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

  CHAPTER VI. NEIGHBOURS IN NEED.

  Gertrude Mason sat in the topmost attic of the house, leaning outat the open window, and drinking in, as it were, great draughts offresh air, as she watched the lights beginning to sparkle fromeither side of the river, and the darkening volume of waterslipping silently beneath.

  This attic was Gertrude's haven of refuge at this dread season,when almost every other window in the house was shuttered andclose-curtained; when she was kept like a prisoner within the wallsof the house, and half smothered and suffocated by the fumes of thefires which her mother insisted on burning, let the weather be everso hot, as a preventive against the terrible infection which wasspreading with fearful rapidity throughout all London.

  But Madam Mason's feet never climbed these steep ladder-like stairsup to this eyrie, which all her life had been dear to Gertrude. Inher childhood it had been her playroom. As she grew older, she hadgradually gathered about her in this place numbers of childish andgirlish treasures. Her father bestowed gifts upon her at varioustimes. She had clever fingers of her own, and specimens of herneedlework and her painting adorned the walls. At such times as thefastidious mistress of the house condemned various articles offurniture as too antiquated for her taste, Gertrude would get themsecretly conveyed up here; so that her lofty bower was neither barenor cheerless, but, on the contrary, rather crowded with furnitureand knick-knacks of all sorts. She kept her possessionsscrupulously clean, lavishing upon them much tender care, and muchof that active service in manual labour which she found no scopefor elsewhere. Her happiest hours were spent up in this lonelyattic, far removed from the sound of her mother's plaints or herbrother's ribald and too often profane jesting. Here she kept herbooks, her lute, and her songbirds; and the key of her retreat hungalways at her girdle, and was placed at night beneath her pillow.

  This evening she had been hastily dismissed from her father'spresence, he having come in with agitated face, and bidden herinstantly take herself away whilst he spoke with her mother. Shehad obeyed at once, without pausing to ask the questions whichtrembled on her lips. That something of ill had befallen she couldnot doubt; but at least her father was safe, and she must wait withwhat patience she could for the explanation of her suddendismissal.

  She knew from her brother's reports that already infected houseswere shut up, and none permitted to go forth. But so straitly hadshe herself been of late imprisoned within doors, that she felt itwould make but little difference were she to hear that a watchmanguarded the door, and that the fatal red cross had been paintedupon it.

  "Our neighbours are not fearful as we are. They go to and fro inthe streets. They seek to do what they can for the relief of thesick. My father daily speaks of their courage and faith. Why maynot I do likewise? I would fain tend the sick, even though my lifeshould be the forfeit. We can but live once and die once. Farsooner would I spend a short life of usefulness to my fellow men,than linger out a long and worthless existence in the pursuit ofidle pleasures. It does not bring happiness. Ah! how littlepleasure does it bring!"

  Gertrude spoke half aloud and with some bitterness, albeit shestrove to be patient with the foibles of her mother, and to thinkkindly of her, her many faults notwithstanding. But the terror ofthese days was taking with her a very different form from what itdid with Madam Mason. It was inflaming within her a great desire tobe up and doing in this stricken city, where the fell disease waswalking to and fro and striking down its victims by hundreds andthousands. Other women, in all lands and of all shades of belief,had been found to come forward at seasons of like peril, and devotethemselves fearlessly to the care of the sick. Why might not shemake one of this band? What though it should cost her her life?Life was not so precious a thing to her that she should set allelse aside to preserve it!

  She was awakened from her fit of musing by an unwonted sound--ahollow tapping, tapping, tapping, which seemed to come from acorner of the attic where the shadows gathered most dun and dark.The girl drew in her head from the window with a startledexpression on her face, and was then more than ever aware of thestrange sound which caused a slight thrill to run through herframe.

  What could it be? There was no other room in their house from whichthe sound could proceed. She was not devoid of the superstitiousfeelings of the age, and had heard before of ghostly tappings thatwere said to be a harbinger of coming death or misfortune.

