Fire! Fire! Read Online Free Page B

master answered, returning the bow. “And do I have the pleasure of the company of Master Thomas Bloodworth, the Lord Mayor of London?”
    â€œI am the very same,” the Mayor answered. “May I ask the nature of your business?”
    â€œCertainly you may. I have come on a mission from His Majesty the King to convey his direct order that you should demolish houses in the path of the conflagration in order to create a firebreak and so quench its power.”
    I listened to the fine language between the two gentlemen and felt myself tiny and unimportant before such good manners and wealth. But then I looked south towards the river where the fire raged and people screamed in fear and agony. I also looked at the filth and grime on the mayor’s clothes and I realized that the fire cared nothing for good manners, fine speeches and money. If you were caught in its flames you would die in terror and pain, whether you were the richest person in England… or the poorest. For some reason that made me feel a little better. We’re all the same, it’s just that some are lucky enough to have wealth and power. But not even that could save you from terrible accidental happenings like fires.
    The mayor now smiled at my master, his teeth brilliantly white against the grime all over his face. “Your mission has been without purpose, sir, for as you have just witnessed, I have been demolishing houses for the last few hours.”
    â€œIndeed yes,” said Master Pepys. “His Majesty will be most pleased.”
    â€œThen when you inform him of my hard work, you may also tell him that I am returning home to sleep, as I have been up all the night destroying people’s homes.”
    And with that, Mayor Bloodworth bowed deeply again, almost fell, and then turned and walked slowly away.
    My master watched him leave in silence and then drew a deep breath and sighed. “Do you know, Tom, we serve kings out of a sense of loyalty and with a deep pride, but there are times when I believe that we servants could claim we deserve better masters.”
    I’m not exactly sure what my master meant by this, but I think he was saying that perhaps His Majesty could sometimes be a better king.
    He then stepped closer to me and took his wig from where it lay around my shoulders, now that I didn’t need it to protect my lungs from smoke.
    â€œBut,” Master Pepys went on, as he placed the slightly crumpled and grubby wig on his head, “if ever you repeat to anyone the ridiculous idea that I am anything less than deeply loyal to the king and his family I will deny it, disown you and throw you out of my service.”
    â€œNo such words would ever pass my lips, master,” I replied quietly.
    â€œGood, then let us walk briskly home. It’s not too far from here to Seething Lane, and I’ve an appointment to keep for lunch”

CHAPTER 5
    When we reached home, Master Pepys ordered a bath to be placed in his room and he soaked himself in warm water and soap for over an hour “to remove the foul stench of smoke from my flesh.”
    He told me that I must wash too as his luncheon guests wouldn’t want to be attended by a pageboy who stank like a bonfire. There was no time or place for me to have a bath so I had to make do standing under the pump in the stable yard. While one of the grooms worked the handle, I scrubbed at myself with a brush usually used for cleaning the stable floor.
    The weather was still fine and warm, as it had been all summer, but the water was freezing. I hurriedly dried and dressed myself while Pip sat close by, staring at me as though I was mad. The little dog had found me as soon as we returned home. He ran out of the kitchens wagging his tail and jumping about, but stopped playing suddenly when the roar of the fire came to us on the wind and the smell of burning got even stronger. He cowered down to the ground and whimpered, so I picked him up and cuddled