"I don't believe a word of it!" cried the Master Builder, with some
heat of manner. "It is just an old scare, the like of which I have
heard a hundred times ere now. Some poor wretch dies of the
sweating sickness, or, at worst, of the spotted fever, and in a
moment all men's mouths are full of the plague! I don't believe a
word of it!"
"Heaven send you may be right, good friend," quoth Rachel Harmer, as
she sat beside her spinning wheel, and spoke to the accompaniment of
its pleasant hum. "And yet, methinks, the vice and profligacy of this
great city, and the lewdness and wanton wickedness of the Court, are
enough to draw down upon us the judgments of Almighty God. The sin
and the shame of it must be rising up before Him day and night."
The Master Builder moved a little uneasily in his seat. For his own
part he thought no great harm of the roistering, gaming, and
gallantries of the Court dandies. He knew that the times were very
good for him. Fine ladies were for ever sending for him to alter
some house or some room. Gay young husbands, or those who thought
of becoming husbands, were seldom content nowadays without pulling
their house about their ears, and rebuilding it after some
new-fangled fashion copied from France. Or if the structure were
let alone, the plenishings must be totally changed; and Master
Charles Mason, albeit a builder by trade, and going generally
amongst his acquaintances and friends by the name of Master
Builder, had of late years taken to a number of kindred avocations
in the matter of house plenishings, and so forth. This had brought
him no small profit, as well as intimate relations with many a fine
household and with many grand folks. Money had flowed apace into
his pocket of late. His wife had begun to go about so fine that it
was well for her the old sumptuary laws had fallen into practical
disuse. His son was an idle young dog, chiefly known to the
neighbourhood as being the main leader of a notorious band of
Scourers, of which more anon, and many amongst his former friends
and associates shook their heads, and declared that Charles Mason
was growing so puffed up by wealth that he would scarce vouchsafe a
nod to an old acquaintance in the street, unless he were smart and
prosperous looking.
The Master Builder had a house upon Old London Bridge. Once he had
carried on his business there, but latterly he had grown too fine
for that. To the disgust of his more simple-minded neighbours, he
had taken some large premises in Cheapside, where he displayed many
fine stuffs for upholstering and drapery, where the new-fashioned
Indian carpets were displayed to view, and fine gilded furniture
from France, which a little later on became the rage all through
the country. His own house was now nothing more than a dwelling
place for himself and his family; even his apprentices and workmen
were lodged elsewhere. The neighbours, used to simpler ways, shook
their heads, and prophesied that the end of so much pride would be
disaster and ruin. But year after year went by, and the Master
Builder grew richer and richer, and could afford to laugh at the
prognostications of those about him, of which he was very well
aware.
He was perhaps somewhat puffed up by his success. He was certainly
proud of the position he had made. He liked to see his wife sweep
along the streets in her fine robes of Indian silk, which seemed to
set a great gulf between her and her neighbours. He allowed his son
to copy the fopperies of the Court gallants, and even to pick up
the silly French phrases which made the language at Court a mongrel
mixture of bad English and vile French. All these things pleased
him well, although he himself went about clad in much the same
fashion as his neighbours, save that the materials of his clothing
were finer, and his frills more white and crisp; and it was in his
favour that his friendship with his old friend James Harmer had
never waned, although he knew that this honest tradesman by no
means approved his methods.
Perhaps in his heart of hearts he preferred the comfortable living
room of his neighbour to the grandeur insisted upon by his wife at
home. At any rate, he found his way three or four evenings in the
week to Harmer's fireside, and exchanged with him the news of the
day, or retailed the current gossip of the city.
Harmer was by trade a gold and silver lace maker. He carried on his
business in the roomy bridge house which he occupied, which was
many stories high, and contained a great number of rooms. He housed
in it a large family, several apprentices, two shopmen, and his
wife's sister, Dinah Morse, at such times as the latter was not out
nursing the sick, which was her avocation in life.
Mason and Harmer had been boys together, had inherited these two
houses on the bridge from their respective fathers, and had both
prospered in the world. But Harmer was only a moderately affluent
man, having many sons and daughters to provide for; whereas Mason
had but one of each, and had more than one string to his bow in the
matter of money getting.
In the living room of Harmer's house were assembled that February
evening six persons. It was just growing dusk, but the dancing
firelight gave a pleasant illumination. Harmer and Mason were
seated on opposite sides of the hearth in straight-backed wooden
armchairs, and both were smoking. Rachel sat at her wheel, with her
sister Dinah near to her; and in the background hovered two
fine-looking young men, the two eldest sons of the household--Reuben,
his father's right-hand man in business matters now; and Dan, who
had the air and appearance of a sailor ashore, as, indeed, was the
case with him.
