not at all suppose that either he or they should
see such another. Indeed, henceforth any
funerals must take place without delay; as
they very well might, now that, on this beautiful
spot, there was room without limit. He
told them how Farmer Neale had had the
space they saw staked out since yesterday, and
how it would be fenced in—roughly, perhaps,
but securely—before night. He hoped and
believed the worst of the sickness was over.
The cold weather was coming on; and, perhaps,
he said with a smile, it might be a comfort
to some of them to know that the comet
was going away. He could not say for himself
that he should not be sorry when it
disappeared; for he thought it a very beautiful
sight, and one which reminded every eye that
saw it how 'the heavens declare the glory of
God;' and the wisest men were all agreed
that it was a sign,—not of any mischief, but
of the beauty of God's handiwork in the firmament,
as the Scriptures call the starry sky.
The fact was, it was found that comets come
round regularly, like some of the other stars
and our own moon; and when a comet had
once been seen, people of a future time would
know when to look for it again, and would be
too wise to be afraid of it. But he had better
tell them about such things at another time,
when perhaps they would let their children
come up to his house, and look through a
telescope,—a glass that magnified things so
much, that when they saw the stars, they
would hardly believe they were the same
stars that they saw every clear night. Perhaps
they might then think the commonest
star as wonderful as any comet. Another
reason why they might hope for better health
was, that people at a distance now knew
more of the distress of Bleaburn than they
had done; and he could assure his neighbours,
that supplies of nourishing food and
wholesome clothing would be lodged with the
cordon till the people of the place could once
more earn their own living. Another reason
why they might hope for better health was,
that they were learning by experience what
was good for health and what was bad. This
was a very serious and important subject, on
which he would speak to them again and
again, on Sundays and at all times, till he had
shown them what he thought about their
having, he might almost say, their lives and
health in their own hands. He was sure that
God had ordered it so; and he expected to be
able to prove to them, by and by, that there
need be no fever in Bleaburn if they chose to
prevent it. And now, about these Sundays
and week days. He deeply pitied them that
they had been cut off from worship during
their time of distress. He thought there
might be an end to that now. He would not
advise their assembling in the church. There
were the same reasons against it that there
were two months ago; but there was no place
on earth where men might not worship God,
if they wished it. If it were now the middle
of summer, he should say that the spot they
were standing on,—even yet so fresh and so
sunny,—was the best they could have; but
soon the winter winds would blow, and the
cold rains would come driving over the hills.
This would not do: but there was a warm
nook in the hollow,—the crag behind the
mill,—where there was shelter from the east
and north, and the warmest sunshine ever felt
in the hollow,—too hot in summer, but very
pleasant now. There he proposed to read
prayers three times a-week, at an hour which
should be arranged according to the convenience
of the greatest number; and there he
would perform service and preach a sermon
on Sundays, when the weather permitted.
He should have been inclined to ask Farmer
Neale for one of his barns, or to propose to
meet even in his kitchen; but he found his
neighbours still feared that meeting anywhere
but in the open air would spread the fever.
He did not himself believe that one person
gave the fever to another; but as long as his
neighbours thought so, he would not ask them
to do what might make them afraid. Then
there was a settling what hours should be
appointed for worship at the crag; and the
mourners came trooping down into the hollow,
with brightened eyes, and freshened faces, and
altogether much less like mourners than when
they went up.

Before night, Mr. Kirby had visited every
sick person in the place, in company with the
doctor. The poor doctor would hardly have
ventured to go his round without the assistance
of some novelty that might divert the
attention of the people from his atrocities.
Mr. Kirby did not attempt to get rid of the
subject. He told the discontented, to their
faces, that the doctor knew his business better
than they did; and bade them remember that
it was not the doctor but themselves that had
set fire to spirits of wine, or something of that
sort, in the middle of the street, whereby a
woman was in imminent danger of being burnt
to death; and that their outrage on the good
fame and property of a gentleman who had
worn himself half dead with fatigue and
anxiety on their account might yet cost them
very dear, if it were not understood that they
were so oppressed with sorrow and want that
they did not know what they were about.
His consultations with the doctor from house
to house, and his evident deference to him in
regard to matters of health and sickness,
wrought a great change in a few hours; and
the effect was prodigiously increased when
Mrs. Kirby, herself a surgeon's daughter, and
no stranger in a surgery, offered her daily
assistance in making up the medicines, and
administering such as might be misused by
those who could not read the labels.

"That is what the Good Lady does, when
she can get out at the right time," observed
some one; "but now poor Jem is down, and
his mother hardly up again yet, it is not every
day, as she says, that she can go so far out of call."