The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-02-13
CHAPTER VI
Mr.. Etheredge Prescrihes


On his return to the Pauls Head
from that reasonable talk with
Tucker, the Colonel found a consider.
able excitement presiding over that
usually peaceful and well-conducted
hosteIry. The common room was
~thronged, which was not in itself odd.
considering the time of day; what was
odd was the noisy, vehement babble of
the normally quiet, soberly spoken
merchants who for the main part
composed its custom.
Mrs. Quinn had a coy glance for
the Colonel as he stalked through. 1t
was not long before she followed him
into the little parIor at the back.
Where she found him stretched at his
ease on his favorite seat under the
window, having cast aside sword and
nat he was in the act Of loading a
pipe from a leaden t~obacco-jar.
Lord, Colonel. Here be dreadful
news" she told him.
You'll have heard?' she added. 1T
is the talk Of the town"
He shook his head. NAY. I heard
nothing dreadful 1 met a friend, an
old friend, over there by the Flower
OF Luce. and I've been with him these
three hours. 1 talked to no one else.
What is this news?"
But h was frowning. as she looked
at him scrutinizingly with her round
blue eyes. Her mind was shifted bv
his light word to her own more i'm
mediate concerns. /He had met a
friend-an old friend. Not much in
that 10 arous anxiety. perhaps. But
Mrs. Quinn moved now in constant
TGread of influences that might set the
Colonel on a SOUND worldly footing
likely to emancipate him from his de
pendence upon herself. She had skill
1uhy drawn from him enough of the
details Of his interview with Able
marie to realize that the help upon
which he counted from hat quarter
had not been forthcoming. lie had
been put off with vague promises, and
Mrs. Quinn knew enough Of her world
not to be greatly perturbed by that.
None the less she would have set all
doubts at rest by leading the Colonel
INTO the relationship in which she de
sired to hold him, but that as yet the
Colonel manifested no clear disposition
TO be led And she was too crafty
a huntress to scare her quarry by pre-.
mature and too direct an onslaught.
The only anxiety yielding to which
she might have committed that i'm
prudence, was on the score Of the I'M
expected. She knew that the unex-
pected will sometimes happen, and
this mention Of a frlend-sn old
friend, with whom he had spent some
hours in Intimate talk-was disquiet-
ing. She would have liked to cues.
ion him on the subject Of that friend.
n might have done so but for his
insistent repetition Of the question:
What is this news?'
Recalled to it thus, the gravity of
the news itself thrust out the ether
matter from her mind.
That the plague has broken out i'm
the City itself-in a house in Bear.
binder Lane. 1t was brought by a
Frenchman from Long Acre. where
he lived, and which he left upon and-
ing he pestilence to be growing i'll
his neighborhood. Yet il seems he
was already taken witt. me disease.
which now the wretch has brought
TO u threshold, as it were. without
benefit to himself"
The Colonel thought of Tucker and
his scaremOngering emissaries.
Perhaps it is not true said he.
AYE, but it is. Beyond d doubt.
1t vas put about by a preacher rogue
from the steps of Pauls today. at
first folk did not believe him. But
they went to Bearbinder Lane. and
there found the house shut up. and
guarded by command of my Lord
Mayor. And they do say that Sir
John Lawrence is gone to Whitehall
to take order about this, to concert
measures for staying the spread of
the pestilence: they are to close play
houses and all other places where peo-
PIE come together which will likely
mean that they will be closing tav-
ems and eating houses. And what
should / do in thai case?''
Nay. nay Hollss comforted her.
1T will hardly come to that. Men
must eat and drink or they starve,
and that's as bad as the p~estilence."
To be sure it is. But they'll never
think of hat in their zeal and their
sudden godliness-for they'll be In a
muck-sweat O. goodness now that they
see what a visitation has been brought
upon us by the vices of the court.
And this to happen at such a time,
with the Dutch fleet. as they say,
about 10 attack the COAST
She rallied on Disturbed out of
her s~elf-centered existence into a con
l sideration Of the worlds ills now hat