It was something which Dinah Morse had said that had evoked the
rather fierce disclaimer from the Master Builder, with the
rejoinder by Rachel as to the laxity of the times; and now it was
Dinah's voice which again took up the word.
"Whether it be God's judgment upon the city, or whether it be due
to the carelessness of man, I know not," answered Dinah quietly; "I
only say that the Bill of Mortality just published is higher than
it has been this long while, and that two in the Parish of St.
Giles have died of the plague."
"Well, St. Giles' is far enough away from us," said the Master
Builder. "If the Magistrates do their duty, there is no fear that
it will spread our way. There were deaths over yonder of the plague
last November, and it seems as though they had not yet stamped out
the germs of it. But a little firmness and sense will do that. We
have nothing to fear. So long as the cases are duly reported, we
shall soon be rid of the pest."
Dinah pressed her lips rather closely together. She had that fine
resolute cast of countenance which often characterizes those who
are constantly to be found at the bedside of the sick. Her dress
was very plain, and she wore a neckerchief of soft, white Indian
muslin about her throat, instead of the starched yellow one which
was almost universal amongst the women citizens of the day. Her
hands were large and white and capable looking. Her only ornament
was a chatelaine of many chains, to which were suspended the
multifarious articles which a nurse has in constant requisition. In
figure she was tall and stately, and in the street strangers often
paused to give her a backward glance. She was greatly in request
amongst the sick of the better class, though she was often to be
found beside the sick poor, who could give her nothing but thanks
for her skilled tendance of them.
"Ay, truly, so long as the cases are duly reported," she repeated
slowly. "But do you think, sir, that that is ever done where means
may be found to avoid it?"
The Master Builder looked a little startled at the question.
"Surely all good folks would wish to do what was right by their
neighbours. They would not harbour a case of plague, and not make
it known in the right quarter."
"You think not, perhaps. Had you seen as much of the sick as I
have, you would know that men so fear and dread the distemper, as
they most often call it, that they will blind their eyes to it to
the very last, and do everything in their power to make it out as
something other than what they fear. I have seen enough of the ways
of folks with sickness to be very sure that all who have friends to
protect the fearful secret, will do so if it be possible. It is
when a poor stranger dies of a sudden that it becomes known that
the plague has found another victim. Why are there double the
number of deaths in this week's bill, if more than are set down as
such be not the distemper?"
All the faces in the room looked very grave at that, for in truth
it was a most disquieting thought. The sailor came a few steps
nearer the fire, and remarked:
"It has all come from those hounds of Dutchmen! Right glad am I
that we are to go to war with them at last, whether the cause be
righteous or not. They have gotten the plague all over their land.
I saw men drop down in the streets and die of it when I was last in
port there. They send it to us in their merchandise."
"My wife will die of terror if she hears but a whisper of the
distemper being anigh us," remarked the Master Builder, with a sigh
and a look of uneasiness. "But men are always scaring us with tales
of its coming and, after all, there is but a death here and one
there, such as any great city may look to have."
At that moment the door was thrown open, and a pretty young damsel,
wearing a crimson cloak and hood, stepped lightly in.
"O father, mother, do but come and look!" she cried, with the air
of coaxing assurance which bespoke a favoured child. "Such a
strange star in the sky! Men in the streets are all looking and
pointing; and some say that it is no star, but a comet, and that it
predicts some dreadful thing which is coming upon this land. Do
come and look at it! There is a clear sky tonight, and one can see
it well. And I heard that it has been seen by some before this,
when at night the rain clouds have been swept away by the wind. Do
come to the window above the river and look! One can see it fine
from there."
This sudden announcement, falling just upon the talk of pestilence
and peril, caused a certain flutter and sensation through the room.
All the persons there rose to their feet and followed the
rosy-cheeked maiden out upon the staircase, and to a window from
which the great river could be seen flowing beneath. A large
expanse of sky could also be commanded from here, and as the inside
of the house was almost dark, it was easy to obtain an excellent
view of the strange appearance which was attracting so much
attention in the streets.
It certainly was no star that was glowing thus with a red and
sullen-looking flame. Neither shape nor position in the heavens
accorded with that of any star of magnitude.
"It was certainly," so said Reuben Harmer, who had some knowledge
of the heavenly bodies, "no star, but one of those travelling
meteors or comets which are seen from time to time, and which from
remote ages have been declared to foretell calamity to the lands
over which they appear to travel."
The Harmer family were godly people of somewhat Puritanic leaning,
yet they were by no means entirely free from the superstition of
their times, nor would Rachel have called it superstition to regard
this manifestation as a warning from God. Why should He not send
some such messenger before He proceeded to take vengeance upon an
ungodly city? Was not even guilty Sodom warned of its approaching
doom?
All faces then were grave, but that of the Master Builder wore a
look of fear as well.