  Tap! tap! tap! The sound continued with a ceaseless regularity, andthen came other strange sounds of wrenching and tearing. These wereperhaps not quite so ghostly, but equally alarming. What could itbe? Who and what could be behind that wall? Gertrude had heardstories of ghastly robberies, committed during these past days inplague-stricken houses, which were entered by worthless vagabonds,when all within were dead or helpless, and from which vantageground they had gained access into other houses, and had sometimesbrought the dread infection with them.

  Gertrude was by nature courageous, and she had always made it apoint of duty not to add to her mother's alarms by permittingherself to fall a victim to nervous terrors. Frightened though sheundoubtedly was, therefore, she did not follow the impulse of herfear and run below to summon her father, who was, she suspected,bent on some serious work of his own; but she stood very still andquiet, pressing her hands over her beating heart, resolved ifpossible to discover the mystery for herself before giving anyalarm.

  All at once the sounds grew louder; something seemed to give way,and she saw a hand, a man's hand, pushed through some smallaperture. At that she uttered a little cry.

  "Who is there?" she cried, in a shaking voice; and immediately thehand was withdrawn, whilst a familiar and most reassuring voicemade answer:

  "Is anybody there? I beg ten thousand pardons. I had thought theattic would be hare and empty."

  "Reuben!" cried Gertrude, springing forward towards the smallaperture in the wall. "Oh, what is it? Is it indeed thou? And whatart thou doing to the wall?"

  "Gertrude! is that thy voice indeed? Nay, now, this is a good hap.Sweet Mistress Gertrude, have I thy permission to open once againbetwixt thy home and mine that door which as children thy brotherand we did contrive, but which was presently sealed up, though notover-strongly?"

  "Ah, the door!" cried Gertrude, coming forward to the place andfeeling with her hands at the laths and woodwork; "I had forgot,but it comes to me again. Yes, truly there was a rude door once.Oh, open it quickly! I will get thee a light and hold it. Dost thouknow, Reuben, what has befallen to make my father look as he didbut now? I trow it is something evil. My heart is heavy within me."

  "Ay, I know," answered Reuben; "I will tell thee anon, sweetmistress, if thou wilt let me into thy presence."

  "Nay, call me not mistress," said Gertrude, with a little accent ofreproach in her voice. "Have we not played as brother and sistertogether, and do not times like this draw closer the bonds offriendship? Thou canst not know how lonesome and dreary my life hasbeen of late. I pine for a voice from the world without. Thou wiltindeed be welcome, good Reuben."

  Gertrude was busying herself with the tedious preparations forobtaining a light, and being skilful by long practice, she soon hada lamp burning in the room; and in a few minutes more, by thediligent use of hammer and chisel, Reuben forced open the littlerough door which long ago had been contrived between the boys ofthe two households, and which had not been done away withaltogether, although it had been securely fastened up by the ordersof Madam Mason when she found her son Frederick taking too greatadvantage of this extra means of egress from the house, though shehad other motives than the one alleged for the checking of thegreat intimacy which was growing up between her children and thoseof her neighbour.

  The door once opened, Reuben quickly stood within the attic, andlooked around him with wondering and admiring eyes.

  "Nay, but it is a very bower of beauty!" he cried, and then he cameforward almost timidly and took Gertrude by the hand, looking downat her with eyes that spoke eloquently.

  "Is this thy nest, thou pretty s
ongbird?" he said. "Had I known, Ishould scarce have dared to invade it so boldly."

  Gertrude clung to him with an involuntary appeal for protectionthat stirred all the manhood within him.

  "Ah, Reuben, tell me what it all means!" she cried, "for methinksthat something terrible has happened."

  Still holding the little trembling hand in his, Reuben told her ofthe peril her brother had been in. He spoke not of Dorcas, notdesiring to pain her more than need be, but he had to say that herbrother was, in a half-drunken state, pursuing some maiden in idlesport, and that, having been so exposed to contagion, there wasgreat fear now for him and for his life.

