about midnight
` No , no , ' said Althea a little wildly ; ` I will not take the Plague and die -- not yet ; I have work to do ; ' at which the man smiled pityingly , and added , -- ` You would not find Mr. Dacre here now , were he in life -- he designed to follow the Court , which is removed to Salisbury for safety ; but he lingered about some money matters , which have cost him very dear , as I think ; ' and bowing to us he walked hastily away . Well , we knew not what to do now , and so returned to our inn , where we sat the rest of the day in the room we had hired , talking over our few acquaintance in town , but unable to hit on one who would have will and power to help us much . Our good hostess served us again at supper , and asked how we sped in our search for Mr. Dacre ; so unthinkingly we told her the whole tale ; at which her colour changed and she left the room without saying a word in answer . That night we slept heavily for very trouble ; so we were not aware of a great stir there was in the night ; for Mrs. Bell , the poor landlady , was taken very ill about midnight , the maids were called up , and a physician sent for ; they had some trouble to find one ; but when he came he told them plainly that her disorder , which they and she too had feared was the Plague , was nothing but pure terror ; our careless words about Mr. Dacre 's death having struck such a fear in her as to throw her into a kind of fever . Will told us this news in the morning , and we were grieved at our foolishness , and wondered at hers ; but we had little time for lamenting , as we were setting forth to visit a distant kinswoman of our father 's , who , being rich and well reputed , we thought might be able to help us . But here we fared no better , -- not that the lady was dead ; but she had gone out of town on the first alarm of the sickness , leaving her house locked up and empty , as the neighbours told us . So we went back to our inn yet more cast down ; but there we stayed not long , for we were scarce got to our room when the landlord came to us , very angry , and said , had he known we had been visiting an infected house , we had never come into his ; and he bade us to pack up and be gone within the hour , that he might have every place purified where we had come .