"I must to my wife," he said. "If she sees this comet, she will be
vastly put about. I must to her side to reassure her. Pray Heaven
that no calamity be near to us!"
"Amen!" replied Harmer, gravely; and then the Master Builder
retreated down the staircase, whilst from a room below a cheerful
voice was heard announcing that supper was ready.
The party therefore all moved downstairs towards the kitchen, where
all the meals were taken in company with the apprentices, shopmen,
and serving wenches.
Dorcas, the maiden who had brought news of the comet, slipped her.
hand within Reuben's arm, and asked him in a whisper:
"Thinkest thou, Reuben, that it betides evil to the city?"
"Nay, I know not what to think," he answered. "It is a strange
thing, and men often say it betides ill; but I have no knowledge of
mine own. I never saw the like before."
"They spoke of it at my Lady Scrope's today," said Dorcas. "I was
behind her chair, with her fan and essence bottles, and the lap
dogs, when in comes one and another of the old beaux who beguile
their leisure with my lady's sharp speeches; and they spoke of this
thing, and she laughed them to scorn, and called them fools for
listening to old wives' fables. It is her way thus to revile all
who come anigh her. She said she had lived through a score of such
scares, and would snap her fingers at all the comets of the heavens
at once. Sometimes it makes me tremble to hear her talk; but
methinks she loveth to raise a shudder in the hearts of those who
hear her. She is a strange being. Sometimes I almost fear to go to
and fro there, albeit she treats me well, and seldom speaks harshly
to me. But men say she is above a hundred years old, and she leads
so strange a life in her lonely house. Fancy being there alone of a
night, with only that deaf old man and his aged wife within doors!
It would scare me to death. But she will not let one other of her
servants abide there with her!"
"Ay, it is her whimsie. Women folks are given to such," answered
Reuben, tolerantly. "She is a strange creature, albeit I doubt not
that men make her out stranger than she is. Well, well, the comet
at least will do us no hurt of itself; and if it be God's way of
warning us of peril to come, we need not fear it, but only set
ourselves to be ready for what He may send us."
Below stairs there was a comfortable meal spread upon the table,
simple and homely, but sufficient for the appetites of all. The
three rosy-faced apprentices, of whom a son of the house made one,
formed a link at table between the family and the shopmen and
serving wenches. All sat down together, and Rebecca, the daughter
who lived at home, served up the hot broth and puddings. The eldest
daughter was a serving maid in the household of my Lady Howe, and
was seldom able to get home for more than a few hours occasionally,
even when that fashionable dame was in London. Dorcas spent each
night under the shelter of her father's roof, and went daily to the
quaint old house close beside Allhallowes the Less, where lived the
eccentric Lady Scrope, her mistress, of whom mention has been made.
The youngest son was also from home, being apprenticed to a
carpenter in the service of the Master Builder next door, and he
lived, as was usual, in the house of his employer. Thus four out of
Harmer's seven children lived always at home, and Dan the sailor
was with them whenever his ship put into the river after a voyage.
No talk of either comet or plague was permitted at table; indeed
the meal was generally eaten in something approaching to silence.
Sometimes the master of the house would address a question to one
of the family, or suppress by a glance the giggling of the lads at
the lower end of the table. Joseph's presence there rather
encouraged hilarity, for he was a merry urchin, and stood not in
the same awe of his father as did his comrades. Kindness was the
law of the house, but it was the kindness of thorough discipline.
Neither the master nor the mistress believed in the liberty that
brings licence in its train.
Life went very quietly, smoothly, and monotonously within the walls
of that busy house. Trade was brisk just now. The fashion lately
introduced amongst fine ladies of having whole dresses of gold or
silver lace, brought more orders for the lace maker than he well
knew how to accomplish in the time. He and his son and his
apprentices were hard at work from morning to night; and glad
enough was the master of the daily-increasing daylight, which
enabled him and those who were glad to earn larger wages to work
extra hours each day.
Being thus busy at home, he went less than was his wont abroad, and
heard but little either of the sullen comet which hung night after
night in the sky, or of the whispers sometimes circulating in the
city of fresh cases of the distemper.
These last, however, were growing fewer. The scare of a few weeks
back seemed to be dying down. People said the pest had been stamped
out, and the brighter, hotter weather cheered the hearts of men,
albeit in case of sickness it might be their worst enemy, as some
amongst them well knew.
"I never believed a word of it!" said the wife of the Master
Builder, as she sat in her fine drawing room and fanned herself
with a great fan made of peacock's feathers. She was very
handsomely dressed, far muore like a fine Court dame than the wife
of a simple citizen. Her comnpanion was a very pretty girl of about
nineteen, whose abundant chestnut hair was dressed after a
fashionable mode, although she refused to have it frizzed over her
head as her mother's was, and would have preferred to dress it
quite simply. She wished she might have plain clothes suitable to
her station, instead of being tricked out as though she were a fine
lady. But her mother ruled her with a rod of iron, and girls in
those days had not thought of rising in rebellion.
