CHAPTER I. A WARNING WHISPER. CHAPTER II. LONDON'S YOUNG CITIZENS. CHAPTER III. DRAWING NEARER. CHAPTER IV. JAMES HARMER'S RESOLVE. CHAPTER V. THE PLOT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. CHAPTER VI. NEIGHBOURS IN NEED. CHAPTER VII. SISTERS OF MERCY. CHAPTER VIII. IN THE DOOMED CITY. CHAPTER IX. JOSEPH'S PLAN. CHAPTER X. WITHOUT THE WALLS. CHAPTER XI. LOVE IN DIFFICULTIES. CHAPTER XII. EXCITING DISCOVERIES. CHAPTER XIII. HAPPY MEETINGS. CHAPTER XIV. BRIGHTER DAYS. CHAPTER XV. A CHRISTMAS WEDDING. CHAPTER XVI. A FLAMING CITY. CHAPTER XVII. SCENES OF TERROR.CHAPTER XVIII. WHAT BEFELL DINAH. CHAPTER XIX. JUST IN TIME. CHAPTER XX. THE FLAMES STAYED.
"I don't believe a word of it!" cried the Master Builder, withsome heat of manner. "It is just an old scare, the like of which Ihave heard a hundred times ere now. Some poor wretch dies of thesweating sickness, or, at worst, of the spotted fever, and in amoment all men's mouths are full of the plague! I don't believe aword of it!"
"Heaven send you may be right, good friend," quoth RachelHarmer, as she sat beside her spinning wheel, and spoke to theaccompaniment of its pleasant hum. "And yet, methinks, the vice andprofligacy of this great city, and the lewdness and wantonwickedness of the Court, are enough to draw down upon us thejudgments of Almighty God. The sin and the shame of it must berising up before Him day and night."
The Master Builder moved a little uneasily in his seat. For hisown part he thought no great harm of the roistering, gaming, andgallantries of the Court dandies. He knew that the times were verygood for him. Fine ladies were for ever sending for him to altersome house or some room. Gay young husbands, or those who thoughtof becoming husbands, were seldom content nowadays without pullingtheir house about their ears, and rebuilding it after somenew-fangled fashion copied from France. Or if the structure werelet alone, the plenishings must be totally changed; and MasterCharles Mason, albeit a builder by trade, and going generallyamongst his acquaintances and friends by the name of MasterBuilder, had of late years taken to a number of kindred avocationsin the matter of house plenishings, and so forth. This had broughthim no small profit, as well as intimate relations with many a finehousehold and with many grand folks. Money had flowed apace intohis pocket of late. His wife had begun to go about so fine that itwas well for her the old sumptuary laws had fallen into practicaldisuse. His son was an idle young dog, chiefly known to theneighbourhood as being the main leader of a notorious b