The Gunpowder Plot Read Online Free Page A

and saw –
    A ghost!
    Screams rang out. Eliza screamed. Lucy screamed. And the ghost screamed – it was Bessy, in her nightgown.
    â€œOh, Bessy, hush!” gasped Eliza.
    â€œOh, Mistress!” Bessy curtseyed and began to cry. “Oh, I thought you were ghosts!”
    â€œWe thought
you
were,” said Lucy. “And now – ”
    Now they were caught. Mistress Rowley appeared in the kitchen in her nightgown and cap, a candle in her hand. At the sight of Lucy and Eliza she too gave a shriek.
    â€œOh! Whatever – ? Your linen…your hair!”
    In the candlelight Eliza saw that her nightgown was torn and dirty. Lucy’s was the same, and her hair was full of fragments of wood.
    â€œWe have something important to tell – ” Lucy began.
    But there was no chance to explain. Voices and footsteps sounded from above; doors opened; and into the kitchen came first Cecily, then Mistress Perks, then Eliza’s parents, and finally Lucy’s father, all talking and all wearing nightcaps – which made Eliza want to giggle, despite her fear.
    Mistress Rowley calmed Bessy, while Eliza’s mother exclaimed in horror at the sight of the girls. “You should both be beaten!” she said. “Where
have
you been?”
    â€œIn the cellar,” said Lucy. “The big cellar under the House of Lords. And we need to tell the gentlemen what we saw.”
    â€œYou will do no such thing!” cried Eliza’s mother. “Not in your nightclothes! It is most immodest! You will go straight up to your bedchamber and – ”
    Her husband interrupted her. “My dear, we are all in our nightclothes and anxious to return to bed. But here we are, awake, and it seems the girls have something to tell us.” He glanced at his cousin. “I think we should hear it?” And Lucy’s father nodded.
    So, once again, Eliza and Lucy found themselves in a private room, face to face with their fathers.
    They tried to describe what had happened.
    â€œYou went into the great cellar?” Eliza’s father said. “But that door has been blocked for years. What were you doing down there?”
    Lucy explained about John Johnson. “We don’t believe he is really a servant. That’s a disguise. I think he is a spy – ”
    â€œ
I
think,” said Eliza, “that he’s a thief. He’s planning to steal the barrels of wine.”
    Her father looked puzzled. “What barrels of wine?”
    â€œThe ones stored there.”
    â€œI thought you said there was firewood and coal stored there?”
    â€œThere is, and the barrels are behind it – rows and rows of them. Are they for a feast after the State Opening of Parliament? I thought – ” But the two men were looking at each other and frowning.
    â€œ The Lords have no wine stored in that cellar,” said Eliza’s father. “You say it’s behind the firewood – hidden?”
    â€œYes,” said Eliza and Lucy together.
    Eliza’s father turned to his cousin. “We must report this immediately.”
    Lucy’s father agreed. “Lucy,” he said, “you have not invented this? If you have, I shall be angry.”
    Lucy was indignant. “No! We both saw the barrels.”
    â€œGo up to bed, then,” Eliza’s father said. “You were right to tell us.”
    â€œWill Mother punish us?” Eliza felt tired and tearful now.
    â€œ Probably not. But tomorrow you must stay indoors with her.”
    The girls went upstairs together, almost too weary to talk. Except that Eliza said, “I do hope Mouser is not in danger.”

   8   
    A Midnight Raid
    There was a strange atmosphere in the house the next day. The girls’ parents talked together in low, troubled tones. They sounded shocked and fearful.
    Eliza and Lucy longed to know what was going on, but Mistress Perks kept them busy with lessons, and no one