em. It consisted of a father
and mother, and two young children, Charles and Alice; the last of whom,
the girl, was but a few months old when the Great Drought began. They
had lived in Derbyshire, near the range of low hills called the Peak;
and they and other inhabitants of that region had found water longer
than many others, from the sides of the hills, and from excavations
which they had made in the rocks. The strong hope and expectation of
rain had kept them lingering on as long as any supply lasted; and
Paulett, who in the days when ranks existed, had been a great landlord,
had used both his knowledge and his influence to supply the wants of the
people, and to postpone their destruction. But those days were gone by;
his possessions were so much dust: he wanted water, and nobody wanted
any thing else. He was a mere man now, like those who are born naked and
die naked, and had to struggle with the needs of nature, even as every
one else. Meantime his education availed him; and the resources which it
taught him prolonged the lives of his family and himself. But he was
soon obliged to limit himself to this sole care; for the supply he
obtained was scanty, and he knew how precarious it must be. He had
explored the cavern of the Peak with great attention, and he bored the
rock in various places, and used means suggested by his knowledge of
natural causes, which had procured a slender flow of water into a basin
which he had made. The fury of thirsty men for water was so great, that
he was obliged to keep his secret with the utmost care; and towards the
end of the fourth year, he removed his wife and children to the cavern
itself, and blocked up the entrance, in such a manner that he could
defend it against any chance survivor. There was no want of the luxuries
of furniture in the cavern--all the splendours of the land were at the
command of those who would take them; and Paulett brought there whatever
had adorned his home when the earth was a fit dwelling-place for man.
There was velvet and down to lie upon; there were carpets on which the
little Alice could roll; there were warm dresses, and luxurious
ornaments of the toilette; whatever could be used for comfort he had
brought, and all other precious things he had left in his open house,
locking himself and his family up with only water. At first there would
come sometimes a miserable man or woman, tracing the presence of living
creatures, and crying for water. Paulett or