The Master Builder's wife considered that she had gentle blood in
her veins, as her grandfather had been a country squire who was
ruined in the civil war, so that his family sank into poverty. Of
late she had done all in her power to get her neighbours to accord
her the title of Madam Mason, which she extorted from her servants,
and which was given to her pretty generally now, although as much
in mockery, it must be confessed, as in respect of her finery. She
did not look a very happy woman, in spite of all the grandeur about
her. She had frightened away her simpler neighbours by her airs of
condescension and by the splendour of her house, and yet she could
not yet see any way of inducing other and finer folks to come and
see her. Sometimes her husband brought in a rich patron and his
wife to look at the fine room, and examnine the furniture in it,
and these persons would generally be mighty civil to her whilst
they stayed; but then they did not come to see her, but only in the
way of business. It was agreeable to be able to repeat what my lord
this or my lady that said about the cabinets and chairs; but after
all she was half afraid that her boasting deceived nobody, and
Gertrude would never come to her aid with any little innocent fibs
about their grand visitors.
"I never did believe a word of it," repeated Madam, after a pause.
"Gertrude, why do you not answer when I speak to you? You are as
dull as a Dutch doll, sitting there and saying nothing. I would
that Frederick were at home! He can speak when he is spoken to; but
you are like a deaf mute!"
"I beg your pardon, ma'am. I was reading--I did not hear."
"That is always the way--reading, reading, reading! Why, what good
do you think reading will do you? Why don't you get your silk
embroidery or practise upon the spinnet? Such advantages as you
have! And all thrown away on a girl who does not know when she is
well off. I have no manner of patience with you, Gertrude. If I had
had such opportunities in my girlhood, I should never have been a
mere citizen's wife now."
A slightly mutinous look passed across Gertrude's face. Submissive
in word and manner, as was the rule of the day, she was by no means
submissive in mind, and had her mother's ears been sharper she
might have detected the undertone of irony in the reply she
received.
"I think nobody would take you for a citizen's wife, ma'am. As for
me, I am not made to shine in a higher sphere than mine own. I have
not even the patience to learn the spinnet. I would sooner be
baking pies with Rebecca next door, as we used to do when we were
children, before father grew so rich."
Madam's face clouded ominously. She heartily wished she had never
admitted her children to intimacy with the Harmers next door. It
had done no harm in the case of Frederick. He was his mother's son,
every inch of him, and was as ready to turn up a supercilious nose
at his old comrades as ever Madam could wish.
But Gertrude was different--she was excessively provoking at times.
She did not seem able to understand that if one intended to rise in
the world, one must cut through a number of old ties, and start
upon a fresh track. It was not easy in those times to rise; but
still the wealthier citizens did occasionally make a position for
themselves, and get amongst the hangers-on of the Court party,
especially if they were open handed with their money.
Madam often declared that if they only moved into another part of
the town, everything she wanted could be attained; but on that
point her husband was inexorable. He loved the old bridge house.
There he had been born, and there he meant to die, and he had not
the smnallest intention of removing elsewhere to please even the
wife to whom he granted so many indulgences.
"You are a fool!" cried Madam, angrily; "you say those things only
to provoke me. I wish you had some right feeling and some
conversation. You are as dull as ditch water. You care for nothing.
I don't believe it would rouse you to hear that the plague was in
the next street!"
"Well, we shall see," answered Gertrude, with a calmness that was
at least a little provoking, "for people say it is spreading very
fast, and may soon be here."
"What!" cried Madam, in a sudden panic; "who says that? What do you
mean, girl?"
"It was Reuben who told me," answered Gertrude, with a little blush
which she tried to conceal by turning her face towards the window.
But her ruse was in vain. Madam's hawk eye had caught the rising
colour, and her brow contracted sharply.
"Reuben! what Reuben? Have I not told you a hundred times that I
would have none of that sort of talk any more? Reuben, indeed! as
though you were boy and girl together! Pray tell me this, you
forward minx, does he dare to address you as Gertrude when he has
the insolence to speak to you in the streets, where alone I presume
he can do so?"
Gertrude's face was burning with indignation. She had to clasp her
hands tightly together to restrain the hot words which rose to her
lips.
"We have been children together--and friends," she said, "the
Harmers and I. How should we forget that so quickly--even though
you have forgotten! My father does not mind."
Madam's face was as red as her daughter's. She was about to make
some violent retort, when the sound of a footstep on the stairs
checked the words upon her lips.
"There is Frederick!" she said.