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.For a week both town and farm children had been collecting wood and brush, and the huge pile could be seen over the hedgerows from the boys’ bedchamber.However, on the second day of November clouds blew in from the west, October’s crisp sunshine vanished, and before midday the skies opened and rain fell in torrents.Tarpaulins were hurriedly spread over the heap of firewood, but knowledgeable farmers shook their heads and muttered:“It be set in for sure.Won’t see sun agin afore middle o’ month.Hear tell as how it’s bin rainin’ like this over to Oxford nigh on a week.”Undismayed, children continued to beg pennies for the guy.When the downpour ceased at noon on the fifth, they were ready, and a magnificent creation appeared, miraculously finding its way to the very top of the bonfire.No one knew for sure who had made it, and no one mentioned the fact out loud, but it bore a striking resemblance to the Prince Regent, his corpulence dressed in tattered purple and lavishly adorned with tarnished tinsel finery.Since the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, men had been jailed for less.Better to pretend one had not noticed.The clouds remained threatening, but no rain fell.At five o’clock crowds began to gather, in a festive mood.Peddlers were selling parkin and gilt sweetmeats, and swarms of boys poked potatoes into the bottom of the woodpile, to be retrieved, hot and delicious, the next morning.Geoff had borrowed a gig, to which he harnessed Mr.Fairfax’s resty pair.Mr.Fairfax felt sure he could walk the short distance to the merrymaking, but Hester overruled him, so he was helped in, and joined by Alice, who wished to observe the scene from a safe distance.Hester insisted on walking, to keep an eye on Rob and Susan.She made them promise to stay close beside her.They reached the field just as a flaming torch was thrust to the base of the bonfire.It sputtered a bit, then caught, and flames soon flared up the dry wood in the centre.Mr.Fairfax, eager to see the guy before it charred, begged Jamie’s assistance and approached the fire.Geoff, to his disgust, was left guarding both the gig and Alice, who, seconded by Mr.Green, refused to move.The huge bonfire roared and hissed, and the crowd gradually moved back, faces scorched.Suddenly the middle collapsed, Prinny dived to his fiery doom, and cheers and catcalls rose.Sparks were flying in all directions as the breeze eddied and veered.Susan pulled her hand from Hester’s and clapped it to her face.“Hester, it burned me!” she cried.Anxiously, Hester examined her sister’s forehead.There was no mark, and the pain had already subsided, but she decided it was time to leave.Parts of the crowd were growing rowdy, and groups of the more respectable citizens were picking their way homeward.They reached the gig without incident, and Geoff set Susan beside Alice.Hester turned to help Robbie.There was no sign of him.“Take the girls home at once,” she instructed Geoff.“I’ll find Rob and walk him back.I see Jamie and Mr.Fairfax over there.I expect they have seen him.”“Shall I come back for Mr.Fairfax?” asked Geoff.“Stay with Alice and Susan till I get home, then you can come back to fetch him.” She turned and hurried away, and the gig moved off.Neither James nor Mr.Fairfax had seen Rob recently.“I’ll help you look,” offered Jamie, “and tan his hide when I catch him, the little devil.Can you manage on your own for a few minutes, sir?”“Of course.I am in fine fettle and quite ready to throw away my crutch and join the hunt.”“Pray do not,” begged Hester, “for then I should have two to worry about.”“I shall await you at this spot,” he promised.They had scarcely left him when a cry arose above the general hubbub.“The river’s rising! The Thames is in flood!”There was a sudden silence, followed by complete chaos.Half the crowd swirled around, searching for missing relatives, friends, sweethearts.The other half stampeded for the only gap in the hedge on the townward side of the meadow.Shouts and screams rose above the crackle of the bonfire, whose flickering reddish light turned the scene into a vision of Hell.Mr.Fairfax climbed atop the stump he had been seated on and tried to see the Godrics.On the far side of the field, firelight glinted on water where no water should be.The towpath was already submerged and, as he watched in horror, the river, meeting no resistance, poured over its banks and across the grass.Before he could move, the bonfire was being dispersed by the floodwaters and the last feeble light was nearly extinguished.A hand grasped his sleeve.“I have Robbie, sir,” shouted Jamie, “and Hester is coming.I can’t help you.”James was knee-deep in black water, and Robbie hung around his neck, his eyes alive with excitement.Beyond them Hester staggered, weighed down by her wet skirts, her white face standing out in the near darkness.“Take Rob home,” snapped out Mr.Fairfax as he scrambled down from his perch.“We’ll manage.” His abandoned crutch floated away unnoticed.“Hester!” he called desperately as the last burning brand went out, plunging the meadow into night.Currents swirled around his legs as he fought his way toward her.As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw her close beside him.She was too exhausted to protest when he picked her up and holding her close in his arms, turned to make for the gate.His heart singing, he strode through the icy water as if it were an open road.Hester clung to him trustfully, her head against his shoulder.For a timeless moment, they were alone, no thought of danger intruding; then willing hands urged them through the gate, and cheerful voices bade them hurry home and dry off.“Think that be all now, Ted?” queried one.“Din’t see no more, afore light went,” grunted Ted.“Best wait a bit,” suggested another.“Here come Willy wi’ another torch.”The lane was high and dry.“Put me down, pray,” said Hester.“There’s no water here; I can walk.Think of your leg.”“How can you say there is no water when you are dripping all over me?” Mr.Fairfax smiled down at her teasingly.“My leg is quite at your service, ma’am.” Ignoring her fading protests, he carried her home.Chapter 9Dr.Price was kept busy the next day.As always after the celebration of Guy Fawkes, there was a stream of small boys with burns, to which this year were added any number of bruises, cuts, twisted ankles, chills, and fevers.There were no serious injuries, however.He found a moment to drop in on the Godrics, though they had not sent for him.Several patients had reported seeing Mr.Fairfax on his feet, and he was anxious to see what effect the exertion had had on the injured leg.None of the Godrics were any the worse for the alarms of the evening, and Mr.Fairfax had offered his remaining crutch to Geoffrey as the foundation for a scarecrow.He paced up and down the parlour to demonstrate his total recovery to the physician.“You see, Doctor, I have been an obedient patient, and I have my reward [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]