of brick and stone like Lincoln."

"Is it, now? I always heard it was made o' gold. But aren't there a
vast sight o' folk there? nigh upon ten thousand?"

"Ay, and more."

"However do they get victuals for them all?"

"I got mine when I lived there," said Avice, laughing.

"And don't they burn sea-coal?"

"They did once; it is forbidden now."

"Dirty, poisonous stuff! I wouldn't touch it. Well, good-even. Shut
the door quick, Bertha, and don't watch me out o' sight; 'tis the
unluckiest thing man can do."

And Bertha believed it, as she showed by shutting the door.

Old Barnaba, the Jewess, had been dealt with tenderly. In those days,
if a Jew were baptised, he forfeited all he had to the King. Most
unaccountable it is that any Christian country should have let such a
law exist for an hour! These destitute Jews, however, were provided for
in the House of Converts, in London, which stood at the bottom of
Chancery Lane, between it and Saint Dunstan's Church.

It was bed-time soon after. Avice put away her distaff, Bertha folded
up her sewing, and they mounted the ladder. This was about seven
o'clock, which was then as late an hour as it was thought that
respectable people ought to be about. But by two o'clock the next
morning, Bertha was sweeping the kitchen, and Avice carding flax in the
corner. They did not trouble themselves about breakfast; it was an
unknown luxury, except for people who were very old or very delicate.
Two meals a day were the rule: dinner, at nine in the morning: supper,
at three in the afternoon. In those days they lived in a far harder and
less comfortable way than we do, and they had generally better health.
But, it must be admitted, they did not live nearly so long, and the
infant mortality among them was very great.

Morning was no time for story-telling. The rooms had to be swept, the
bread to be baked, the clothes to be washed, the pigs and chickens to be
fed. Moreover, to-day was the first day of the Michaelmas fair, and
things must be bought in to last till Christmas. The active work was
finished by about seven o'clock. Dinner was now got ready. It
consisted of two bowls of broth, then boiled dumplings, and lastly some
stewed giblets. Having made things tidy, our friends now tied on
woollen hoods, and each taking down from the rafter-hooks a capacious
basket, they went forth to do their shopping.

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