Boys were told off as messengers to fetch food and other matters as required from the castle.
So, bravely and firmly, they prepared to meet the pestilence; it spread with terrible severity.

Scarce a house which did not lose some of its inmates, while in others whole families were swept away.

All day Walter and his wife and Dame Vernon went from house to house, and although they could do nothing to stem the progress of the pestilence, their presence and example supported the survivors and prevented the occurrence of any of the panic and disorder which in most places accompanied it.
The castle was not exempt from the scourge.

First some of the domestics were seized, and three men and four women died.

Walter himself was attacked, but he took it lightly, and three days after the seizure passed into a state of convalescence.