stwick was impatiently expected. The sun
arose, and the morning advanced, but he came not. I remembered that he
talked of having reason to repent his visit to this house. Perhaps he,
likewise, was sick, and this was the cause of his delay. This man's
kindness had even my love. If I had known the way to his dwelling, I
should have hastened thither, to inquire into his condition, and to
perform for him every office that humanity might enjoin; but he had not
afforded me any information on that head.

CHAPTER XVII.

It was now incumbent on me to seek the habitation of Thetford. To leave
this house accessible to every passenger appeared to be imprudent. I had
no key by which I might lock the principal door. I therefore bolted it
on the inside, and passed through a window, the shutters of which I
closed, though I could not fasten after me. This led me into a spacious
court, at the end of which was a brick wall, over which I leaped into
the street. This was the means by which I had formerly escaped from the
same precincts.

The streets, as I passed, were desolate and silent. The largest
computation made the number of fugitives two-thirds of the whole people;
yet, judging by the universal desolation, it seemed as if the solitude
were nearly absolute. That so many of the houses were closed, I was
obliged to ascribe to the cessation of traffic, which made the opening
of their windows useless, and the terror of infection, which made the
inhabitants seclude themselves from the observation of each other.

I proceeded to search out the house to which Estwick had directed me as
the abode of Thetford. What was my consternation when I found it to be
the same at the door of which the conversation took place of which I had
been an auditor on the last evening!

I recalled the scene of which a rude sketch had been given by the
_hearse-men_. If such were the fate of the master of the family,
abounding with money and friends, what could be hoped for the moneyless
and friendless Wallace? The house appeared to be vacant and silent; but
these tokens might deceive. There was little room for hope; but
certainty was wanting, and might, perhaps, be obtained by entering the
house. In some of the upper rooms a wretched being might be immured; by
whom the information, so earnestly desired, might be imparted, and to
whom my presence might bring relief, not only from pestilence, but
famine. For a moment, I forgot my own necessitous condition