These meditations did not enfeeble my resolution, or slacken my pace. In
proportion as I drew near the city, the tokens of its calamitous
condition became more apparent. Every farm-house was filled with
supernumerary tenants, fugitives from home, and haunting the skirts of
the road, eager to detain every passenger with inquiries after news. The
passengers were numerous; for the tide of emigration was by no means
exhausted. Some were on foot, bearing in their countenances the tokens
of their recent terror, and filled with mournful reflections on the
forlornness of their state. Few had secured to themselves an asylum;
some were without the means of paying for victuals or lodging for the
coming night; others, who were not thus destitute, yet knew not whither
to apply for entertainment, every house being already overstocked with
inhabitants, or barring its inhospitable doors at their approach.
Families of weeping mothers and dismayed children, attended with a few
pieces of indispensable furniture, were carried in vehicles of every
form. The parent or husband had perished; and the price of some movable,
or the pittance handed forth by public charity, had been expended to
purchase the means of retiring from this theatre of disasters, though
uncertain and hopeless of accommodation in the neighbouring districts.
Between these and the fugitives whom curiosity had led to the road,
dialogues frequently took place, to which I was suffered to listen. From
every mouth the tale of sorrow was repeated with new aggravations.
Pictures of their own distress, or of that of their neighbours, were
exhibited in all the hues which imagination can annex to pestilence and
poverty.
My preconceptions of the evil now appeared to have fallen short of the
truth. The dangers into which I was rushing seemed more numerous and
imminent than I had previously imagined. I wavered not in my purpose. A
panic crept to my heart, which more vehement exertions were necessary to
subdue or control; but I harboured not a momentary doubt that the course
which I had taken was prescribed by duty. There was no difficulty or
reluctance in proceeding. All for which my efforts were demanded was to
walk in this path without tumult or alarm.
Various circumstances had hindered me from setting out upon this journey
as early as was proper. My frequent pauses to listen to the narratives
of travellers contributed likewise to procrastination. The sun had
nearly set before I reached the precincts of the city. I pursued the
track which I had formerly taken, and entered High Street after
nightfall. Instead of equipages and a throng of passengers, the voice of
levity and glee, which I had formerly observed, and which the mildness
of the season would, at other times, have produced, I found nothing but
a dreary solitude.
The market-place, and each side of this magnificent avenue, were
illuminated, as before, by lamps; but between the verge of Schuylkill
and the heart of the city I met not more than a dozen figures; and these
were ghost-like, wrapped in cloaks, from behind which they cast upon me
glances of wonder and suspicion, and, as I approached, changed their
course, to avoid touching me. Their clothes were sprinkled with vinegar,
and their nostrils defended from contagion by some powerful perfume.
I cast a look upon the houses, which I recollected to have formerly
been, at this hour, brilliant with lights, resounding with lively
voices, and thronged with busy faces. Now they were closed, above and
below; dark, and without tokens of being inhabited. From the upper
windows of some, a gleam sometimes fell upon the pavement I was
traversing, and showed that their tenants had not fled, but were
secluded or disabled.
These tokens were new, and awakened all my panics. Death seemed to
hover over this scene, and I dreaded that the floating pestilence had
already lighted on my frame. I had scarcely overcome these tremors, when
I approached a house the door of which was opened, and before which
stood a vehicle, which I presently recognised to be a _hearse_.
The driver was seated on it. I stood still to mark his visage, and to
observe the course which he proposed to take. Presently a coffin, borne
by two men, issued from the house. The driver was a negro; but his
companions were white. Their features were marked by ferocious
indifference to danger or pity. One of them, as he assisted in thrusting
the coffin into the cavity provided for it, said, "I'll be damned if I
think the poor dog was quite dead. It wasn't the _fever_ that ailed him,
but the sight of the girl and her mother on the floor. I wonder how they
all got into that room. What carried them there?"
The other surlily muttered, "Their legs, to-be-sure."
"But what should they hug together in one room for?"
"To save us trouble, to-be-sure."
"And I thank them with all my heart; but, damn it, it wasn't right to
put him in his coffin before the breath was fairly gone. I thought the
last look he gave me told me to stay a few minutes."
"Pshaw! He could not live. The sooner dead the better for him; as well
as for us. Did you mark how he eyed us when we carried away his wife and
daughter? I never cried in my life, since I was knee-high, but curse me
if I ever felt in better tune for the business than just then. Hey!"
continued he, looking up, and observing me standing a few paces distant,
and listening to their discourse; "what's wanted? Anybody dead?"
