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, lace, perfume bottles, and a variety of pricey small feminine trinkets that ladies used to own stood underneath it. Although it was a very dark and gloomy night when Sir Norman Kingsley found Ormiston's body in Leoline's home, to him everything was as light as the lovely hills of Beulah. It was clear that the angry face, which was facing the moonlight, belonged to a dead guy. Not even the plague could claim a victim this swiftly. If George hadn't detained him with a loud yell, Sir Norman in his panicked flight would have likely gone past him unobserved.
May Agnes Fleming was an author from Canada. She was born on November 15, 1840, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, and wrote under the pen names Cousin May Carleton and M. A. Earlie. May Agnes started writing while still in school. In 1865, she wed John W. Fleming, an engineer. Her first book, Erminie: or The Gypsy's Vow: A Tale of Love and Vengeance, was published in New York two years before she relocated there (1863). The couple has six kids together. Fleming moved from one big contract to another while working as a writer to support the family. Before her stories were published in books, they first appeared in The New York Weekly and the London Journal from 1872 until her death. She produced several novels that combined spectacular, domestic, gothic, and romantic themes. To be closer to her publishers, Fleming and her family relocated to New York in 1875. As a result, her marriage suffered owing to her husband's drinking, and her kidney illness caused her health to deteriorate. She passed away unexpectedly on March 24, 1880, at the age of 39.
