silence was oppressive. Black velvet
curtains fell in massive folds from the walls;
and all the rooms were involved in perpetual
shadow. After some time, they reached a
chamber of greater extent than any of the
others—so large, indeed, that the citizen
could not see the opposite side; and here his
companion paused. The next moment Hansel
observed that the place was occupied by
eight or nine male figures, dressed in
uncouth habiliments, and playing very earnestly
at a game resembling skittles: the pins
formed by a row of fleshless bones, and the
projectiles smooth, bare skulls. The sport,
seemed to Mark rather grim, and the
performers had very pale faces; but they kept
on chattering vivaciously in an unknown
tongue; and, whenever any one made a hit,
all chuckled and laughed.

"Draw a little nearer," said the master of
the house. " Do you remember these gentlemen ? "

Mark advanced a pace or two, and then
suddenly started back. The skittle-players
were none other than the recent inmates of
his house, whom he had supposed were dead
of the Plague!

"Good Heaven! " exclaimed the silk-
mercer. " What is the meaning of this ? "

"It means," replied the strange gentleman,
"that all your late friends are
provided for by me, and without any charge to
them. But you must not speak to them.
They would not understand you, nor you
them. Don't you think they look very
happy?"

"The Lord deliver me! " thought Mark;
"for I am in a land of phantoms." But, fearing
to offend his companion, he answered,
"They must needs be happy under your
worship's protection."

"A right courtly speech! " cried the
other, with a disagreeable laugh. "Well,
since you admit that they look happy, there
could be no great harm in sending a few
more to the same place — eh?"

"Your worship is the best judge," replied
Hansel, who thought it advisable to
maintain a respectful demeanour.

"Follow me, then." And the master of
the mansion led the way out of the hall, and
conducted Mark into the open air.

A wide desert plain stretched far away
before their eyes, unbroken by a single
house, tree, or any other object, and covered
by a dry, burnt-up turf. Thick night hung
ponderously overhead; but flashes of lightning
played incessantly across the sky, revealing
in the distance an abrupt rock of dusky
stone, down the sides of which a stream of
water fell noiselessly, and crept away through
weedy channels until lost to sight.

"Listen to me now," exclaimed the
stranger, fixing his intense and gleaming
eyes upon Mark. "The plague is in London,
as you know."

"Indeed, sir, I know it but too well," said
Hansel. "The people are dying round us
with a dreadful quickness every day."

"And yet not fast enough," responded the
other. " I say, not fast enough," he added,
seeing Mark change countenance. " Why,
what better could you wish for a man than
to come to this quiet spot, and play with the
skulls and bones of his enemies ? They
come thronging in hour after hour; but it is
my mood that they should come faster.
Yea, I will have every soul in London for
my guest. You see that stream of water
pouring down the rock in the distance ?
That water is poisoned; and with it I design
to kill every one of your townsfolk. Hearken.
If you will consent to take with you a portion
of this subtle fluid, and so corrupt all the
wells and springs of London, I will give you
riches uncountable; and you shall be the last
to die and the first to taste all the pleasures
of my domain. Will you do this ? "

During the delivery of this speech, Mark
observed a terrible transformation in the
whole appearance of his companion. An
awful light boiled up out of the black depth
of his eyes; his lips became twisted into an
expression of mingled fierceness and sarcastic
laughter; and Mark saw that he stood in
the presence of the Evil One.

"Get thee behind me, Satan — Devil! I
defy thee and all thy host, thou Old
Mischief! I spit in thy face, and on thy offer,
thou Shadow of the Curse of God!"

At this, the fearful thing wavered before
his eyes like the shadow of a tree upon the
ground when the tree itself is shaken by a
high wind; but the Old One steadied
himself after awhile, and said:

"You refuse? Then attend to my last
words. Nine of the inmates of your
house have already died of the Plague.
By to-morrow night, a tenth shall be
stricken."

And, as he spoke, a tempest and an earthquake,
with amazing flashes of fire, and a
great roaring, seemed to rise up in the place;
and instantly everything vanished; and
Mark found himself seated in his own room
in his own arm-chair, rather frightened, and
very much dazed.

It is my own opinion—as a firm disbeliever
in all such stories—that the worthy mercer
had fallen asleep, and had been dreaming;
that he had not been standing at the street-
door at all, but had been overtaken by
slumber as he sat thinking about his
prospects; and that he was awakened by a
thunder-storm which was then raging, and
which formed the conclusion of his dream.
Hansel himself, however, firmly believed in
the absolute truth of the vision; and you
may safely assume that it made him feel
very melancholy. He lay awake during the
greater part of the night, preparing himself
for his approaching end, and trembling with
fear every moment, lest he should be exposed
to some new temptation. When, after a