ere we see him again," said Harmer,
who almost regretted having come when there might be work to do
elsewhere. "The ear of royalty is often besieged in vain, or at
least it is a case of hours before an audience can be obtained. Yon
pleasure-loving monarch will care but little if all London burn, so
as he has his ladies and his courtiers about him to make merry by
day and by night!"

By which sentiment it may be gathered that a good deal of the
Puritan sternness of character and distrust of royalty lingered in
the mind of James Harmer, although in this case he was not destined
to be a true prophet.

Half an hour may have passed, certainly not more, before a sound of
approaching voices from the inner room, to which this one was but
the antechamber, announced the approach of some persons. The
listeners within thought they distinguished the tones of Lord
Desborough's voice; nor were they mistaken, for next moment, when
the doors were flung wide open, and the party instinctively rose to
their feet, it was to see the young noble approaching in earnest
talk with a very dark, sallow man in an immense black periwig, whom
in a moment they knew to be the King himself. He was followed by a
still darker man, less richly dressed than himself, but still very
fine and gay, who was so like the King as to be recognized
instantly for the Duke of York.

The little group made deep obeisance as the royal party came
forward, and received in return a carelessly gracious nod from the
King, who flung himself into a seat, and looked at Lord Desborough.

"His Majesty would know from you, good Masters Harmer and Mason,
what you have seen with your own eyes of this fire, and in
particular how the flames were stayed upon the bridge by your
efforts. He has heard so many contradictory stories from those who
are less well informed, that he will have the tale from first to
last by worthy citizens who are to be trusted to speak truth."

There was no mistaking the ring of truth in the narratives which
were told by the Master Builder and his neighbour.

The King listened almost in silence, but when he did ask a question
it was shrewd and pertinent in its import. The dark face was
lacking neither in force nor in power; and if the eyes of royalty
did, from time to time, stray towards the fair face of Gertrude,
who followed her father's tale with breathless interest, his talk
was all of the means which must forthwith be taken for the arrest
of the fir