“And that’s the building we’re standing in at the present moment,” Godmother added, pointing out the Banqueting Hall in the model. “The beginning of what the architect intended as a great new palace, and the only part of it either built or remaining now.” “That’s where the Tilt Yard was,” Betty exclaimed, when having examined the model, she went to one of the big windows of the Hall and looked across at the Horse Guards, with the scarlet-coated soldiers on their horses standing on either side of the gateway. “And just under this window poor King Charles was beheaded.” There were numberless interesting things besides the model to be seen in the Hall, but Betty’s mind was full of Restoration days, and when Godmother proposed that they should drive to the place where the Great Fire ended, she readily agreed. “You know where it began, because you’ve been up the Monument at London Bridge, and that commemorates the place of its outbreak. We must go to Smithfield to find the spot where it was checked.” “Close to the Charterhouse, then?” murmured Betty. “There!” Godmother said presently, when they reached Smithfield from a turning out of Holborn. “The figure of that fat boy on the corner house of Cock Lane, then called _Pye Corner_, marks the place where the flames were at last quenched by pulling down houses to make an open space.” “I wonder what the fat boy has to do with the Great Fire?” Betty said. Godmother laughed. “There used to be an inscription under the figure to say that the Fire was caused by ‘the sin of gluttony.’ But that was probably only because ‘Pudding Lane’ and ‘Pie Corner’ suggested eating too much of either or both!” she explained. “Is there anything in the London Museum about the time of Charles the Second?” Betty asked on the homeward drive. “Yes. You’d better go there before next Saturday. You’ll find plenty to interest you, and to remind you of the terrible as well as of the charming things you’ve lately seen. Look for the placards that were posted up in the streets at the time of the Great Plague. One is headed ‘_Lord have mercy upon us_’ and gives some curious directions about the sort of medicine people should take to prevent infection. Then just above these old placards, you will see one of the very hand-bells that were tolled in the streets when men went round with the carts crying, ‘_Bring out your dead_.’ Go downstairs into the basement if you want to see a splendid model of London burning.” “Burning?” echoed Betty in surprise. “Yes, and very cleverly managed too, as you’ll discover. Look at all the other models while you’re in the basement part of the Museum. There’s one of old St. Paul’s as it appeared before the Fire, and as you saw it for the last time in the early years of Charles the Second’s reign.” “London will be almost a new city the next time we see it,” remarked Betty. “I wonder whether I shall like it so well as the old one?”