  Gertrude listened with pale lips and dilating eyes; her quickapprehension filled up more of the details than Reuben desired.

  "It was Dorcas he was pursuing," she cried, recoiling and puttingup her hands to her face; "I know it! I know it! O wretched boy!why does he cover us with shame like this? I marvel that thou canstlook kindly upon me, Reuben. Am I not his most unhappy sister?"

  "Thou art the sweetest, purest maiden my eyes ever beheld,"answered Reuben, his words seeming to leap from his lips againsthis own will. Then commanding himself, he added more quietly, "Buthe is like to be punished for his sins, and it may be the lessonlearned will be of use to him all his life. It will be a marvel ifhe escapes the distemper, having been so exposed, and that whilstinflamed by drink, which, so far as I may judge, enfeebles thetissues, and causes a man to fall a victim far quicker than if hehad been sober, and a temperate liver."

  "My poor brother!" cried Gertrude, beneath her breath. "Oh, whathas my father done with him? What will become of him?"

  "Your father brought him hither at once--not within the house, butinto one of his old offices where in past times his goods were wontto be stored. He has now gone to consult with your mother whetheror not the poor lad should be admitted within the house or not. Ifyour mother will not have him here, he will remain for a whilewhere he is; and if he falls sick, he will be removed to the pesthouse."

  "Oh no! no! no!" cried Gertrude vehemently, "not whilst he has asister to nurse him--a roof, however humble, to shelter him. Lethim not die amongst strangers! I fear not the infection. I will goto him this minute. Already I have thought it were better to die ofthe plague, doing one's duty towards the sick and suffering, thanto keep shut up away from all. They shall not take him away to dieamidst those scenes of horror of which one has heard. Even mymother will be brave, methinks, for Frederick's sake. I trow shewill open her doors to him."

  "That is what your father thinks. It may be that even now he isbringing him within. But, sweet mistress, if Frederick comes here,it may well be that in another week this house will be straitlyshut up, with the red cross upon the door, and the watchman beforethe portal day and night. That is why I have come hither at once,to open the little door between our houses; for I cannot bear thethought of knowing naught that befalls you for a whole long month.And since, though my work takes me daily into what men call theperil of infection, I am sound and bring no hurt to others, I amnot afraid that I shall bring hurt to thee. I could not bear tohave no tidings of how it fared with thee. Thou wilt not chide mefor making this provision. It came into my head so soon as I knewthat peril of infection was like to come within these walls. Wemust not let thee be shut quite away from us. We may be able togive thee help, and in times of peril neighbours must play aneighbourly part."

  The tears stood in Gertrude's eyes. She was thinking of theunkindly fashion in which her mother had spoken of late years ofthese neighbours, and contrasting with that the way in which theywere now coming forward to claim the neighbour's right to help intime of threatened trouble. The tears were very near her eyes asshe made answer:

  "O Reuben, how good thou art! But if our house be infected, how canit be possible for thee to come and go? Would it not be a wrongagainst those who lay down these laws for the preservation of thecity?"

  Then Reuben explained to her that, though the magistrates andaldermen were forced to draw up a strict code for the ordering ofhouses where infection was, these same personages themselves,together with doctors, examiners, and searchers of houses, hadperforce to go from place to place; yet by using all needful andwise precautions, both for themselves and others, they hadreasonable hope of doing nothing to spread the contagion. Reuben,as a searcher under his father, had again and again been ininfected houses, and brought face to face with persons dying of themalady; yet so far he had escaped, and by adopting the wiseprecautions ordered at the outset by their father, no case ofillness had appeared so far amongst them. If every person who couldbe of use excluded himself from all chance of contagion, therewould be none to order the affairs of the unhappy city, or to carryrelief to the sufferers. There must be perforce some amongst themwho were ready to run the risk in order to assist the sufferers,and they of the household of James Harmer were all of one mind inthis.

