of her village died.  Clinging, with the dastard feeling of the aged, to the remnant of her spent life, she had, on hearing that the pestilence had come into her neighbourhood, barred her door, and closed her casement, refusing to communicate with any.  She would wander out at night to get food, and returned home, pleased that she had met no one, that she was in no danger from the plague.  As the earth became more desolate, her difficulty in acquiring sustenance increased; at first, her son, who lived near, had humoured her by placing articles of food in her way:  at last he died.  But, even though threatened by famine, her fear of the plague was paramount; and her greatest care was to avoid her fellow creatures.  She grew weaker each day, and each day she had further to go.  The night before, she had reached Datchet; and, prowling about, had found a baker’s shop open and deserted.  Laden with spoil, she hastened to return, and lost her way.  The night was windless, hot, and cloudy; her load became too heavy for her; and one by one she threw away her loaves, still endeavouring to get along, though her hobbling fell into lameness, and her weakness at last into inability to move.

She lay down among the tall corn, and fell asleep.  Deep in midnight, she was awaked by a rustling near her; she would have started up, but her stiff joints refused to obey her will.  A low moan close to her ear followed, and the rustling increased; she heard a smothered voice breathe out, Water, Water! several times; and then again a sigh heaved from the heart of the sufferer.  The old woman shuddered, she contrived at length to sit upright; but her teeth chattered, and her knees knocked together—­close, very close, lay a half-naked figure, just discernible in the gloom, and the cry for water and the stifled moan were again uttered.  Her motions at length attracted the attention of her unknown companion; her hand was seized with a convulsive violence that made the grasp feel like iron, the fingers like the keen teeth of a trap.—­“At last you are come!” were the words given forth—­but this exertion was the last effort of the dying—­the joints relaxed, the figure fell prostrate, one low moan, the last, marked the moment of death.  Morning broke; and the old woman saw the corpse, marked with the fatal disease, close to her; her wrist was livid with the hold loosened by death.  She felt struck by the plague; her aged frame was unable to bear her away with sufficient speed; and now, believing herself infected, she no longer dreaded the association of others; but, as swiftly as she might, came to her grand-daughter, at Windsor Castle, there to lament and die.  The sight was horrible; still she clung to life, and lamented her mischance with cries and hideous groans; while the swift advance of the disease shewed, what proved to be the fact, that she could not survive many hours.