‘Says he heavily enough, “Watchman, what of the night?”
"Heart up, Jack,” says I. “Methinks there’s one fighting for us that, like a fool, I’ve forgot all this summer.” My meaning was naturally the planet Mars.
‘“Pray to Him then,” says he. “I forgot Him too this summer.”
‘He meant God, whom he always bitterly accused himself of having forgotten up in Oxfordshire, among the King’s men. I called down that he had made amends enough for his sin by his work among the sick, but he said he would not believe so till the plague was lifted from ’em. He was at his strength’s end—more from melancholy than any just cause. I have seen this before among priests and over-cheerful men. I drenched him then and there with a half cup of waters, which I do not say cure the plague, but are excellent against heaviness of the spirits.’
‘What were they?’ said Dan.
‘White brandy rectified, camphor, cardamoms, ginger, two sorts of pepper, and aniseed.’
‘Whew!’ said Puck. ‘Waters you call ’em!’
‘Jack coughed on it valiantly, and went down hill with me. I was for the Lower Mill in the valley, to note the aspect of the Heavens. My mind had already shadowed forth the reason, if not the remedy, for our troubles, but I would not impart it to the vulgar till I was satisfied. That practice may be perfect, judgment ought to be sound, and to make judgment sound is required an exquisite knowledge. Ahem! I left Jack and his lantern among the sick in Hitheram’s field. He still maintained the prayers of the so-called Church, which were rightly forbidden by Cromwell.’
‘You should have told your cousin at Wigsell,’ said Puck, ‘and Jack would have been fined for it, and you’d have had half the money. How did you come so to fail in your duty, Nick?’
Mr. Culpeper laughed—his only laugh that evening—and the children jumped at the loud neigh of it.