  "We do naught that is rash. We have herbs and drugs and all thosethings which the doctors think to be of use; and thou shalt have asupply of all such anon--if indeed thy mother be not already amplyprovided. But I cannot bear for thee to be straitly shut up; I mustbe able to see how it goes with thee. And should it be that thouwert thyself a victim, thou shalt not lack the best nursing thatall London can give."

  She looked up at him with fearless eyes.

  "Do men ever recover when once attacked by the plague?"

  "Yes, many do--though nothing like the number who die. Amongst ournurses and bearers of the dead are numbers who have had thedistemper and have survived it. They go by the name of the 'safepeople.' Yet some have been known to take it again, though I thinkthese cases are rare."

  "If Frederick takes it, will he be like to live?" asked Gertrude;and Reuben was silent.

  Both knew that the unhappy young man had long been given todrunkenness and debauchery, and that his constitution wasundermined by his excesses. The girl pressed her hands together andwas silent; but after a few moments' pause she looked up at Reuben,and said, "You have given me courage by this visit. Come againsoon. I must to my mother now. I must ask her what I can do to helpher and my unhappy brother."

  "Take this paper and this packet before you go," said Reuben. "Theone contains directions for the better lodging and tending of thesick. The other contains prepared herbs which are useful aspreventives--tormentil, valerian, zedoary, angelica, and so forth;but I take it that pure vinegar is as good an antidote to infectionas anything one can find. Keep some always about you. Let yourkerchief be always steeped in it. Then be of a cheerful courage,and take food regularly, and in sufficient quantities. All thesethings help to keep the body in health; and though the most healthymay fall victims, yet methinks that it is those who are underfed orweakened by disease or dissipation upon whom the malady fastenswith most virulent strength. I will come anon and learn what isbetiding. Farewell for the nonce, sweet mistress, and may God bewith you."

  Greatly cheered and strengthened by this unexpected interview,Gertrude descended to the lower part of the house in search of hermother, and found her, with her face tied up in a cloth soaked invinegar, bending over the unhappy Frederick, who lay with a face aswhite as death upon a couch in one of the lower rooms.

  To her credit be it said, the motherhood in the Master Builder'swife had triumphed over her natural terror at the thought of theinfection. When her husband had brought her the news that Frederickwas in one of the old shop buildings, awaiting her permission(after what had occurred) to enter the house; when she knew thatshould he sicken of the plague he would be taken away to the pesthouse to be tended there, and as she believed assuredly to die, sheburst into wild weeping, and declared that she would riskeverything sooner than that should happen. So it had been speedilyarranged that the unhappy youth should be provided with a vinegarand herb bath and a complete change of raiment out there in thedisused shop, and that then he should come into the house, hismother being willing to take the risk rather than banish him fromhome.

  This had been quickly done, un
der the direction of good JamesHarmer, who as one of the examiners of health was well qualified togive counsel in the matter. He also told his neighbour that shouldthe young man be attacked by the plague, he would strive ifpossible to gain for him the services of his sister-in-law, DinahMorse, who was one of the most tender and skilful nurses nowworking amongst the sick. She was always busy; but so fell was theaction of the plague poison, that her patients died daily, despiteher utmost care, and she was constantly moving from house to house,sometimes leaving none alive behind her in a whole domicile. Acertain number recovered, and these she made shift to visit dailyfor a while; but her main work lay amongst the dying, whose friendstoo often left them in terror so soon as the fatal marks appearedwhich bespoke them sickening of the terrible distemper.

  The Master Builder received this promise with gratitude, havingheard gruesome stories of the evil practices of many of those whocalled themselves plague nurses, but who really sought their owngain, and often left the patient alone and untended in his agony,whilst they coolly ransacked the house from which the other inmateshad often contrived to flee before it was shut up.

