The Sign of the Red Cross: A Tale of Old London

  CHAPTER II. LONDON'S YOUNG CITIZENS.

  The door of the room where mother and daughter sat was flung wideopen with scant ceremony, and to the accompaniment of a boisterouslaugh. Into the room swaggered a tall, fine-looking young man ofsome three-and-twenty summers, dressed in all the extravagance of alavish and extravagant age. Upon his head he wore an immense perukeof ringlets, such as had been introduced at Court the previousyear, and which was almost universal now with the nobles andgentry, but by no means so amongst the citizens. The periwig wassurmounted by a high-crowned hat adorned with feathers and ribbons,and ribbons floated from his person in such abundance that tounaccustomed eyes the effect was little short of grotesque. Eventhe absurd high-heeled shoes were tied with immense bows of ribbon,whilst knees, wrists, throat, and even elbows displayed their bowsand streamers. The young dandy wore the full "petticoat breeches"of the period, with a short doublet, a jaunty cloak hung from theshoulders, and an abundance of costly lace ruffles adorned the neckand wrists of the doublet, he wore at his side a short rapier, andhad a trick of laying his hand upon the hilt, as though it wouldtake very little provocation to make him draw it forth upon anadversary.

  His step was not altogether so steady as it might have been, as heswaggered into his mother's presence. His handsome face was deeplyflushed. He was laughing boisterously; but there was that in hisaspect which made his sister turn away with a look of repulsion,though his mother's glance rested on him with a look of admiringpride that savoured of adoration. In her fond and foolish eyes hewas perfection, and the more he copied the vices and the follies ofthe gallants about the person of the King, the prouder did his vainand weak mother become of him.

  "Ho! ho! ho! such a bit of fun!"

  It is impossible to give Frederick Mason's words verbatim, as heseldom opened his lips without an oath, and inter-larded his talkwith coarse jests in English and fragments of ribaldry in vileFrench, till it would scarce be intelligible to the reader oftoday.

  "Such a prime bit of fun! Who would have thought that little Dorcasnext door would grow up such a marvelous pretty damsel! By mytroth, what a slap she did give me in return for my kiss!"

  Gertrude suddenly turned upon her brother with flashing eyes.

  "Think shame of yourself, Frederick! You disgrace your boastedmanhood. How dare you annoy with your coarse gallantry the daughterof our father's oldest friend, and that too in the open streets!"

  "How dare you speak so to your brother, girl?" cried Madam,bristling up like an angry mother hen. "What call have you to chidehim? Is he answerable to you for his acts?"

  Gertrude subsided into silence, for she could not answer back asshe would have liked. It was not for her to argue with her mother;and Madam, having vanquished her daughter, turned upon her son.

  "You must have a care how you vex our neighbours, for your fatherwould take it ill an he heard of it. Nay, I would not myself thatyou mixed yourself up too much with them. They are honest goodfolks enow, but scarce such as are fitting company for us. What ofthis girl Dorcas? Is not she the one who is waiting maid to thatmad old witch woman in Allhallowes, Lady Scrope?"

  "That may well be. I saw her come forth from a grim portal hard byAllhallowes the Less. I knew not who it was, but I gave chase, andere she put her foot upon the bridge, I had plucked the hood fromoff her pretty curls, and had kissed her soundly on both cheeks.And at that she gave me such a cuff as I feel yet, and ran like afawn, and I after her, till she vanished within the door of ourneighbour's house; and then it came to me that it was Dorcas, grownwondrous pretty since I last took note of her. If she comes alwayshome at this hour, I'll waylay my lady again and take toll of her."

  "You had better be careful not to let Reuben get wind of it" saidGertrude, with suppressed anger in her voice. "If he were to catchyou insulting his sister, it is more than a slap or a cuff youwould get."

  Frederick burst into a boisterous laugh.

  "What! do you think a dirty shopman would dare lay hands upon me?I'd run him through the body as soon as look at him. He'd betterkeep out of reach of my sword arm. You can tell him so, fairsister, if you have a tendresse for the young counter jumper."

  Gertrude's sensitive colour flew up, and her brother laughed loudand long, pointing his finger at her, and adding one coarse jest toanother; but the mother interposed rather hastily, being uneasy atthe turn the talk was taking.

  "Hist, children, no more of this!

  "I would not that this tale came to your father's ears, Frederick;it were better to have a care where our neighbours are concerned.Let the wench alone. There are many prettier damsels than she, whowill not rebuff you in such fashion."

  "Ay, verily, but that is the spice of it all. When the wench givesyou kiss for kiss, it is sweet, but flavourless. A box on the ear,and a merry chase through the streets afterwards, is a game more tomy liking. I'll see the little witch again and be even with her, ormy name's not Frederick Mason the Scourer!"

