The Midnight Queen

London was wracked by the plague. Daily thousands of people were washed away; grass sprang in the streets; and the survivors hardly ever had enough time to bury the dead. The plague pits and pest-houses were both crowded; nobody knew who awoke healthy in the morning or who may be lying bare and dead in a few hours. All of the walls and the corniced ceiling were carved, gilded, and fretted with gold network. The chamber was mirrored in a large mirror, and a toilet-table covered in diamonds, ...