  Frederick, utterly unnerved and overcome by the horror of the thingwhich had befallen him, looked already almost like one stricken todeath. His mother was striving to get him to swallow some of themedicines which were considered as valuable antidotes, and to sipat a cup of so-called plague water--a rather costly preparationmuch in vogue amongst the wealthier citizens at that time. But thenausea of the horrible smell of the plague patient was still uponhim, sickening him to the refusal of all medicine or food, and toGertrude's eyes he looked as though he might well be smittenalready.

  Her father was the only person who had eyes to notice her approach,and he strode forward and took her by the hands as though to keepher away.

  "Child, thou must not come here. Thy brother has been in a terribledanger--half strangled by a creature raving in the delirium of thedistemper. It may be death to approach him even now. I would havehad thy mother keep away. Come not thou near to him. Let us notincrease the peril which besets us."

  Gertrude stood quite still, neither resisting her father, nor yetyielding to the pressure which would have forced her from the room.

  "Dear sir," she said, with dutiful reverence, "I must fain submitto thee in this thing. Yet I prithee keep me not from my brother inthe hour of his extremity. Methinks that a more terrible thing thanthe plague itself is the cruel fear which it inspires, wherebyfamilies are rent asunder, and the sick are neglected and desertedin the hour of their utmost need. If indeed Frederick should fall avictim, this house will be straitly shut up; and if it be true whatmen say, the infection will spread through it, do what we will tokeep it away. Then what can it matter whether the risk be a littlemore or less? Is it not better that I should be with my mother andmy brother, than that I should seek my own safety by shuttingmyself up apart from all, a readier prey to grief and terror?Methinks I should the sooner fall ill thus shut away from all.Prithee let me take my place beside Frederick, and relieve mymother when she be weary; so do I think it will be best for me andher."

  The father's face quivered with emotion as he took his daughter inhis arms and kissed her tenderly.

  "Thou shalt do as thou wilt, my sweet child," he said. "Theseindeed are fearful days, and it may be that happier are they wholet their heart be ruled by love instead of by fear. Fear hasbecome a cruel thing, from what men tell us. Thou shalt do thydesire. Yet methinks thy brother has scarce deserved this grace atthy hands."

  "Let us not think of that," said Gertrude, with a look of pain inher eyes; "let us only think of his peril, and of the terribleretribution which may fall upon him. God grant that he may findrepentance and peace at the last!"

  "Amen!" said the Master Builder, with some solemnity, thinking ofthe fashion in which his son's time had been spent of late, and ofthe very escapade which had brought this evil upon him.

  All that night mother and sister watched beside the bed of theunhappy young man, who moaned and tossed, and too often broke intoblasphemous railings at the fate which had overtaken him. He gavehimself up for lost from the first, and having no hope or realbelief as regards the future life, was full of darkness andbitterness of heart. He would not so much as listen when Gertrudewould have spoken to him of the Saviour's love for sinners, butanswered with mocking and profane words which made her heart diewithin her.

  Towards morning he fell into a restless sleep, from which hewakened in a high fever, not knowing any of those about him. Thefather coming in, went towards him with a strange look in his eyes,and after bending over him a few seconds, turned a haggard facetowards his wife and daughter, saying:

  "May the Lord have mercy upon us! he has the tokens upon him!"

  Instantly the mother uttered a scream of lamentation, and fell halfsenseless into her husband's arms; whilst Gertrude stood suddenlyup with a white face and said:

  "Let me take word to our neighbours next door. Master Harmer is anexaminer. We must needs report it to him; and they will tell uswhat we must do, and give us help if any can."

  "Ay, that they will," answered the Master Builder, with someemotion in his voice. "Go, girl, and report that the distemper hasbroken out in the house, and that we submit ourselves to the ordersof the authorities for all such as be infected."

  Gertrude sped upstairs. She preferred that method of transit to theone by the street door. But she had no need to go further than herattic; for upon opening the door she saw two figures in the room,and instantly recognized Reuben and his sister Janet. The lattercame forward with outstretched hands, and would have taken Gertrudeinto her embrace, but that she drew back and said in a voice ofwarning:

  "Take heed, Janet; touch me not. I have passed the night by thebedside of my brother, and he is stricken with the plague!"

