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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5578.txt b/5578.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6dc2f25 --- /dev/null +++ b/5578.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2570 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Burgomaster's Wife, by Georg Ebers, v1 +#139 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Burgomaster's Wife, Volume 1. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5578] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 12, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURGOMASTER'S WIFE, BY EBERS, V1 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +THE BURGOMASTER'S WIFE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 1. + +Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford + + + +BARONESS SOPHIE VON BRANDENSTEIN, nee EBERS. + +My reason for dedicating a book, and particularly this book, to you, the +only sister of my dead father, needs no word of explanation between us. +From early childhood you have been a dear and faithful friend to me, and +certainly have not forgotten how industriously I labored, while your +guest seventeen years ago, in arranging the material which constitutes +the foundation of the "Burgomaster's Wife." You then took a friendly +interest in many a note of facts, that had seemed to me extraordinary, +admirable, or amusing, and when the claims of an arduous profession +prevented me from pursuing my favorite occupation of studying the history +of Holland, my mother's home, in the old way, never wearied of reminding +me of the fallow material, that had previously awakened your sympathy. + +At last I have been permitted to give the matter so long laid aside its +just dues. A beautiful portion of Holland's glorious history affords the +espalier, around which the tendrils of my narrative entwine. You have +watched them grow, and therefore will view them kindly and indulgently. + +In love and friendship, + + Ever the same, + + GEORG EBERS + +Leipsic, Oct. 30th, 1881. + + + + +THE BURGOMASTER'S WIFE. + +CHAPTER I. + +In the year 1574 A. D. spring made its joyous entry into the Netherlands +at an unusually early date. + +The sky was blue, gnats sported in the sunshine, white butterflies +alighted on the newly-opened yellow flowers, and beside one of the +numerous ditches intersecting the wide plain stood a stork, snapping at a +fine frog; the poor fellow soon writhed in its enemy's red beak. One +gulp--the merry jumper vanished, and its murderer, flapping its wings, +soared high into the air. On flew the bird over gardens filled with +blossoming fruit-trees, trimly laid-out flower-beds, and gaily-painted +arbors, across the frowning circlet of walls and towers that girdled the +city, over narrow houses with high, pointed gables, and neat streets +bordered with elm, poplar, linden and willow-trees, decked with the first +green leaves of spring. At last it alighted on a lofty gable-roof, on +whose ridge was its firmly-fastened nest. After generously giving up its +prey to the little wife brooding over the eggs, it stood on one leg and +gazed thoughtfully down upon the city, whose shining red tiles gleamed +spick and span from the green velvet carpet of the meadows. The bird had +known beautiful Leyden, the gem of Holland, for many a year, and was +familiar with all the branches of the Rhine that divided the stately city +into numerous islands, and over which arched as many stone bridges as +there are days in five months of the year; but surely many changes had +occurred here since the stork's last departure for the south. + +Where were the citizens' gay summer-houses and orchards, where the wooden +frames on which the weavers used to stretch their dark and colored +cloths? + +Whatever plant or work of human hands had risen, outside the city walls +and towers to the height of a man's breast, thus interrupting the +uniformity of the plain, had vanished from the earth, and beyond, on the +bird's best hunting-grounds, brownish spots sown with black circles +appeared among the green of the meadows. + +Late in October of the preceding year, just after the storks left the +country, a Spanish army had encamped here, and a few hours before the +return of the winged wanderers in the first opening days of spring, the +besiegers retired without having accomplished their purpose. + +Barren spots amid the luxuriant growth of vegetation marked the places +where they had pitched their tents, the black cinders of the burnt coals +their camp-fires. + +The sorely-threatened inhabitants of the rescued city, with thankful +hearts, uttered sighs of relief. The industrious, volatile populace had +speedily forgotten the sufferings endured, for early spring is so +beautiful, and never does a rescued life seem so delicious as when we are +surrounded by the joys of spring. + +A new and happier time appeared to have dawned, not only for Nature but +for human beings. The troops quartered in the besieged city, which had +the day before committed many an annoyance, had been dismissed with song +and