  "Your father will like it ill if it comes to his ears," remarkedMadam, with a touch of uneasiness; "and for my part, the less wehave to do with our neighbours the better. They are no fitassociates for us."

  "Say that we are no fit associates for them," murmured Gertrude,beneath her breath.

  Her heart was swelling with sorrow and anger. In her eyes there wasno young man in all London town to be compared with Reuben Harmer.From the day when in childhood they had playfully plighted theirtroth, she had never ceased to regard him as the one man in theworld most worthy of love and reverence, and she knew that he hadnever ceased to look upon her with the same feelings.

  Latterly they had had but scant opportunities of meeting. Madamthrew every possible obstacle in the way of her daughter's enteringthe doors of that house, and kept her own closed against those ofher former friends whom she now chose to regard as her inferiors.Madam had never been liked. She had always held her head high, andshown that she thought herself too good for the place she occupied.Her house had never been popular. No neighbours had ever been inthe habit of running in and out to exchange bits of news with her,or ask for the loan of some recipe or household convenience. It hadnot been difficult to seclude herself in her gradually increasingdignities, and only her daughter had keenly felt the differencewhen she had intimated that she wished the intimacy between herfamily and that of the Harmers to cease.

  Frederick had long since taken to himself other associates of amore congenial kind. The Master Builder went to and fro as before,permitting his wife full indulgence of her fads and fancies, butresolved to exercise his own individual liberty, and quiteunconscious of the blow that was being inflicted upon his daughter,who was naturally tied by her mother's commands, and forced toabide by her regulations.

  Madam had been quick to see that if she did not take care ReubenHarmer would shortly aspire to the hand of her daughter, and shewas not sure but that her husband would be weak enough to let thefoolish girl please herself in the matter, and throw away whatchance she had of marrying out of the city, and rising a step inlife.

  Madam pinned her main hopes of a social rise for herself in themarriages of her children. She fondly believed that Frederick, withhis good looks and his wealth, could take his pick even amongsthigh-born ladies, and not all the good-natured ridicule of herhusband served to weaken this conviction. She was not a greatadmirer of her daughter's charms, but she knew that the girl wasadmired, and had been noticed more than once by the fine ladies whohad come to look at her furniture and hangings. She had a plan ofher own for getting Gertrude into the train of some fine Courtdame, and once secured in such a position, her fair face and ampledowry might do the rest. If her son and daughter were well married,she would have two houses where she could make a home for herselfmore to her liking. No end of ambitious dreams were constantlyfloating in her shallow brain, and as all these were more or lessbound up with the future of her son and daughter, it was naturalthat she should desire to put down with a strong hand the smallestindication of a love affair between Gertrude and Reuben.
She hadeven persuaded her husband that Gertrude ought to make a goodmarriage; and as he was able to give her an ample dowry, and wasproud of her good looks, he himself was of opinion that she mightdo something rather brilliant, even if she did not realize hermother's fond dreams.

  All this was very well known to poor Gertrude by this time, and itwas seldom now that she did more than catch a passing glimpse ofReuben, or exchange a few hasty words with him in the street. Theyoung man was proud, and knew that he was looked down upon by theMaster Builder and his wife. This made him very reticent of showinghis feelings, and reduced Gertrude often to the lowest ebb ofdepression.

  So the coarse jests of her brother were a keen pain to her, and shepresently rose and left the room in great resentment, followed by amocking laugh from the ill-conditioned young man.

  Having lost one victim, that amiable youth next turned hisattention to his mother, and began to torment her with the samezest as he had displayed in the baiting of his sister.

  "All the town is talking of the plague," he remarked, in would-besolemn tones. "They say that in St. Giles' and St. Andrew'sparishes they are burying them by the dozen every day;" and as hismother uttered a little scream, and shrank away even from him, hewent on in the same tone, "All the fine folks from that end of thetown are thinking of moving into the country. The witches andwizards are declaring openly in the streets that the whole city isto be destroyed. Some folks say that soon the Lord Mayor and theMagistrates will have all the infected houses shut up straitly, sothat none may go in or come forth when it is known that thedistemper has appeared there. The door will be marked with a redcross, and the words 'Lord, have mercy upon us!' writ large aboveit. So, good mother, when I come home one day with the marks of thedistemper upon me, the whole house will be closed, and none will beable to go forth to escape it. So we shall all perish together, asa loving family should do."

  The blasphemies and ribald jokes with which this good-for-nothingyoung man adorned his speech made it sound tenfold more hideousthan I can do. Even his mother shrank away from him, in terror andamaze at his levity, and cried aloud in her fear so that instantlythe door opened, and her husband entered to know what was amiss.

