for twopence.”
Tom saw one man puke copiously over the side of the bridge and a drunken drab spread her tattered skirts around her as she squatted and peed in the gutter. Officers in splendid uniforms from King William’s Guards regiments, back from the wars, strutted through the throng with pretty girls in bonnets on their arms.
Warships were anchored in the river, and Tom eagerly pointed them out to Daniel.
“Aye.” Daniel spat tobacco juice over the side.
“That’s the old Dreadnought, seventy-four guns. She was at the Medway. That one over there is the Cambridge, – .” Daniel reeled off the names of glory, and Tom thrilled to hear them.
“Look there!” he cried.
“That must be St. Paul’s Cathedral.” Tom recognized it from the pictures in his school books. The dome was only half complete, open to the sky and covered with a spider’s web of scaffolding.
Guy had heard him and stuck his head out of the carriage window.
“New St. Paul’s,” he corrected his twin.
“The old cathedral was completely destroyed in the Great Fire.
Master Wren is the architect, and the dome will be almost 365 feet high…” But the attention of his two brothers on top of the carriage had moved on.
“What happened to those buildings there?” Dorian pointed out the smoke-blackened ruins that were interspersed with the newer edifices along the banks of the river.
“They were all burned down in the Fire,” Tom told him.
“See how the builders are at work.” They crossed the bridge into the crowded streets of the city. Here the press of vehicles and humanity was denser still.
“I was here before the Fire,” Daniel told them, “long before you nippers were even thought of. The streets were half as broad as they are now, and the people emptied the chamber-pots into the gutters.. ” He went on to delight the boys with other graphic details of the conditions that had prevailed in the city only twenty years previously.
In some of the open carriages they passed were grand gentlemen dressed in the height of fashion, and with them ladies in bright silk and satin, so beautiful that Tom stared at them in awe, sure that they were not mortals but heavenly angels.
Some of the other women who leaned from the windows of the houses that crowded the street did not seem so sacred. One singled out Aboli and screeched an invitation to him.
“What does she want to show Aboli?” Dorian piped wide-eyed.
Daniel ruffled his flaming red hair.
“Better for you if you never find out, Master Dorry, for once you do you’ll never know peace again.”
They came at last to the Plough, and the carriage rumbled over the cobbles as Aboli wheeled it up to the entrance of the inn. The host rushed out to receive them, bowing and dry-washing his hands with delight.
“Sir Hal, welcome! We were not expecting you until the morrow.”
“The road was better than I feared. We made good time.” Hal stepped down stiffly.
“Give us a pitcher of small beer to wash the dust from our throats,” he ordered as he stamped into the inn and flung himself down into one of the chairs in the front parlour.
“I have your usual chamber ready for you, Sir Hal, and a room for your lads.”
“Good, and have your grooms take care of the horses, and find a room for my servants.”
“I have a message from Lord Childs for you, Sir Hal.
He charged me most strictly to send him word the minute you arrived.”
“Have you done soT Hal looked at him sharply. Nicholas Childs was the chairman of the governors of the English East India Company, but he ran it as though it were his personal fief. He was a man of vast wealth and influence in the city and at court. The Crown was a major shareholder in the Company, and thus Childs had the ear and favour of the sovereign himself. Not a man to treat lightly.
“I have this minute sent a message to him.” Hal quaffed from the pitcher of beer and belched politely behind his hand.
“You can show me up now.” He
Tom saw one man puke copiously over the side of the bridge and a drunken drab spread her tattered skirts around her as she squatted and peed in the gutter. Officers in splendid uniforms from King William’s Guards regiments, back from the wars, strutted through the throng with pretty girls in bonnets on their arms.
Warships were anchored in the river, and Tom eagerly pointed them out to Daniel.
“Aye.” Daniel spat tobacco juice over the side.
“That’s the old Dreadnought, seventy-four guns. She was at the Medway. That one over there is the Cambridge, – .” Daniel reeled off the names of glory, and Tom thrilled to hear them.
“Look there!” he cried.
“That must be St. Paul’s Cathedral.” Tom recognized it from the pictures in his school books. The dome was only half complete, open to the sky and covered with a spider’s web of scaffolding.
Guy had heard him and stuck his head out of the carriage window.
“New St. Paul’s,” he corrected his twin.
“The old cathedral was completely destroyed in the Great Fire.
Master Wren is the architect, and the dome will be almost 365 feet high…” But the attention of his two brothers on top of the carriage had moved on.
“What happened to those buildings there?” Dorian pointed out the smoke-blackened ruins that were interspersed with the newer edifices along the banks of the river.
“They were all burned down in the Fire,” Tom told him.
“See how the builders are at work.” They crossed the bridge into the crowded streets of the city. Here the press of vehicles and humanity was denser still.
“I was here before the Fire,” Daniel told them, “long before you nippers were even thought of. The streets were half as broad as they are now, and the people emptied the chamber-pots into the gutters.. ” He went on to delight the boys with other graphic details of the conditions that had prevailed in the city only twenty years previously.
In some of the open carriages they passed were grand gentlemen dressed in the height of fashion, and with them ladies in bright silk and satin, so beautiful that Tom stared at them in awe, sure that they were not mortals but heavenly angels.
Some of the other women who leaned from the windows of the houses that crowded the street did not seem so sacred. One singled out Aboli and screeched an invitation to him.
“What does she want to show Aboli?” Dorian piped wide-eyed.
Daniel ruffled his flaming red hair.
“Better for you if you never find out, Master Dorry, for once you do you’ll never know peace again.”
They came at last to the Plough, and the carriage rumbled over the cobbles as Aboli wheeled it up to the entrance of the inn. The host rushed out to receive them, bowing and dry-washing his hands with delight.
“Sir Hal, welcome! We were not expecting you until the morrow.”
“The road was better than I feared. We made good time.” Hal stepped down stiffly.
“Give us a pitcher of small beer to wash the dust from our throats,” he ordered as he stamped into the inn and flung himself down into one of the chairs in the front parlour.
“I have your usual chamber ready for you, Sir Hal, and a room for your lads.”
“Good, and have your grooms take care of the horses, and find a room for my servants.”
“I have a message from Lord Childs for you, Sir Hal.
He charged me most strictly to send him word the minute you arrived.”
“Have you done soT Hal looked at him sharply. Nicholas Childs was the chairman of the governors of the English East India Company, but he ran it as though it were his personal fief. He was a man of vast wealth and influence in the city and at court. The Crown was a major shareholder in the Company, and thus Childs had the ear and favour of the sovereign himself. Not a man to treat lightly.
“I have this minute sent a message to him.” Hal quaffed from the pitcher of beer and belched politely behind his hand.
“You can show me up now.” He
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