I stayed not to answer or parley, but hurried forward. My joints
trembled, and cold drops stood on my forehead. I was ashamed of my own
infirmity; and, by vigorous efforts of my reason, regained some degree
of composure. The evening had now advanced, and it behooved me to
procure accommodation at some of the inns.
These were easily distinguished by their _signs_, but many were without
inhabitants. At length I lighted upon one, the hall of which was open
and the windows lifted. After knocking for some time, a young girl
appeared, with many marks of distress. In answer to my question, she
answered that both her parents were sick, and that they could receive no
one. I inquired, in vain, for any other tavern at which strangers might
be accommodated. She knew of none such, and left me, on someone's
calling to her from above, in the midst of my embarrassment. After a
moment's pause, I returned, discomfited and perplexed, to the street.
I proceeded, in a considerable degree, at random. At length I reached a
spacious building in Fourth Street, which the signpost showed me to be
an inn. I knocked loudly and often at the door. At length a female
opened the window of the second story, and, in a tone of peevishness,
demanded what I wanted. I told her that I wanted lodging.
"Go hunt for it somewhere else," said she; "you'll find none here." I
began to expostulate; but she shut the window with quickness, and left
me to my own reflections.
I began now to feel some regret at the journey I had taken. Never, in
the depth of caverns or forests, was I equally conscious of loneliness.
I was surrounded by the habitations of men; but I was destitute of
associate or friend. I had money, but a horse-shelter, or a morsel of
food, could not be purchased. I came for the purpose of relieving
others, but stood in the utmost need myself. Even in health my condition
was helpless and forlorn; but what would become of me should this fatal
malady be contracted? To hope that an asylum would be afforded to a sick
man, which was denied to one in health, was unreasonable.
The first impulse which flowed from these reflections was to hasten back
to _Malverton_; which, with sufficient diligence, I might hope to regain
before the morning light. I could not, methought, return upon my steps
with too much speed. I was prompted to run, as if the pest was rushing
upon me and could be eluded only by the most precipitate flight.
This impulse was quickly counteracted by new ideas. I thought with
indignation and shame on the imbecility of my proceeding. I called up
the images of Susan Hadwin, and of Wallace. I reviewed the motives which
had led me to the undertaking of this journey. Time had, by no means,
diminished their force. I had, indeed, nearly arrived at the
accomplishment of what I had intended. A few steps would carry me to
Thetford's habitation. This might be the critical moment when succour
was most needed and would be most efficacious.
I had previously concluded to defer going thither till the ensuing
morning; but why should I allow myself a moment's delay? I might at
least gain an external view of the house, and circumstances might arise
which would absolve me from the obligation of remaining an hour longer
in the city. All for which I came might be performed; the destiny of
Wallace be ascertained; and I be once more safe within the precincts of
_Malverton_ before the return of day.
I immediately directed my steps towards the habitation of Thetford.
Carriages bearing the dead were frequently discovered. A few passengers
likewise occurred, whose hasty and perturbed steps denoted their
participation in the common distress. The house of which I was in quest
quickly appeared. Light from an upper window indicated that it was still
inhabited.
I paused a moment to reflect in what manner it became me to proceed. To
ascertain the existence and condition of Wallace was the purpose of my
journey. He had inhabited this house; and whether he remained in it was
now to be known. I felt repugnance to enter, since my safety might, by
entering, be unawares and uselessly endangered. Most of the neighbouring
houses were apparently deserted. In some there were various tokens of
people being within. Might I not inquire, at one of these, respecting
the condition of Thetford's family? Yet why should I disturb them by
inquiries so impertinent at this unseasonable hour? To knock at
Thetford's door, and put my questions to him who should obey the signal,
was the obvious method.
I knocked dubiously and lightly. No one came. I knocked again, and more
loudly; I likewise drew the bell. I distinctly heard its distant peals.
If any were within, my signal could not fail to be noticed. I paused,
and listened, but neither voice nor footsteps could be heard. The light,
though obscured by window-curtains, which seemed to be drawn close, was
still perceptible.
I ruminated on the causes that might hinder my summons from being
obeyed. I figured to myself nothing but the helplessness of disease, or
the insensibility of death. These images only urged me to persist in
endeavouring to obtain admission. Without weighing the consequences of
my act, I involuntarily lifted the latch. The door yielded to my hand,
and I put my feet within the passage.