  Frederick looked a little uneasy then, for he still held his fatherin a wholesome awe; but the mother made no complaint of her son,but only said she had been affrighted by hearing that there weremore deaths from the plague than she had thought would ever be thecase after all the care the Magistrates had taken, and was it truethat the Lord Mayor had spoken of shutting up the houses, and socausing the sound ones to become diseased and to perish with thestricken ones?

  The Master Builder answered gravely enough; for he had himself butjust come in from hearing that the weekly Bills of Mortality wereterribly high, and that the deaths in certain of the westernparishes had been beyond all reckoning since the last years whenthe plague had visited the city. True, there were not many put downas having died of the plague; but it was known how much was done toget other diseases set down in the bills, so that there was notmuch comfort to be got out of that.

  The Master Builder thought that the houses would not be shut upunless things became much worse. The matter had been spoken of, ashe himself had heard; but the people were much against it, and itwould be a measure most difficult to enforce, and would tend tomake men conceal from the authorities any case of distemper whichappeared amongst them. But he said it was true enough that personsof high degree were beginning to move into the country, at leastfrom the western part of the town; but that all felt very sure thedistemper would speedily be checked, and would not come within thecity walls at all, nor extend eastward beyond its boundaries.

  Madam breathed a little more freely on hearing this, but made aneager suggestion to her husband that they should go away if thedistemper began to spread.

  But the Master Builder shook his head impatiently.

  "A fine thing to run away from a chance ill, and court a certainruin! How do you think business will thrive if all the men run awayfrom their shops like affrighted sheep? No, no; it is often safestto stay at home with closed doors than to run helter skelter tostrange places where one knows not who may have been last. Keepindoors with your perfumes and spices, and keep the wench closewith you. That is the best way of outwitting the enemy. Besides, ithas come nowhere near us yet."

  Madam had certainly no mind to be ruined, nor was she one who lovedchange or the discomforts of travel. So she thought on the wholeher husband's advice was good. It would be much more comfortable tostay here with closed doors, surrounded by the luxuries of home.

  Now as Frederick sat with outstretched legs in one of the easiestchairs in the room, and heard his father speak of these things, athought came into his head which tickled his fancy so vastly thatthroughout the evening he kept bursting into smothered laughter, somuch so that his sister threw him many suspicious glances, anddivined that he had some evil purpose in his head.

  The May light lasted long in the sky; but as it failed Frederickwent out, as was his wont, and for many hours he spent his timewith a number of kindred spirits in a neighbouring tavern, quaffinglarge potations, and dicing and gaming after the fashion of theCourt gallants.

  The bulk of the young roisterers thus assembled belonged to one ofthose bands of Scourers of which Frederick claimed to be the head.They were the worthy successors to the "Roaring Boys" orBonaventors of past centuries, and their favourite pastime was,after spending the night in revelry and play, to start forthtowards dawn and scour the streets, upsetting the baskets or cartsof the early market folks bringing their wares into the town,scattering the merchandise in the gutter, kissing the women,cuffing the men, wrenching off knockers from house doors, andgetting up fights with the watch or with some rival band ofScourers which resulted in broken heads and sometimes in actualbloodshed.

  The Magistrates treated these misdemeanours with wonderfultolerance when the culprits were from time to time brought beforethem, and the nuisance went on practically unchecked--the peoplebeing used to wild and dissolute ways and much brawling--andlooking on it as one of the necessary ills of life.

  But upon this bright May morning, before the streets began toawaken, even before the market folks were astir, Frederick ledforth his band intent upon a new sort of mischief. Some of thenumber carried pots of red paint in their hands, and others pots ofwhite paint.

  Up and down the empty streets paraded these worthies, pausing hereand there at the door of some citizen that presented a temptingsurface. One of their number would paint upon it the ominous redcross, whilst another who had skill enough (for writing was not theaccomplishment of every citizen even then) would add in staringwhite letters the legend, "Lord, have mercy upon us!"

  It was a brutal jest at such a time, when the dread visitor hadactually appeared as it were in their midst, and all sober men werein fear of what might betide, and of the methods already spoken offor the suppression of the distemper. But it was its verywickedness which gave it its charm in the opinion of theperpetrators, and as they went from street to street, Fredericksuddenly exclaimed:

  "Ha! we are close to Allhallowes. Let us adorn the door of the oldmadwoman, Lady Scrope. They say she lives quite alone, and that herservants come in the morning and leave at night. Sure they willnone of them have courage to pass the threshold when that signadorns it, and the old hag will have to come forth herself to seekthem. An excellent joke! I will watch the house, and give her akiss as she comes forth."

  Whereupon the whole crew burst into shouts of drunken laughter, andmade a rush to the door, which stood flush in a grim-looking walljust beneath the shadow of the church of Allhallowes the Less.

