encrease each week.  What will come I cannot guess.  As yet, thank God, I am equal to the government of the town; and I look only to the present.  Ryland, whom I have so long detained, has stipulated that I shall suffer him to depart before the end of this month.  The deputy appointed by parliament is dead; another therefore must be named; I have advanced my claim, and I believe that I shall have no competitor.  To-night the question is to be decided, as there is a call of the house for the purpose.  You must nominate me, Lionel; Ryland, for shame, cannot shew himself; but you, my friend, will do me this service?

How lovely is devotion!  Here was a youth, royally sprung, bred in luxury, by nature averse to the usual struggles of a public life, and now, in time of danger, at a period when to live was the utmost scope of the ambitious, he, the beloved and heroic Adrian, made, in sweet simplicity, an offer to sacrifice himself for the public good.  The very idea was generous and noble,—­but, beyond this, his unpretending manner, his entire want of the assumption of a virtue, rendered his act ten times more touching.  I would have withstood his request; but I had seen the good he diffused; I felt that his resolves were not to be shaken, so, with an heavy heart, I consented to do as he asked.  He grasped my hand affectionately:—­“Thank you,” he said, “you have relieved me from a painful dilemma, and are, as you ever were, the best of my friends.  Farewell—­I must now leave you for a few hours.  Go you and converse with Ryland.  Although he deserts his post in London, he may be of the greatest service in the north of England, by receiving and assisting travellers, and contributing to supply the metropolis with food.  Awaken him, I entreat you, to some sense of duty.”

Adrian left me, as I afterwards learnt, upon his daily task of visiting the hospitals, and inspecting the crowded parts of London.  I found Ryland much altered, even from what he had been when he visited Windsor.  Perpetual fear had jaundiced his complexion, and shrivelled his whole person.  I told him of the business of the evening, and a smile relaxed the contracted muscles.  He desired to go; each day he expected to be infected by pestilence, each day he was unable to resist the gentle violence of Adrian’s detention.  The moment Adrian should be legally elected his deputy, he would escape to safety.  Under this impression he listened to all I said; and, elevated almost to joy by the near prospect of his departure, he entered into a discussion concerning the plans he should adopt in his own county, forgetting, for the moment, his cherished resolution of shutting himself up from all communication in the mansion and grounds of his estate.