ough to witness the
interment of the last survivor. In the same hour he was seized himself
by this disease: the catastrophe is known to thee.

"I will now leave thee to thy repose. Sleep is no less needful to myself
than to thee; for this is the second night which has passed without it."
Saying this, my companion took his leave.

I now enjoyed leisure to review my situation. I experienced no
inclination to sleep. I lay down for a moment, but my comfortless
sensations and restless contemplations would not permit me to rest.
Before I entered this house, I was tormented with hunger; but my craving
had given place to inquietude and loathing. I paced, in thoughtful and
anxious mood, across the floor of the apartment.

I mused upon the incidents related by Estwick, upon the exterminating
nature of this pestilence, and on the horrors of which it was
productive. I compared the experience of the last hours with those
pictures which my imagination had drawn in the retirements of
_Malverton_. I wondered at the contrariety that exists between the
scenes of the city and the country; and fostered, with more zeal than
ever, the resolution to avoid those seats of depravity and danger.

Concerning my own destiny, however, I entertained no doubt. My new
sensations assured me that my stomach had received this corrosive
poison. Whether I should die or live was easily decided. The sickness
which assiduous attendance and powerful prescriptions might remove
would, by negligence and solitude, be rendered fatal; but from whom
could I expect medical or friendly treatment?

I had indeed a roof over my head. I should not perish in the public way;
but what was my ground for hoping to continue under this roof? My
sickness being suspected, I should be dragged in a cart to the hospital;
where I should, indeed, die, but not with the consolation of loneliness
and silence. Dying groans were the only music, and livid corpses were
the only spectacle, to which I should there be introduced.

Immured in these dreary meditations, the night passed away. The light
glancing through the window awakened in my bosom a gleam of
cheerfulness. Contrary to my expectations, my feelings were not more
distempered, notwithstanding my want of sleep, than on the last evening.
This was a token that my state was far from being so desperate as I
suspected. It was possible, I thought, that this was the worst
indisposition to which I was liable.

Meanwhile, the coming of E