The Silver Touch Read Online Free PDF Page B

place. The floor was swept meticulously every night, and the dust and dirt sieved afterwards to catch any lemel , the old French word given to the grains of precious metal that flew from the impact of a tool, or escaped the leather aprons of the craftsmen which were permanently attached to the work-benches and tied with tapes behind their waists. The dirt was then bagged and sold at the door to those who still thought it worthwhile to purchase the sweepings from a goldsmith’s floor.
    Wherever possible the work-benches with their semi-circular cut-outs, which gave a convenient edge to work against, were placed under windows to catch the maximum amount of light; hanging candle-lamps gave extra illumination when needed. John’s work-place was at an end cut-out in a bench occupying a favourable position and his own tools were conveniently to hand, many of them on wall-racks. Communal apparatus, such as extra stakes and heads — the names given to cast-iron shapes over which the precious metals were beaten into the required forms — crucibles for melting, hammers and vices and many other tools, were racked or shelved and formed a strangely proud mural that ran the length of the long workshop on either side.
    On the floor, as well as on the benches, were large elm tree stumps into which the stakes and heads were set for stability while a piece was worked on; they also had another use, the old wood having become worn through time, often over two or three or more generations of goldsmiths, into marvellously smooth indentations suitable for beating workpieces into shape. A good stump was as much an heirloom to be passed on to a goldsmith’s son as a set of tools. At the darkest end of the workshop were the charcoal hearths, their strategic position making it easier to see when an article was approaching red heat in soldering or annealing.
    The working area occupied the whole of the ground floor with the Harwood living-quarters above. In all, Master Harwood employed thirty journeymen and three apprentices, in addition to half a dozen women engaged in filing, polishing and similar routine tasks. It was to be expected that apprenticeship in such a thriving workshop should be eagerly sought after and John had been aware of his good fortune from the first day.
    He was engaged that morning on an interesting workpiece which he had begun three days ago. It was a magnificent tankard formed of thin sheets of silver soldered together while the mouldings of the spreading foot were most finely beaten. With a scroll handle and a domed cover, operated by a corkscrew thumbpiece, it would never hold ale for a poor man’s lips. Although usually two and a half days were allotted for the making of a tankard, this was an elaborate one that had involved many extra hours.
    As John worked, he tried to rationalize his intense desire to see Hester again and bring it to a sensible level. He blamed it on the monastic rule that governed all apprenticeships, together with a ban on swearing, drunkenness, gambling and even marriage. Being young, strong, healthy and virile, was it any wonder that such a lovely sight as Hester had presented should have stirred him as it did? That was all there was to it.
    If only there could have been a full relationship between himself and Caroline he would have been less susceptible to another girl’s appeal, for he was not by nature easy in his loyalties or commitments. As it was, he could number the kisses and embraces from Caroline on the fingers of one hand. She was no less eager than he, but since she had made it known to her father that they were in love, new restrictions on her movements had curtailed all chance meetings on the premises, which had been such a pleasure to them both. Instead, he was now invited to the upper regions of the Harwood establishment, previously a barred area, for dinner at the fashionable hour of two o’clock twice a month, on alternate Sundays, at which her parents always presided. Before