Read Online At the House of the Magician by Mary Hooper - Free Book Online
Authors: Mary Hooper
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Beth. ‘Like how to make gold.’
‘They’d be better off making groats with the queen’s head on,’ Mistress Midge snorted, ‘then we could pay our debts and have a roast duck each!’
Chapter Seven
Within a few weeks I’d settled quite happily into the Dee household and it felt as if I’d been there much longer. I missed my ma, but Mistress Midge – scold that she was – in some ways filled that role. I missed my father too and was more than happy to do so, for it meant I also missed going hungry because he’d drunk all we’d earned from our glove-making, and missed feeling his clenched hand fall with a heavy thump on to my head.
I felt so at ease in the magician’s house that I’d even stopped being frightened of going into the library. The strange objects no longer scared me and as neither the room nor its contents were held in any kind of reverence by the children, we would play there almost as happily as if on the riverbank. As for the books, well, once Beth had taken down some of the great volumes and showed me they were just letters within wordswhich worked together to make up a story, I stopped being afraid of them, too. I even started to think that it might be a fine thing to know how to read, for then all the knowledge in the world was available to you and whatever you were curious about could be discovered. Sometimes when Dr Dee was out, I’d slip into the library for a moment and just stare around me, gently touch the shells, corals, vases or strange roots on the shelves and approach the skull to try and overcome my fears of it.
One item that specially intrigued me in the room was the brass-banded chest, for it was beautifully made and seemed costly, as if it was like to contain something of great import. The padlock was always closed upon it, however, and there was no sign of a key, so I could only imagine what was within. Treasure, perhaps? Strands of pearls, sparkling stones and shiny gold coins? But then surely it couldn’t contain such things, or the household wouldn’t remain so poor.
Whether Dr Dee and Mr Kelly were true magicians, I had yet to discover. I’d received a message from Mistress Dee to say that the doctor had asked a spirit about my stolen clothes and had been informed by this ethereal being that they’d been taken to London and sold at a street market there, but I had no way of knowing if this was correct.
Sometimes, when Mr Kelly was in attendance or Dr Dee was casting a chart for someone, the children were given a warning not to interrupt and the door waslocked against them. Standing outside the door at these times, I’d oft hear a strange chanting similar to that which I’d heard on my first night there. Once, finding the door had not been fully closed, I looked through the gap and saw Mr Kelly kneeling on the floor with Dr Dee standing beside him, holding a parchment. Both gentlemen were turned away from me and Mr Kelly was saying, ‘I see her! I see Madimi. She’s speaking … she is telling you to beware of being abroad on the fifteenth of the month, for it’s an evil day.’
‘Indeed!’ Dr Dee said, and he appeared to write this down.
‘And now she seems to be holding something out to you.’
‘What is it?’ Dr Dee asked him eagerly.
‘A gemstone. One ruby, crimson as a berry. She tells me that she’ll soon have the means to deliver it to your hand.’
‘Is it large?’
‘Very large! And it glows from within! It’s worth a great deal of money – I can tell that from the size.’
I put my eye to the crack in the door (which, I confess, was very low conduct indeed), and stared intensely at where Mr Kelly was staring, but couldn’t see or hear anything at all.
One day the children and I had the whole afternoon to ourselves, for Dr Dee and his wife, together with Mistress Allen, had gone to Richmond to take the newchild, being now near two months old, to its wet nurse. A carriage had been hired for this purpose, and this had two horses
‘They’d be better off making groats with the queen’s head on,’ Mistress Midge snorted, ‘then we could pay our debts and have a roast duck each!’
Chapter Seven
Within a few weeks I’d settled quite happily into the Dee household and it felt as if I’d been there much longer. I missed my ma, but Mistress Midge – scold that she was – in some ways filled that role. I missed my father too and was more than happy to do so, for it meant I also missed going hungry because he’d drunk all we’d earned from our glove-making, and missed feeling his clenched hand fall with a heavy thump on to my head.
I felt so at ease in the magician’s house that I’d even stopped being frightened of going into the library. The strange objects no longer scared me and as neither the room nor its contents were held in any kind of reverence by the children, we would play there almost as happily as if on the riverbank. As for the books, well, once Beth had taken down some of the great volumes and showed me they were just letters within wordswhich worked together to make up a story, I stopped being afraid of them, too. I even started to think that it might be a fine thing to know how to read, for then all the knowledge in the world was available to you and whatever you were curious about could be discovered. Sometimes when Dr Dee was out, I’d slip into the library for a moment and just stare around me, gently touch the shells, corals, vases or strange roots on the shelves and approach the skull to try and overcome my fears of it.
One item that specially intrigued me in the room was the brass-banded chest, for it was beautifully made and seemed costly, as if it was like to contain something of great import. The padlock was always closed upon it, however, and there was no sign of a key, so I could only imagine what was within. Treasure, perhaps? Strands of pearls, sparkling stones and shiny gold coins? But then surely it couldn’t contain such things, or the household wouldn’t remain so poor.
Whether Dr Dee and Mr Kelly were true magicians, I had yet to discover. I’d received a message from Mistress Dee to say that the doctor had asked a spirit about my stolen clothes and had been informed by this ethereal being that they’d been taken to London and sold at a street market there, but I had no way of knowing if this was correct.
Sometimes, when Mr Kelly was in attendance or Dr Dee was casting a chart for someone, the children were given a warning not to interrupt and the door waslocked against them. Standing outside the door at these times, I’d oft hear a strange chanting similar to that which I’d heard on my first night there. Once, finding the door had not been fully closed, I looked through the gap and saw Mr Kelly kneeling on the floor with Dr Dee standing beside him, holding a parchment. Both gentlemen were turned away from me and Mr Kelly was saying, ‘I see her! I see Madimi. She’s speaking … she is telling you to beware of being abroad on the fifteenth of the month, for it’s an evil day.’
‘Indeed!’ Dr Dee said, and he appeared to write this down.
‘And now she seems to be holding something out to you.’
‘What is it?’ Dr Dee asked him eagerly.
‘A gemstone. One ruby, crimson as a berry. She tells me that she’ll soon have the means to deliver it to your hand.’
‘Is it large?’
‘Very large! And it glows from within! It’s worth a great deal of money – I can tell that from the size.’
I put my eye to the crack in the door (which, I confess, was very low conduct indeed), and stared intensely at where Mr Kelly was staring, but couldn’t see or hear anything at all.
One day the children and I had the whole afternoon to ourselves, for Dr Dee and his wife, together with Mistress Allen, had gone to Richmond to take the newchild, being now near two months old, to its wet nurse. A carriage had been hired for this purpose, and this had two horses
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