“Could not you get a Ladder,” said I, “and look in?”
“Well,” said he, “I will, if you will stay here and see that no one comes out while I’m gone.”
So I said I would, but I should have been a sorry Guard had any one indeed rushed forth, so weak was I and trembling. I thought of Mark lying within, perhaps stiff and cold.
Presently the Watchman returned with a Ladder, but it was too short, so then he had to go for another. This Time he was much longer gone, so that I was almost beside myself with waiting. All this Time not a Creature passed. At length a Man came along the Middle of the Street, holding a red Rod before him. He cried, “What do you there?” I said, “We know not whether the Family be dead or have deserted the House—a Watchman has gone for a Ladder to look through the open Window.” He said, “I will send some one to look to it,” and passed on.
Then the Watchman and another Man appeared, carrying a long Ladder between them. They set it against the Window, and the Watchman went up. When he had looked in, he cried out in a fearful Voice, “There’s a Woman in white, lying all along on the Floor, seemingly dead, with a Casket of Jewels in her Hand.—Shall I go in?”—“Aye, do,” I exclaimed. The other Man, hearing talk of Jewels, cried, “Here, come you down, if you be afraid, and I’ll go in,” and gave the Ladder a little Shake; which, however, only made the Watchman at once jump through the Window. Then up came two Men, saying, “We are from my Lord Mayor, empowered to seal up any Property that may be left, if the Family indeed be dead.”—So they went up the Ladder too, and the other Man had no Mind to go now; and presently the Watchman comes out of the House-door, looking very pale, and says he, “Besides the Lady on the Floor, with all her Jewels about her, there’s not a Soul, alive nor dead, in the House; the others must have escaped over the back Walls and Out-houses.”
Then my Heart gave a great Beat, for I concluded Mark had escaped, leaving his Wife to die alone; and now all my Thoughts returned to my Father. I hastened to one or two Acquaintances of his, who, it was just possible, might have seen him; but their Houses were one and all shut up, and, lying some Way apart from each other, this took up much Time. I now became bewildered and almost wild, not knowing where to look for him; and catching like a drowning Man at a Straw, I went to Lime Street. Here I went all up one Side and all down the other, knocking at every Door that was not padlocked. At first I made my Inquiries coherently enough, and explained my Distress and got a civil Answer; but, as I went on and still did not find him, my Wits seemed to unsettle, and, when any one came to the Door, which was often not till after much knocking and waiting, I had got nothing to say to them but, “Have you seen my Father?” and when they stared and said, “Who is your Father?” I could not rightly bring his Name to Mind. This gave me some Sign of Wildness, I suppose, for after a While, the People did not so much look strange as pitying, and said, “Who is your Father, poor Girl?” and waited patiently for me to answer. All except one rough Man, who cried fiercely, “In the Dead-pit in Aldgate, very likely, where my only Child will be to-night.” Then I lost Sense altogether, and shrieked, “Oh! he’s in the Pit! Father! Father!” and went running through the Streets, a-wringing my Hands. At length a Voice far off answered, “Daughter! Daughter! here I am!” and I rushed towards it, crying, “Oh, where? I’m coming! I’m coming!” And so got nearer and nearer till it was only just at the Turn of the next Street; but when I gained it, I came upon a Party of disorderly young Men. One of them cries, “Here I am, Daughter!” and burst out laughing. But I said, “Oh, you are not he,” and brake away from him.
“Stay, I know all about him,” cries another. “Was he tall or short?” Oh, wicked, wicked Men, thought I, ’tis such as you that break Fathers’ Hearts!
How I got back to the Bridge, I know not. I was put to Bed in a raging Fever. In my Deliration I seemed to see my Father talking earnestly with another Man whose Face I knew not, and who appeared to hear him with Impatience, and want to leave him, but my Father laid his Hand upon his Arm. Then the other, methought, plucked a heavy Bag from under his Cloke, and cast it towards my Father, crying, “Plague take it and you too!” Then methought my Father took it up and walked off with it into the Street, but as he went, he changed Colour, stopped short, staggered, and fell. Presently I seemed to hear a Bell, and a dismal Voice crying, “Bring out your Dead!”—and a Cart came rumbling along, and a Man held a Lanthorn to my Father’s Face, and without more Ado, took him up and cast him into the Cart. Then methought, a Man in the Cart turned the Horse about, and drove away without waiting to call anywhere else, to a dismal lone Field, lying all in the Blackness of Darkness, where the Cart turned about, and shot a Heap of senseless Bodies into a great, yawning Pit ... them that a few Hours back had been strong, hearty Men, beautiful Women, smiling Children.