music. The carpenter's axe flashed in the spring sunlight before the +red walls, towers and gates, and cut sharply into the beams from which +new scaffolds and frames were to be erected; noble cattle grazed +peacefully undisturbed around the city, whose desolated gardens were +being dug, sowed and planted afresh. In the streets and houses a +thousand hands, which but a short time before had guided spears and +arquebuses on the walls and towers, were busy at useful work, and old +people sat quietly before their doors to let the warm spring sun shine on +their backs. + +Few discontented faces were to be seen in Leyden on this eighteenth of +April. True, there was no lack of impatient ones, and whoever wanted +to seek them need only go to the principal school, where noon was +approaching and many boys gazed far more eagerly through the open +windows of the school-room, than at the teacher's lips. + +But in that part of the spacious hall where the older lads received +instruction, no restlessness prevailed. True, the spring sun shone on +their books and exercises too, the spring called them into the open air, +but even more powerful than its alluring voice seemed the influence +exerted on their young minds by what they were now hearing. + +Forty sparkling eyes were turned towards the bearded man, who addressed +them in his deep voice. Even wild Jan Mulder had dropped the knife with +which he had begun to cut on his desk a well-executed figure of a ham, +and was listening attentively. + +The noon bell now rang from the neighboring church, and soon after was +heard from the tower of the town-hall, the little boys noisily left the +room, but--strange-=the patience of the older ones still held out; they +were surely hearing things that did not exactly belong to their lessons. + +The man who stood before them was no teacher in the school, but the +city clerk, Van Hout, who, to-day filled the place of his sick friend, +Verstroot, master of arts and preacher. During the ringing of the bells +he had closed the book, and now said: + +"'Suspendo lectionem.' Jan Mulder, how would you translate my +'suspendere'?" + +"Hang," replied the boy. + +"Hang!" laughed Van Hout. "You might be hung from a hook perhaps, but +where should we hang a lesson? Adrian Van der Werff." + +The lad called rose quickly, saying: + +"'Suspendere lectionen' means to break off the lesson." + +"Very well; and if we wanted to hang up Jan Mulder, what should we say?" + +"Patibulare--ad patibulum!" cried the scholars. Van Hout, who had just +been smiling, grew very grave. Drawing a long breath, he said: + +"Patibulo is a bad Latin word, and your fathers, who formerly sat here, +understood its meaning far less thoroughly than you. Now, every child in +the Netherlands knows it, Alva has impressed it on our minds. More than +eighteen thousand worthy citizens have come to the gallows through his +'ad patibulum.'" + +With these words he pulled his short black doublet through his girdle, +advanced nearer the first desk, and bending his muscular body forward, +said with constantly increasing emotion: + +"'This shall be enough for to-day, boys. It will do no great harm, if +you afterwards forget the names earned here. But always remember one +thing: your country first of all. Leonidas and his three hundred +Spartans did not die in vain, so long as there are men ready to follow +their example. Your turn will come too. It is not my business to boast, +but truth is truth. We Hollanders have furnished fifty times three +hundred men for the freedom of our native soil. In such stormy times +there are steadfast men; even boys have shown themselves great. Ulrich +yonder, at your head, can bear his nickname of Lowing with honor. +'Hither Persians--hither Greeks!' was said in ancient times, but we cry: +'Hither Netherlands, hither Spain!' And indeed, the proud Darius never +ravaged Greece as King Philip has devastated Holland. Ay, my lads, +many flowers bloom in the breasts of men. Among them is hatred of the +poisonous hemlock. Spain has sowed it in our gardens. I feel it growing +within me, and you too feel and ought to feel it. But don't +misunderstand me! 'Hither Spain--hither Netherlands!' is the cry, and +not: 'Hither Catholics and hither Protestants.' Every faith may be right +in the Lord's eyes, if only the man strives earnestly to walk in Christ's +ways. At the throne of Heaven, it will not be asked: Are you Papist, +Calvinist, or Lutheran? but: What were your intentions and acts? +Respect every man's belief; but despise him who makes common cause with +the tyrant against the liberty of our native land. Now pray silently, +then you may go home." + +The scholars rose; Van Hout wiped the perspiration from his high +forehead, and while the boys were collecting books, pencils, and pens, +said slowly, as if apologizing to himself for the words already uttered: + +"What I have told you perhaps does not belong to the school-room; but, +my lads, this battle is still far from being ended, and though you must +occupy the school-benches for a while, you are the future soldiers. +Lowing, remain behind, I