Just then, Lady _Betty's_ Bell was pulled pretty sharply, and _Gatty_ was obliged to run off. I could see, by Mr. _Heavitree's_ wincing, that he could not abide the Remembrance of her menial Position, and that it would not be his Fault if she long retained it. I ushered him into the Parlour. My _Father_, in his easy Chair, stretches out his Hand to him. "Mr. _Heavitree_," says he heartily, "I'm glad to see you." "You see a very dirty Fellow, Sir," says Mr. _Heavitree_ laughing. "Why, you _are_ dirty, indeed," says my _Father_, surveying him; "is this the Way you come a-courting? I should say you had been rolling in the Gutter." "Something like it," says Mr. _Heavitree_; "we Country Folks got feared by this Talk of the Earthquake, so I thought I'd just come up to Town and look after _Gatty_; but, Sir, what a Place this _London_ is! My Danger along the Road, of being attacked by the Fellow they call the Flying Highwayman, was nothing to what it was when I got into the Streets. I put up my Horse at an Inn, and then set forth, as clean as you'd wish to see me, to Lady _Betty's_, where I expected to find _Gatty_; but it was already getting dark, and by Reason of the Panic the Town was almost deserted except by the very worst Sort, who care neither for Heaven nor Earth, and who seemed minded to make the Desertion of Houses an Occasion for pretty general Plunder. Here and there twinkled a miserable little solitary Oil Lamp; here and there a Lantern flitted across, or a Ray of a Tallow Candle streamed from some Window, but with these Exceptions, which only seemed to make Darkness more dismal, there was Nothing to prevent one from breaking one's Shins against Posts and Door-Steps, or walking straight into the Gutters. I was hustled once or twice, and began to think Affairs were not much mended since my _Lord Mayor_ and the _Aldermen_ went up to the _King_. Suddenly I was pounced on by three disorderly Fellows, who collared me and dragged me into a dark Cellar. One of them held a Lantern to my Face and said, '_Jem_, this isn't our Man,' on which I was pushed out pretty near as roughly as I was pulled in. This did not hinder me of taking to my Heels, which occasioned my stumbling into an enormous Heap of wet Mud by the Side of the Foot-Path, with ne'er a Lamp near it, which made me in the Pickle you see. However, I got to Lady _Betty's_, where I found the Mansion deserted by all save one poor Maid, who sate reading of her Bible by the Light of a Kitchen Candle; all the rest having decamped as soon as my _Lady_ was off, in the Opinion that their Safety was quite as dear to them as hers to her. I asked the poor Creature if she were not afeared to be alone at such a Crisis; but she seemed to be Something of a Predestinarian, and said her Time could come but once, and when the LORD would; she could trust herself in his Hands. I obtained from her that _Gatty_ and my _Lady_ had gone to the _Chelsea Bun-House_; so then I knew they were with _you_, Mrs.