horse had gone badly, and they had been full late
in setting off. He had not liked the prospect of staying where he was
till morning, and had resolved to bid defiance to footpads, and return:
so he stepped into the coffee-room, and read the papers while the horse
was feeding, and came home as quickly after as he could. As he was
safe, all the three were glad he had done so; and the more that, for
once, Edward seemed sad. They made a bright fire, and gave him tea; but
their household offices did not seem to cheer him as usual. Hester
asked, at length, whether he had heard any bad news.

"Only public news. The papers are full of everything that is dismal.
The epidemic is spreading frightfully. It is a most serious affair.
The people you meet in the streets at Blickley look as if they had the
plague raging in the town. They say the funerals have never ceased
passing through the streets, all this week; and really the churchyard I
saw seemed full of new graves. I believe the case is little better in
any town in the kingdom."

"And in the villages?"

"The villages follow, of course, with differences according to their
circumstances. None will be worse than this place, when once the fever
appears among us. I would not say so anywhere but by our own fireside,
because everything should be done to encourage the people instead of
frightening them; but indeed it is difficult to imagine a place better
prepared for destruction than our pretty village is just now, from the
extreme poverty of most of the people, and their ignorance, which
renders them unfit to take any rational care of themselves."

"You say, `whenever the fever comes.' Do you think it must certainly
come?"

"Yes: and I have had some suspicions, within a day or two, that it is
here already. I must see Walcot to-morrow; and learn what he has
discovered in his practice."

"Mr Walcot! Will not Dr Levitt do as well?"

"I must see Dr Levitt too, to consult about some means of cleansing and
drying the worst of the houses in the village. But it is quite
necessary that I should have some conversation with Walcot about the
methods of treatment of this dreadful disease. If he is not glad of an
opportunity of consulting with a brother in the profession, he ought to
be--and I have no doubt he will be; for he will very soon have as much
upon him as any head and hands in the world could manage."

"Cannot you let him come to you for advice and assistance when