The shutters of the lower windows were closed, and the place looked completely deserted.

All the adjoining houses were shut up, and not a living being could be discerned in the street from whom information could be obtained relative to the physician.

Here, as elsewhere, the pavement was overgrown with grass, and the very houses had a strange and melancholy look, as if sharing in the general desolation.

On looking down a narrow street leading to the river, Leonard perceived a flock of poultry scratching among the staves in search of food, and instinctively calling them, they flew towards him, as if delighted at the unwonted sound of a human voice.

These, and a half-starved cat, were the only things living that he could perceive.