ead and gone! Alive one day--dead the
next! The plague carried them off, every one of them, harvest hands
and all. They say it was the men who came to cut the corn that
brought it. But who can tell? They got yon field in"--pointing to
one where the golden stubble was to be seen short and compact--"but
half were dead ere ever it was down; and then the sickness fell
upon the house, and of those who did not fly not one remains. Lord
have mercy upon us! We be all dead men if He come not to our aid.
Who knows whose turn may come next?"

Truly the shadow of death seemed everywhere. But the boys were so
used to dismal tales of wholesale devastation that one more or less
did not seem greatly to matter. Perhaps the contrast was the more
sharp out here between the smiling landscape and the silent,
shut-up house; but the chief fear which beset them was lest their
kind aunt should have been taken by death, in which case they
scarcely knew what would become of themselves.

They hastened their steps as they entered the familiar lane where
nestled the thatched cottage in which their aunt had her abode.
Mary Harmer was their father's youngest and favourite sister. Once
she had made one of the home party on the bridge; but that was long
before the boys could remember. That was in the lifetime of their
grandparents, and before the old people resigned their business to
the able hands of their son James, and came into the country to
live.

The grandfather of Joseph and Benjamin had built this cottage, and
he and his wife had lived in it from that time till the day of
their death. Their daughter Mary remained still in the pretty,
commodious place--if indeed she had not died during the time of the
visitation. The children all loved their Aunt Mary, and esteemed a
visit to her house as one of the greatest of privileges.

Benjamin, who was rather delicate, had once passed six months
together here, and was called by Mary Harmer "her boy." He grew
excited as he marked every familiar turn in the shady lane; and
when at last the thatched roof of the rose-covered cottage came in
sight, he uttered a shout of excitement and ran hastily forward.

The diamond lattice panes were shining with their accustomed
cleanliness. There was no sign of neglect about the bright little
house. The door stood open to the sunshine and the breeze; and at
the sound of Benjamin's cry, a figure in a neat cotton gown and
large apron appeared suddenly in the doorway,