Petals in the Ashes Read Online Free PDF

thanks be to God. You will have no doubt heard of the unhappy conditions in London at present and we write to tell you that due to certain circumstances we are at present staying in Dorchester. On our journey back to London we shall be sure to visit you, and in the meantime send love to John, George, Adam and Anne, and remain your loving daughters, Sarah and Hannah
    Folding the parchment and sealing it with wax supplied by Mr Beade, we sent it care of the Reverend Davies at our parish church in Chertsey, trusting that he would pay the necessary small sum to take delivery of it and pass it to whichever member of our family came to church the following Sunday.
    â€˜Imagine the excitement when it is received!’ Sarah said fondly.
    I nodded. ‘Anne will carry it back home to Mother …’
    Sarah laughed. ‘And John and George and little Adam will fight to see it first … and they will try to read the words … and Mother will show them their own names at the end.’
    â€˜And then the boys will practise their writing by making a fair copy underneath!’
    We were silent for a good while after this, and I felt very low and as if I could weep. Though it was only five months since I’d seen my family, a great deal had happened to me in that time, and I wished most desperately to be back safely in our little thatched cottage in Chertsey with them all.
    When our forty days had elapsed, Mr Beade applied for the local doctor to call and examine us. He did so and pronounced the three of us fit and healthy. He must have then supplied the same information to Highclear House, for that afternoon the coach which had conveyed us from London to Dorchester called at the pesthouse and Mr Carter, bowing, requested that we collect up our belongings, as Lady Jane wished to receive us.
    Immediately, very excited, we dressed Grace in her best dress and bonnet, attended to our hair and gowns and made ourselves ready for the short journey. Mr Beade, whose person who had not been part of the pesthouse improvements and who still stunk worse than a polecat, ran beside the carriage for some distance, seemingly sorry to see us go.
    â€˜Don’t forget, ladies, to tell Lady Jane how I have nurtured and taken especial good care of you!’ was his last cry to us.

Chapter Three
Highclear House
    â€˜Called at my booksellers for a book writ about twenty years ago in prophecy of this year coming on, 1666, explaining it to be the Mark of the Beast.’
    The contrast between Highclear House and the pesthouse could not have been more marked. We had first seen Highclear in the sunlight so that the marble columns gleamed and the windows glittered silver, and though when we returned it was raining, with storm clouds above as thick as pease pudding, the sight of it was still enough to make you catch your breath. It was imposing and stately, with something of the grandness of the Royal Exchange about it, and looked far too splendid to be a house built merely for people to live in.
    Mr Carter drove us around to the back, past a chapel, brewhouse, laundry, stables, and coach houses. There seemed enough of these buildings to form a small village, and this impression was strengthened by the large number of people we saw going about their duties: clerks, maids, grooms, valets– even two reverend gentlemen.
    The carriage stopped in a paved courtyard and, alighting, we entered the house through a heavy oak door and went down steps into the kitchen. This was a room as big as an alehouse, its walls lined with pot cupboards and shelves. Along one wall was a vast black-leaded cooking range, and above this were two complete rows of shining copper pots, pans and moulds. There were several deep pewter sinks and two fireplaces, each holding a roasting animal turning on a spit, and the bright flames of the fires reflected off the lines of copper pans, making the whole room cheerful. Indeed it looked so warm and welcoming that for some