  "So soon?" quoth Reuben, quickly; whilst Janet would not be deniedher embrace, saying softly:

  "I have no longer a fear of that distemper myself, for I have beenwith it erstwhile, and my aunt Dinah tells me that I have had avery mild attack of the same ill, and that I am not like to take itagain."

  "If indeed Frederick is smitten, we must take precautions to closethe house," said Reuben. "Is there aught you would wish to do eregiving the notice to my father?"

  "Nay, I was on my way to him," said Gertrude, speaking with thecalmness of one upon whom the expected blow has at last fallen."Let what must be done be done quickly. Can we have a nurse? formethinks Frederick must needs have tendance more skilled than anywe can give him. But let it not be one of those women"--Gertrudepaused and shuddered, as though she knew not how to finish hersentence.

  "Trust me to do all for you that lies in my power," answeredReuben, in a voice of emotion; "and never feel shut up altogetherfrom the world; even when the outer door be locked and guarded by awatchman. I have already hung a bell within our house, and the cordis tied here upon this nail. In any time of need you have but toring it, and be sure that the summons will be speedily answered."

  A mist rose before Gertrude's eyes and a lump in her throat. Shepressed Janet's hand, and said to Reuben in a husky voice:

  "I have no words today. Some day I will find how to thank you forall this goodness at such a time."

  Before many hours had passed Dinah Morse was installed beside thesick man. Strong perfumes were burnt in and about his room, and theterrible tumours which bespoke the poison in his blood were treatedskilfully by poultices and medicaments, applied by one whothoroughly understood the nature of the disease and the course itran.

  But from the first it was apparent to a trained eye that the youngman was doomed. There was too much poison in his blood before, andhis constitution was undermined by his reckless and dissolute life.All that was possible was done to relieve the sufferings and abatethe fever of the patient. One of the best and most devoted of thedoctors who remained courageously at his post during this terribletime was called in. But he shook his head over the patient, and bidhis parents make up their minds for the
worst.

  "You have the best nurse in all London," said Dr. Hooker. "If skilland care could save him, he would be saved. But I fear me thepoison has spread all over. Be cautious how you approach him, forhe breathes forth death to those who are not inoculated. I would Icould do more for you, but our skill avails little before thisdread scourge."

  And so, with looks and words of friendly compassion and goodwill,the doctor took his departure; and before nightfall Frederick wascalled to his last account.

  Just as the hour of midnight tolled, a sound of wheels was heard inthe street below, a bell rang, and a lugubrious voice called out:

  "Bring forth your dead! bring forth your dead!"

  Directed by Reuben, who was on the alert, the bearers themselvesentered the house and removed the body, wrapped in its linenswathings, but without a coffin, for by this time there was notsuch a thing to be had for love or money; nor could the carts havecontained their loads had each corpse been coffined.

  Gertrude alone, from an upper window, saw the body of her brotherlaid decently and reverently, under Reuben's direction, in theominous-looking vehicle. For the mother of the dead youth wasweeping her heart out in her husband's arms, and was not allowed toknow at what hour nor in what manner her son's body was conveyedaway.

  "Will they fling him, with never a prayer, into some great pit suchas I have heard spoken of?" asked Gertrude of Dinah, who stoodbeside her at the window, fearful lest she should be overwhelmed bythe horror of it all.

  She now drew her gently and tenderly back into the room, whilst thecart rumbled away upon its mournful errand, and smoothing thetresses of the girl, and drawing her to rest upon a couch hard by,she answered:

  "Think not of that, dear child. For what does it matter whatbefalls the frail mortal body? With whatsoever burial we may beburied now, we shall rise again at the last day in glory andimmortality! That is what we must think of in these sorrowfultimes. We must lift our hearts above the things of this world, andlet our conversation and citizenship be in heaven."

  Then the tears gushed out from Gertrude's eyes, and she wept freelyand fully the healing tears of youth.