were all housed in private dwellings or the warehouses of the
merchants. The inhabitants had already for some days been working
hard at their defences, and the English at once joined them in their
labours, strengthening the weak portions of the walls, mounting
cannon upon the towers, and preparing in all ways to give a warm
reception to the Spaniards.

Captain Vere, his lieutenant and ensign and his two pages, were
quartered in the house of a wealthy merchant, whose family did all
in their power to make them comfortable. It was a grand old house,
and the boys, accustomed as they were to the splendours of Hedingham
Castle, agreed that the simple merchants of the Low Countries were
far in advance of English nobles in the comforts and conveniences
of their dwellings. The walls of the rooms were all heavily panelled;
rich curtains hung before the casements. The furniture was not only
richly carved, but comfortable. Heavy hangings before the doors
excluded draughts, and in the principal apartments Eastern carpets
covered the floors. The meals were served on spotless white linen.
Rich plates stood on the sideboard, and gold and silver vessels of
rare carved work from Italy glittered in the armoires.

Above all, from top to bottom, the house was scrupulously clean.
Nor a particle of dust dimmed the brightness of the furniture, and
even now, when the city was threatened with siege, the merchant's
wife never relaxed her vigilance over the doings of her maids, who
seemed to the boys to be perpetually engaged in scrubbing, dusting,
and polishing.

"Our mother prides herself on the neatness of her house," Geoffrey
said; "but what would she say, I wonder, were she to see one of