at his mind was almost relieved of its fears and anxiety, and he
began to entertain joyful hopes of the recovery of his spouse.

Upon the Sunday morning which had passed so strangely and
eventfully for those in the east of the city, there was nothing to
disturb the tranquillity of patient or of nurses. It had been a hot
night, and Janet, when she relieved Dinah towards morning, said she
had seen a red light in the sky towards the east, and feared there
had been a bad fire. But neither of them thought much of this; and
when the bell of St. Paul's rang for morning service, Dinah bade
Janet put on her hood and go, for Lady Desborough was sleeping
quietly, and would only need quiet watching for the next few hours.

When Janet entered the great building she was aware that a certain
excitement and commotion seemed to prevail in some of the groups
gathered together in Paul's Walk, as the long nave of the old
building was called. Paul's Walk was a place of no very good
repute, and any modest girl was wont to hurry through it with her
hood drawn and her eyes bent upon the ground. Disgraceful as such
desecration must be accounted, there can be no doubt that Paul's
walk was a regular lounge for the dissipated and licentious young
gallants of the day, a place where barter and traffic were
shamelessly carried on, and where all sorts of evil practices
prevailed.

The sacredness of a building solemnly consecrated to God by their
pious forefathers seemed to mean nothing to the reckless roisterers
of that shameless age. The Puritans during the late civil war had
set the example of desecrating churches, by using them as stables
and hospitals, and for other secular purposes. It was a natural
outcome of such practices that the succeeding generation should go
a step further and do infinitely worse. If God-fearing men did not
scruple to desecrate consecrated churches, was it likely that their
godless successors would have greater misgivings?

Janet therefore hurried along without seeking to know what men were
talking of, and during the time that the service went on she almost
forgot the impression she had taken in on her first entrance.

As she came out she joined the old door porter of Lord Desborough's
house, and was glad to walk with him through the crowded nave and
into the bright, sunny air without.

Although the sun was shining, she was aware of a certain murkiness
in the air, but did not specially heed it until some loudly-spok