have something to say to you." + +He slowly turned his back to the boys, who rushed out of doors. In a +corner of the yard of St. Peter's church, which was behind the building +and entered by few of the passers-by, they stood still, and from amid the +wild confusion of exclamations arose a sort of consultation, to which the +organ-notes echoing from the church formed a strange accompaniment. + +They were trying to decide upon the game to be played in the afternoon. + +It was a matter of course, after what Van Hout had said, that there +should be a battle; it had not even been proposed by anybody, but the +discussion that now arose proceeded from the supposition. + +It was soon decided that patriots and Spaniards, not Greeks and +Persians, were to appear in the lists against each other; but when the +burgomaster's son, Adrian Van der Werff, a lad of fourteen, proposed to +form the two parties, and in the imperious way peculiar to him attempted +to make Paul Van Swieten and Claus Dirkson Spaniards, he encountered +violent opposition, and the troublesome circumstance was discovered that +no one was willing to represent a foreign soldier. + +Each boy wanted to make somebody else a Castilian, and fight himself +under the banner of the Netherlands. But friends and foes are necessary +for a war, and Holland's heroic courage required Spaniards to prove it. +The youngsters grew excited, the cheeks of the disputants began to flush, +here and there clenched fists were raised, and everything indicated that +a horrible civil war would precede the battle to be given the foes of the +country. + +In truth, these lively boys were ill-suited to play the part of King +Philip's gloomy, stiff-necked soldiers. Amid the many fair heads, few +lads were seen with brown locks, and only one with black hair and dark +eyes. This was Adam Baersdorp, whose father, like Van der Werff's, was +one of the leaders of the citizens. When he too refused to act a +Spaniard, one of the boys exclaimed: + +"You won't? Yet my father says your father is half a Glipper,--[The name +given in Holland to those who sympathized with Spain]--and a whole Papist +to boot." + +At these words young Baersdorp threw his books on the ground, and was +rushing with upraised fist upon his enemy--but Adrian Van der Werff +hastily interposed, crying: + +"For shame, Cornelius.--I'll stop the mouth of anybody who utters such an +insult again. Catholics are Christians, as well as we. You heard it +from Van Hout, and my father says so too. Will you be a Spaniard, Adam, +yes or no?" + +"No!" cried the latter firmly. "And if anybody else--" + +"You can quarrel afterward," said Adrian Van der Werff, interrupting his +excited companions, then good-naturedly picking up the books Baersdorp +had flung down, and handing them to him, continued resolutely, "I'll be a +Spaniard to-day. Who else?" + +"I, I, I too, for aught I care," shouted several of the scholars, and the +forming of the two parties would have been carried on in the best order +to the end, if the boys' attention had not been diverted by a fresh +incident. + +A young gentleman, followed by a black servant, came up the street +directly towards them. He too was a Netherlander, but had little in +common with the school-boys except his age, a red and white complexion, +fair hair, and clear blue eyes, eyes that looked arrogantly out upon the +world. Every step showed that he considered himself an important +personage, and the gaily-costumed negro, who carried a few recently +purchased articles behind him, imitated this bearing in a most comical +way. The negro's head was held still farther back than the young +noble's, whose stiff Spanish ruff prevented him from moving his handsome +head as freely as other mortals. + +"That ape, Wibisma," said one of the school-boys, pointing to the +approaching nobleman. + +All eyes turned towards him, scornfully scanning his little velvet hat +decked with a long plume, the quilted red satin garment padded in the +breast and sleeves, the huge puffs of his short brown breeches, and the +brilliant scarlet silk stockings that closely fitted his well-formed +limbs. + +"The ape," repeated Paul Van Swieten. "He wants to be a cardinal, that's +why he wears so much red." + +"And looks as Spanish as if he came straight from Madrid," cried another +lad, while a third added: + +"The Wibismas certainly were not to be found here, so long as bread was +short with us." + +The Wibismas are all Glippers. + +"And he struts about on week-days, dressed in velvet and silk," said +Adrian. "Just look at the black boy the red-legged stork has brought +with him to Leyden." + +The scholars burst into a loud laugh, and as soon as the youth had +reached them, Paul Van Swieten snarled in a nasal tone: + +"How did deserting suit you? How are affairs in Spain, master Glipper?" + +The young noble raised his head still higher, the negro did the same, and +both walked quietly on, even when Adrian shouted in his ear: + +"Little Glipper, tell me, for how many pieces of silver did Judas sell +the Saviour?" + +Young Matanesse Van Wibisma made an indignant