The Gunpowder Plot Read Free

mother complained when they returned. “ Go and find Cecily. She’ll comb your hair and re-pin it. Then you may both come and sew with me and read the Bible.”
    But Eliza and Lucy wanted to go out before John Johnson came back across the river. And Cecily, Eliza’s nursemaid, was nowhere to be seen.
    â€œLet’s go now,” said Eliza, surprising herself with her own daring. “If we’re quick, they won’t know.”
    It took only moments to sneak out into the Sunday quiet of Westminster and make their way to the little house on the corner of Parliament Place.
    Eliza felt both excited and frightened. Was this still a game of spies, she wondered, like the games they had played at Lucy’s home in Warwickshire? Mouser the cat had secrets, as cats do, and it would be fun to discover them. But John Johnson was different. There was something not right about him. Eliza felt sure he was in disguise, and that their game was on the brink of becoming real.
    The door of the house was shut.
    â€œIt’ll be locked,” said Lucy. “Let’s look through the window.”
    They peered in. But they could see little through the small greenish panes.
    â€œThere’s a chair. And a table with a candlestick on it,” said Eliza.
    â€œ No weapons. No documents.” Lucy looked disappointed. “Where is the cellar – the big cellar where Walter Bennett said John Johnson was guarding the firewood?”
    â€œIt’s under the House of Lords. But you can’t see it from here,” said Eliza. “There are buildings all around it.”
    â€œWhere do these steps go?” asked Lucy.
    Eliza looked at the short flight of steps that led down between the house and the next-door shop. “I don’t know.”
    â€œLet’s go and see,” Lucy said.
    Eliza didn’t want to. What if someone saw them and told her mother? What if John Johnson came back and caught them?
    But Lucy was already on her way down. Her voice echoed as she called, “There’s a courtyard…”
    Reluctantly, Eliza followed.
    At the bottom was a wall, but the passage twisted to the left and opened out into a small courtyard – a dank, dark place between tall buildings, with moss growing on the walls and bird droppings everywhere. Eliza looked up and saw a small square of sky. She felt trapped.
    â€œLet’s go back,” she whispered.
    Lucy wasn’t listening. “The passage goes on. And there’s a building that goes all the way along it.” She turned to Eliza. “Could that be the cellar?”
    Before Eliza could look, or think, they heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.
    â€œIt’s him!”
    â€œHide!”
    They looked around frantically.
    â€œOver there!”
    A water butt stood in one corner of the courtyard. They dived behind it, pulling in the layers and flounces of their skirts, and squeezed close together, just as the person came into view.
    It was a woman – a servant – carrying a great basket of linen. Eliza felt weak with relief. But she held her breath and kept still as the woman plodded past and disappeared around the corner into the long passage, her footsteps gradually growing fainter.

    At last the girls crept out.
    â€œI thought – ”
    â€œI was so scared – ”
    Now that their fright was over they began to giggle.
    â€œYour gown! It’s got green moss stains on it.”
    â€œYours has got something worse.”
    â€œUgh! Let’s go home!”
    Still giggling, they ran up the stairs. And Eliza, leading the way, stepped onto the pavement and ran straight into John Johnson.

   5   
    A Knock at the Door
    â€œOh!” Eliza cried out.
    She felt as if her knees would give way. Behind her, Lucy gave a little shriek.
    John Johnson and Eliza stared at each other. For an instant his look was fierce and pitiless, like that of the hawk she’d seen last summer on