"Indeed!" exclaimed Chowles, trembling. "I begin to think he is possessed of supernatural power," he added, in an undertone to Judith.
"Go on," pursued Solomon Eagle, "continue to plunder and destroy. Pursue your guilty career, and see what reward you will reap."
"Restore what you have robbed us of," cried Judith in a menacing tone, "or dread the consequences."
"Woman, you threaten idly," returned Solomon Eagle. "Your ill-gotten treasure is gone—whither, you will never know. Get hence!" he added, in a terrible tone, "or I will rid the earth of you both."
So awed were they by his voice and gestures, that they slunk away with a discomfited air, and returned to the crypt.
"If we are always to be robbed in this manner," observed Chowles, "we had better shift our quarters, and practise elsewhere."
"He shall not repeat the offence with impunity," returned Judith. "I will speedily get rid of him."
"Beware!" cried a voice, which they recognised as that of Solomon Eagle, though whence proceeding they could not precisely determine. The pair looked at each other uneasily, but neither spoke a word.
Meanwhile, Leonard Holt did not omit to pay a daily visit to the cathedral. It was a painful contemplation, and yet not without deep interest, to behold the constant succession of patients, most of whom were swept away by the scourge in the course of a couple of days, or even in a shorter period. Out of every hundred persons attacked, five did not recover; and whether the virulence of the distemper increased, or the summer heats rendered its victims more easily assailable, certain it is they were carried off far more expeditiously than before. Doctor Hodges was unremitting in his attentions, but his zeal and anxiety availed nothing. He had to contend with a disease over which medicine exercised little control.
One morning, as he was about to enter the cathedral, he met Leonard beneath the portico, and as soon as the latter caught sight of him, he hurried towards him.