The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Sign Of The Red Cross, by Evelyn
Everett-Green

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Sign Of The Red Cross

Author: Evelyn Everett-Green

Release Date: October 23, 2004 [eBook #13840]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SIGN OF THE RED CROSS***

E-text prepared by Martin Robb

THE SIGN OF THE RED CROSS

A Tale of Old London

by

EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN

CHAPTER I. A WARNING WHISPER.

"I don't believe a word of it!" cried the Master Builder, with some
heat of manner. "It is just an old scare, the like of which I have
heard a hundred times ere now. Some poor wretch dies of the
sweating sickness, or, at worst, of the spotted fever, and in a
moment all men's mouths are full of the plague! I don't believe a
word of it!"

"Heaven send you may be right, good friend," quoth Rachel Harmer, as
she sat beside her spinning wheel, and spoke to the accompaniment of
its pleasant hum. "And yet, methinks, the vice and profligacy of this
great city, and the lewdness and wanton wickedness of the Court, are
enough to draw down upon us the judgments of Almighty God. The sin
and the shame of it must be rising up before Him day and night."

The Master Builder moved a little uneasily in his seat. For his own
part he thought no great harm of the roistering, gaming, and
gallantries of the Court dandies. He knew that the times were very
good for him. Fine ladies were for ever sending for him to alter
some house or some room. Gay young husbands, or those who thought
of becoming husbands, were seldom content nowadays without pulling
their house about their ears, and rebuilding it after some
new-fangled fashion copied from France. Or if the structure were
let alone, the plenishings must be totally changed; and Master
Charles Mason, albeit a builder by trade, and going generally
amongst his acquaintances and friends by the name of Master
Builder, had of late years taken to a number of kindred avocations
in the matter of house plenishings, and so forth. This had brought
him no small profit, as well as intimate relations with many a fine
household and with many grand folks.