gesture, but controlled +himself until Jan Mulder stepped in front of him, holding his little +cloth cap, into which he had thrust a hen's feather, under his chin like +a beggar, and saying humbly: + +"Give me a little shrove-money for our tom-cat, Sir Grandee; he stole a +leg of veal from the butcher yesterday." + +"Out of my way!" said the youth in a haughty, resolute tone, trying to +push Mulder aside with the back of his hand. + +"Hands off, Glipper!" cried the school-boys, raising their clenched +hands threateningly. + +"Then let me alone," replied Wibisma, "I want no quarrel, least of all +with you." + +"Why not with us?" asked Adrian Van der Werff, irritated by the +supercilious, arrogant tone of the last words. + +The youth shrugged his shoulders, but Adrian cried: "Because you like +your Spanish costume better than our doublets of Leyden cloth." + +Here he paused, for Jan Mulder stole behind Wibisma, struck his hat down +on his head with a book, and while Nicolas Van Wibisma was trying to free +his eyes from the covering that shaded them, exclaimed: + +"There, Sir Grandee, now the little hat sits firm! You can keep it on, +even before the king." + +The negro could not go to his master's assistance, for his arms were +filled with parcels, but the young noble did not call him, knowing how +cowardly his black servant was, and feeling strong enough to help +himself. + +A costly clasp, which he had just received as a gift on his seventeenth +birthday, confined the plume in his hat; but without a thought he flung +it aside, stretched out his arms as if for a wrestling-match, and with +florid cheeks, asked in a loud, resolute tone: "Who did that?" + +Jan Mulder had hastily retreated among his companions, and instead of +coming forward and giving his name, called: + +"Look for the hat-fuller, Glipper! We'll play blindman's buff." + +The youth, frantic with rage, repeated his question. When, instead of +any other answer, the boys entered into Jan Mulder's jest, shouting +gaily: "Yes, play blind-man's buff! Look for the hat-fuller. Come, +little Glipper, begin." Nicolas could contain himself no longer, but +shouted furiously to the laughing throng: + +"Cowardly rabble!" + +Scarcely had the words been uttered, when Paul Van Swieten raised his +grammar, bound in hog-skin, and hurled it at Wibisma's breast. + +Other books followed, amid loud outcries, striking him on the legs and +shoulders. Bewildered, he shielded his face with his hands and retreated +to the church-yard wall, where he stood still and prepared to rush upon +his foes. + +The stiff, fashionable high Spanish ruff no longer confined his handsome +head with its floating golden locks. Freely and boldly he looked his +enemies in the face, stretched the young limbs hardened by many a +knightly exercise, and with a true Netherland oath sprang upon Adrian Van +der Werff, who stood nearest. + +After a short struggle, the burgomaster's son, inferior in strength and +age to his opponent, lay extended on the ground; but the other lads, who +had not ceased shouting, "Glipper, Glipper," seized the young noble, who +was kneeling on his vanquished foe. + +Nicolas struggled bravely, but his enemies' superior power was too great. + +Frantic with fury, wild with rage and shame, he snatched the dagger from +his belt. + +The boys now raised a frightful yell, and two of them rushed upon Nicolas +to wrest the weapon from him. This was quickly accomplished; the dagger +flew on the pavement, but Van Swieten sprang back with a low cry, for the +sharp blade had struck his arm, and the bright blood streamed on the +ground. + +For several minutes the shouts of the lads and the piteous cries of the +black page drowned the beautiful melody of the organ, pouring from the +windows of the church. Suddenly the music ceased; instead of the +intricate harmony the slowly-dying note of a single pipe was heard, +and a young man rushed out of the door of the sacristy of the House of +God. He quickly perceived the cause of the wild uproar that had +interrupted his practising, and a smile flitted over the handsome face +which, framed by a closely-cut beard, had just looked startled enough, +though the reproving words and pushes with which he separated the enraged +lads were earnest enough, and by no means failed to produce their effect. + +The boys knew the musician, Wilhelm Corneliussohn, and offered no +resistance, for they liked him, and his dozen years of seniority gave him +an undisputed authority among them. Not a hand was again raised against +Wibisma, but the boys, all shouting and talking together, crowded around +the organist to accuse Nicolas and defend themselves. + +Paul Van Swieten's wound was slight. He stood outside the circle of his +companions, supporting the injured left arm with his right hand. He +frequently blew upon the burning spot in his flesh, over which a bit of +cloth was wrapped, but curiosity concerning the result of this +entertaining brawl was stronger than the wish to have it bandaged and +healed. + +As the peace-maker's work was already drawing to a close, the wounded +lad, pointing with