she flew with a cry towards Leonard.

"Ah!" exclaimed her brother, drawing his sword. "Do you dare to detain,
her? Deliver her to me, villain, instantly!"

"Not when thus menaced, my lord," rejoined Leonard, likewise drawing his
sword, and standing upon the defensive.

"Then look to yourself," replied Argentine, assaulting him.

Isabella uttered a wild shriek, and Thirlby tried to rush between them.
But before they could be separated, Lord Argentine's fury had exposed
him to his adversary, whose sword passed through his body. He fell to
the ground, weltering in his blood. While Leonard stood stupefied and
confounded at what had occurred, and Isabella, uttering a loud cry,
threw herself upon the body and tried to stanch the wound--two men, with
halberds in their hands rushed forward, and seizing Thirlby, cried, "We
arrest you as a murderer!"

Thirlby, who seemed utterly overcome by surprise and horror, offered no
Resistance. At this juncture Leonard felt his arm seized by a
bystander--he did not know whom--and scarcely conscious of what was
taking place, suffered himself to be dragged from the scene.

BOOK THE SIXTH.

SEPTEMBER, 1666.

I.

THE FIRE-HALL.

About nine o'clock on the night of Saturday, the second of September,
1666--and rather more than nine months after the incidents last
related,--three men took their way from Smithfield to Islington. They
proceeded at a swift pace and in silence, until, having mounted the
steep hill on which the suburb in question is situated, they halted at a
short distance from the high walls surrounding the great water-works
formed by the New-River-head. The night was dark, but free from cloud,
in consequence of a strong easterly wind which prevailed at the time.

"It is dark in London now," observed one of the three persons to his
companions as he cast his eye in the direction of the great city, that
lay buried in gloom beneath them; "but there will be light enough soon."

"A second dawn, and brighter than the first, shall arise upon it,"
replied one of his companions, a tall, gaunt man, whose sole covering
was a sheepskin, girded round his loins. "Such a flame shall be kindled
within it, as hath not been seen since showers of brimstone and fire
descended upon the sinful cities of the plain. 'The Lord shall come with
flames of fire,'" he added, pointing his long staff towards the city.
"'He shall make them like a fiery oven, in the time of his wrath. They
shal