“If he remembers it, it will be the first time he has ever so exercised his memory,” observed Chiffinch, in a loud whisper to Leonard.  “I advise you, as a friend, not to let his gratitude cool.”

Undeterred by this late narrow escape, Charles ordered fresh houses to be demolished, and stimulated the workmen to exertion by his personal superintendence of their operations.  He commanded Leonard to keep constantly near him, laughingly observing, “I shall feel safe while you are by.  You have a better eye for a falling house than any of my attendants.”

Worn out at length with fatigue, Charles proceeded, with the Duke of York and his immediate attendants, to Painters’ Hall, in little Trinity-lane, in quest of refreshment, where a repast was hastily prepared for him, and he sat down to it with an appetite such as the most magnificent banquet could not, under other circumstances, have provoked.  His hunger satisfied, he despatched messengers to command the immediate attendance of the lord mayor, the sheriffs, and aldermen; and when they arrived, he thus addressed them:—­“My lord mayor and gentlemen, it has been recommended to me by this young man,” pointing to Leonard, “that the sole way of checking the further progress of this disastrous conflagration, which threatens the total destruction of our city, will be by blowing up the houses with gunpowder, so as to form a wide gap between the flames and the habitations yet remaining unseized.  This plan will necessarily involve great destruction of property, and may, notwithstanding all the care that can be adopted, be attended with some loss of life; but I conceive it will be effectual.  Before ordering it, however, to be put into execution, I desire to learn your opinion of it.  How say you, my lord mayor and gentlemen?  Does the plan meet with your approbation?”

“I pray your majesty to allow me to confer for a moment with my brethren,” replied the lord mayor, cautiously, “before I return an answer.  It is too serious a matter to decide upon at once.”

“Be it so,” replied the king.

And the civic authorities withdrew with the king.  Leonard heard, though he did not dare to remark upon it, that the Duke of York leaned forward as the lord mayor passed him, and whispered in his ear, “Take heed what you do.  He only desires to shift the responsibility of the act from his own shoulders to yours.”

“If they assent,” said the king to Leonard, “I will place you at the head of a party of engineers.”

“I beseech your majesty neither to regard me nor them,” replied Leonard.  “Use the authority it has pleased Heaven to bestow upon you for the preservation of the city, and think and act for yourself, or you will assuredly regret your want of decision.  It has been my fortune, with the assistance of God, to be the humble instrument of accomplishing your majesty’s deliverance from peril, and I have your royal word that you will not forget it.”