The Great Fire by Ann Turnbull

1
Gold and Diamonds
    â€œSam!” his master called. “Come – look at this!”
    Sam was sweeping the passage. He put down his broom and went into Paul Giraud’s workshop.
    André was already there. He gave Sam an unfriendly look – a look that said:
I’m your master’s
son. Don’t you come pushing in here.
    But Master Giraud encouraged Sam to come in. “See! It’s finished.”
    â€œOh!” exclaimed Sam in delight.
    On the table lay a necklace of gold, inlaid with blue enamel. From the chain, which sparkled with diamonds, hung a pendant in the shape of a ribbon bow, entwined with flowers. The folds of the blue ribbon were so lifelike that Sam almost believed it would drape across his hand if he picked it up. Tiny diamonds were set all along the ribbon edges and a larger one was set in the centre of each of the flowers. Sparks of light sprang from the diamonds and made everything glitter.
    Sam had watched Master Giraud making the enamel, grinding granules of blue glass till they were a fine powder. Occasionally hewould let Sam have a go. Sam liked feeling the glass crush and break and seeing the pure colour appear. And he enjoyed being in the workshop while André was out, at school.
    â€œIt’s perfect,” declared André.
    â€œAnd it’s important,” said his father. “This is the most beautiful and expensive piece I have ever been asked to make. And Master Harrington’s friends will see it, and so more customers will want my work.”
    Sam knew the necklace was for the new young wife of a wealthy merchant.
    â€œTonight I will finish and polish it, and place it in its casket,” said Paul Giraud.“Then tomorrow we will go to church and give thanks. And on Monday morning I will deliver it to Thomas Harrington. You shall come with me, André, before you go to school.”
    André smiled.
    Sam, of course, would not go to the merchant’s house. That honour was only for André, who was to follow his father into the family jewellery business.
    Sam was a servant. His former master, William Kemp, had died of plague a year ago, and Sam, along with his dog, Budge, had been taken in by the Girauds.

    The Girauds had four children: thirteen-year-old Thérèse; two much younger girls, Marie and Anne; and André, who was eleven – a year older than Sam.
    What Master and Mistress Giraud hadn’t known was that Sam and André already knew each other and that they were enemies. Sam and his friends used to bully André because he was scrawny, and French, and lame. Sam had pushed André over in the street and made him look a fool. Now André had Sam as a servant in his home and he took every opportunity to get his own back.
    They left the workshop, and Sam returned to his sweeping. But soon he heardAndré call from upstairs: “Sam!
Venez ici! Vite!”
    André was London-born and had never been to France, but he spoke both English and French. He deliberately gave orders to Sam in French so that he could call Sam an idiot when he didn’t understand.
    But Sam was learning. He’d been there long enough now to recognise some words, although he couldn’t read or write – even in English. He ran upstairs, to André’s bedchamber.
    André rattled off another stream of French. Sam wanted to shout, “Speak English!” but he was only a servant, so he simply gave André a blank look and kept his mouth shut. It would do no good to get into trouble with the Girauds. Where would he go if they threw him out?

    â€œMy prayer-book, stupid!” exclaimed André. “I can’t find it.”
    Sam rummaged around. The small room had little enough in it, so the prayer-book should have been easy to find. He suspected that André had hidden it. “It’s not here,” he said.
    â€œOh! No, I remember now,” said André – and Sam knew he was doing this on purpose