Isabel: Taking Wing

Isabel Steals a Boat

A few weeks have passed since Sabine’s betrothal, and thus far everything at the house has been the same. Except, Father has gone up North to work, so Sabine and Aunt Elinor are taking care of the house. And when Master Hart gets sick, Aunt Elinor takes it upon herself to train Isabel in how to run the house. After all, Isabel realizes that after Sabine leaves, Isabel may be left to take over her work. They spend hours pouring over the household accounts, learning how to do laundry and remove stains, and which herbs can keep away fleas, moths, and household vermin. Isabel feels like she’s dying of boredom!

So when Aunt Elinor and Sabine leave to go to a dress fitting, Isabel suggests that she and Meg cross the Thames and go to the Rose Theater, where Meg’s brother, Kit, works! There, they can see the latest show. And Meg suggests borrowing her uncle’s boat to cross the Thames so they don’t have to cross the London bridge and look at all the criminals’ decapitated heads.

So that afternoon, Meg and Isabel leave on their adventure! The boat they take has a little bit of water in the bottom, but Meg assures Isabel that all boats leak a bit. And in a jiffy, they’ve crossed the river. Isabel feels like suddenly she is in a foreign country on the Southwark. There’s dirty children playing in the street, women with a mouthful of black teeth shrieking to each other in strange accents, and drunken men hobbling about. While Isabel’s clothes look completely normal where she lives, here on the South side, she feels completely out of place.

Finally, they make their way to the Rose Theater. Once inside the doors, Isabel is amazed with the theater! The ornately carved galleries rise in tiers up the walls, and the theater has an open top so you can see the sky from inside! There’s massive columns that look like real marble, even though Isabel knows they’re just painted wood. And the stage is more magical than anything Isabel had ever dreamed.

But not just the theater itself astonishes Isabel. She’s never seen so many people in one place! The richer playgoers are seated in the galleries, where she knows they paid a few pence extra to sit. At the bottom of the theater people stand. Butchers, poor scholars, tailors, and fishwives all huddle together to make room. The stench of so many unwashed bodies start to make Isabel feel queasy. But when the play starts, Isabel is transported to another world.

The show is from a new fellow named Will Shakespeare, and all of the actors are men. But they play the heroines so convincingly that Isabel almost forgets. After the show, Meg takes Isabel backstage to meet Kit. He introduces them to a few of the actors, and he explains what they do in the show. Oh, how Isabel wishes she was a boy, then she could act with the theater, too. And when the theaters close for the summer and the theater troupes travel, Isabel could travel with them!

After they’re done at the theater, Meg drags Isabel back through the streets to the boat. All is going well when Isabel realizes she feels water sloshing at her feet. She tries to start bailing the water out with a pail, but the boat keeps sinking faster. And right at the last second, Meg’s uncle comes and grabs them out of the water. He doesn’t say much, but he takes them back to shore and escorts them back to Isabel’s home.

Isabel tries to sneak upstairs, but her soaking wet stockings and kirtle move slowly. And right before Isabel gets to her chamber door, she hears an angry voice behind her. Aunt Elinor has caught her.