  Frederick had the paint pot in his hand, and he traced a fine redcross upon the door, all the while making his ribald jests upon theold woman within, he and his companions alike, far too drunk withwine and unholy mirth to have eyes or ears for what was happeningclose beside them. They did not hear the sound of an opening windowjust above them. They did not see a nightcapped head po
ked forth,the great frilled cap surrounding a small, wizened, butkeenly-courageous face, in which the eyes were glittering likepoints of fire.

  None of them saw this. None of them heeded, and the head was for amoment silently withdrawn. Then it was again cautiously protruded,and the next minute there descended on the head of Frederick ablack hot mass of tar and bitumen. It scalded his face, it blindedhis eyes. It choked and almost poisoned him by its vaporouspungency. It matted itself in his voluminous periwig, and plasteredit down to his shoulders; it clotted his lace frills, and ran infilthy rivulets down his smart clothes. In a word, it rendered himin a moment a disgusting and helpless object, unable to see orhear, almost unable to breathe, and quite unable to rid himself ofthe sticky, loathsome mass in which he had suddenly become encased.

  Then from the window above came a shrill, jeering cry:

  "To your task, bold Scourers--to your task! Scour your own finefriend and comrade. Scour him well, for he will need it. Scour himfrom head to foot. A pest upon you, young villains! I would everycitizen in London would serve you the same!"

  Then the window above was banged to. The mob of roisterers fledhelter skelter, laughing and jeering. Not one amongst them offeredto assist their wretched leader. They left him alone in his sorryplight to get out of it as best he might. They had not the smallestconsideration for one even of their own number overtaken bymisfortune. Roaring with laughter at the frightful picture hepresented, they dispersed to their own homes, and the wretchedFrederick was left alone in the street to do the best he could withhis black, unsavoury plaster.

  He strove in vain to clear his vision, and to remove the peruke,which clung to him like a second skin. He was in a horrible frightlest he should be seen and recognized in this ignominious plight;and although he felt sure his comrades would spread the story ofhis discomfiture all over the town, he did not wish to be seen bythe watch, or by any law-abiding citizens who knew him.

  But how to get home was a puzzle, blind and half suffocated as hewas; and he scarce knew whether anger or relief came uppermost tohis mind when he felt his arm taken, and a voice that he knew saidin his ear:

  "For shame, Frederick! It is a disgrace to London the way you andyour comrades go on. And now of all times to jest when the foe isat our doors. Shame upon you! The old dame has given you no morethan your due. But come with me, and I will get you home ere thetown be awake; and have a care how you offend again like this, forthe Magistrates will not suffer jests of such a kind at such atime. Know you not that it is almost enough to frighten a timidserving wench into the distemper to see such signs upon the doors?And if it break out in the midst of us, who can say where it willend?"

  It was Reuben Harmer who spoke, as Frederick very well knew. Theyoung men had been boys together, and as Reuben was two years theelder, he assumed a tone in speaking which Frederick now keenlyresented. But it was no time to repel an overture of help, and hesullenly forced himself to accept Reuben's good offices. The greatclotted periwig was with some difficulty got off, and then it waspossible to remove the worst of the tar from face and eyes.Frederick at last could see clearly and breathe freely, butpresented so lamentable an object that he only longed to get safehome to the shelter of his father's house.

  The costly periwig of curls had perforce to be left in the gutter,hopelessly ruined, and Frederick, who had given more money for itthan he could well afford, shook his fist at the house whichcontained the redoubtable old woman who had thus fooled and bestedhim.

  "You Scourers will find that you can play your meddlesome games toooften," remarked Reuben sternly, his eyes upon the red cross andthe half-completed words above. "I would that all the city were ofthe same spirit as Lady Scrope. She always keeps a quantity of hotpitch or tar beside her bed, with a lamp burning beneath it, incase of attacks from robbers. You may thank your stars that itdescended not boiling hot upon your head. Had she been so minded topunish you, she would have done so fearlessly. You may be thankfulit was no worse."

  Frederick sullenly picked up his hat, which he had laid aside whilepainting the door, and which had thus escaped injury, pulled it asfar over his face as it would go, and turned abruptly away fromReuben.

  "I'll be revenged on the old hag yet!" he muttered between histeeth. "I've got a double debt to pay to this house now. I'll notforget it either."

  He turned abruptly away and scuttled home by the narrowest alleyshe could find, whilst Reuben went about looking for the redcrosses, and giving timely notice to the master of the house, thatthey might be erased, as quietly and quickly as possible.

  Accident had led Reuben early abroad that day, but he made use ofhis time to undo as far as he was able the mischievous jesting ofFrederick's band of Scourers.