Once more I paused. The passage was of considerable extent, and at the
end of it I perceived light as from a lamp or candle. This impelled me
to go forward, till I reached the foot of a staircase. A candle stood
upon the lowest step.
This was a new proof that the house was not deserted. I struck my heel
against the floor with some violence; but this, like my former signals,
was unnoticed. Having proceeded thus far, it would have been absurd to
retire with my purpose uneffected. Taking the candle in my hand, I
opened a door that was near. It led into a spacious parlour, furnished
with profusion and splendour. I walked to and fro, gazing at the objects
which presented themselves; and, involved in perplexity, I knocked with
my heel louder than ever; but no less ineffectually.
Notwithstanding the lights which I had seen, it was possible that the
house was uninhabited. This I was resolved to ascertain, by proceeding
to the chamber which I had observed, from without, to be illuminated.
This chamber, as far as the comparison of circumstances would permit me
to decide, I believed to be the same in which I had passed the first
night of my late abode in the city. Now was I, a second time, in almost
equal ignorance of my situation, and of the consequences which impended,
exploring my way to the same recess.
I mounted the stair. As I approached the door of which I was in search,
a vapour, infectious and deadly, assailed my senses. It resembled
nothing of which I had ever before been sensible. Many odours had been
met with, even since my arrival in the city, less supportable than this.
I seemed not so much to smell as to taste the element that now
encompassed me. I felt as if I had inhaled a poisonous and subtle fluid,
whose power instantly bereft my stomach of all vigour. Some fatal
influence appeared to seize upon my vitals, and the work of corrosion
and decomposition to be busily begun.
For a moment, I doubted whether imagination had not some share in
producing my sensation; but I had not been previously panic-struck; and
even now I attended to my own sensations without mental discomposure.
That I had imbibed this disease was not to be questioned. So far the
chances in my favour were annihilated. The lot of sickness was drawn.
Whether my case would be lenient or malignant, whether I should recover
or perish, was to be left to the decision of the future. This incident,
instead of appalling me, tended rather to invigorate my courage. The
danger which I feared had come. I might enter with indifference on this
theatre of pestilence. I might execute, without faltering, the duties
that my circumstances might create. My state was no longer hazardous;
and my destiny would be totally uninfluenced by my future conduct.
The pang with which I was first seized, and the momentary inclination to
vomit, which it produced, presently subsided. My wholesome feelings,
indeed, did not revisit me, but strength to proceed was restored to me.
The effluvia became more sensible as I approached the door of the
chamber. The door was ajar; and the light within was perceived. My
belief that those within were dead was presently confuted by sound,
which I first supposed to be that of steps moving quickly and timorously
across the floor. This ceased, and was succeeded by sounds of different
but inexplicable import.
Having entered the apartment, I saw a candle on the hearth. A table was
covered with vials and other apparatus of a sick-chamber. A bed stood on
one side, the curtain of which was dropped at the foot, so as to conceal
any one within. I fixed my eyes upon this object. There were sufficient
tokens that some one lay upon the bed. Breath, drawn at long intervals;
mutterings scarcely audible; and a tremulous motion in the bedstead,
were fearful and intelligible indications.
If my heart faltered, it must not be supposed that my trepidations arose
from any selfish considerations. Wallace only, the object of my search,
was present to my fancy. Pervaded with remembrance of the Hadwins; of
the agonies which they had already endured; of the despair which would
overwhelm the unhappy Susan when the death of her lover should be
ascertained; observant of the lonely condition of this house, whence I
could only infer that the sick had been denied suitable attendance; and
reminded, by the symptoms that appeared, that this being was struggling
with the agonies of death; a sickness of the heart, more insupportable
than that which I had just experienced, stole upon me.
My fancy readily depicted the progress and completion of this tragedy.
Wallace was the first of the family on whom the pestilence had seized.
Thetford had fled from his habitation. Perhaps as a father and husband,
to shun the danger attending his stay was the injunction of his duty. It
was questionless the conduct which selfish regards would dictate.
Wallace was left to perish alone; or, perhaps, (which, indeed, was a
supposition somewhat justified by appearances,) he had been left to the
tendance of mercenary wretches; by whom, at this desperate moment, he
had been abandoned.
I was not mindless of the possibility that these forebodings, specious
as they were, might be false. The dying person might be some other than
Wallace. The whispers of my hope were, indeed, faint; but they, at
least, prompted me to snatch a look at the expiring man. For this
purpose I advanced and thrust my head within the curtain.