his sound hand in the direction of the school, +suddenly called warningly: + +"There comes Herr von Nordwyk. Let the Glipper go, or there will be +trouble." + +Paul Van Swieten again clasped his wounded arm with his right hand and +ran swiftly around the church. Several other boys followed, but the new- +comer of whom they were afraid, a man scarcely thirty years old, had legs +of considerable length, and knew how to use them bravely. + +"Stop, boys!" he shouted in an echoing voice of command. "Stop! What +has Happened here?" + +Every one in Leyden respected the learned and brave young nobleman, so +all the lads who had not instantly obeyed Van Swieten's warning shout, +stood still until Herr von Nordwyk reached them. + +A strange, eager light sparkled in this man's clever eyes, and a subtle +smile hovered around his moustached lip, as he called to the musician: + +"What has happened here, Meister Wilhelm? Didn't the clamor of +Minerva's apprentices harmonize with your organ-playing, or did--but by +all the colors of Iris, that's surely Nico Matanesse, young Wibisma! And +how he looks! Brawling in the shadow of the church--and you here too, +Adrian, and you, Meister Wilhelm?" + +"I separated them," replied the other quietly, smoothing his rumpled +cuffs. + +"With perfect calmness, but impressively--like your organ-music," said +the commander, laughing. + +"Who began the fight? You, young sir? or the others?" + +Nicolas, in his excitement, shame, and indignation, could find no +coherent words, but Adrian came forward saying: "We wrestled together. +Don't be too much vexed with us, Herr Janus." + +Nicolas cast a friendly glance at his foe. + +Herr von Nordwyk, Jan Van der Does, or as a learned man he preferred to +call himself, Janus Dousa, was by no means satisfied with this +information, but exclaimed: + +"Patience, patience! You look suspicious enough, Meister Adrian; come +here and tell me, 'atrekeos,' according to the truth, what has been going +on." + +The boy obeyed the command and told his story honestly, without +concealing or palliating anything that had occurred. + +"Hm," said Dousa, after the lad had finished his report. "A difficult +case. No one is to be acquitted. Your cause would be the better one, +had it not been for the knife, my fine young nobleman, but you, Adrian, +and you, you chubby-cheeked rascals, who--There comes the rector--If he +catches you, you'll certainly see nothing but four walls the rest of this +beautiful day. I should be sorry for that." + +The chubby-cheeked rascals, and Adrian also, understood this hint, and +without stopping to take leave scampered around the corner of the church +like a flock of doves pursued by a hawk. + +As soon as they had vanished, the commander approached young Nicolas, +saying: + +"Vexatious business! What was right to them is just to you. Go to your +home. Are you visiting your aunt?" + +"Yes, my lord," replied the young noble. "Is your father in the city +too?" Nicolas was silent. + +"He doesn't wish to be seen?" + +Nicolas nodded assent, and Dousa continued: + +"Leyden stands open to every Netherlander, even to you. To be sure, if +you go about like King Philip's page, and show contempt to your equals, +you must endure the consequences yourself. There lies the dagger, my +young friend, and there is your hat. Pick them up, and remember that +such a weapon is no toy. Many a man has spoiled his whole life, by +thoughtlessly using one a single moment. The superior numbers that +pressed upon you may excuse you. But how will you get to your aunt's +house in that tattered doublet?" + +"My cloak is in the church," said the musician, "I'll give it to the +young gentleman." + +"Bravo, Meister Wilhelm !" replied Dousa. "Wait here, my little master, +and then go home. I wish the time, when your father would value my +greeting, might come again. Do you know why it is no longer pleasant to +him?" + +"No, my lord." + +"Then I'll tell you. Because he is fond of Spain, and I cling to the +Netherlands." + +"We are Netherlanders as well as you," replied Nicolas with glowing +cheeks. + +"Scarcely," answered Dousa calmly, putting his hand up to his thin chin, +and intending to add a kinder word to the sharp one, when the youth +vehemently exclaimed: + +"Take back that 'scarcely,' Herr von Nordwyk." Dousa gazed at the bold +lad in surprise, and again an expression of amusement hovered about his +lips. Then he said kindly: + +"I like you, Herr Nicolas; and shall rejoice if you wish to become a true +Hollander. There comes Meister Wilhelm with his cloak. Give me your +hand. No, not this one, the other." + +Nicolas hesitated, but Janus grasped the boy's right hand in both of his, +bent his tall figure to the latter's ear, and said in so low a tone that +the musician could not understand: + +"Ere we part, take with you this word of counsel from one who means +kindly. Chains, even golden ones, drag us down, but liberty gives wings. +You shine in the glittering splendor, but we strike the Spanish chains +with the sword, and I devote myself to our work. Remember these words, +and if you choose repeat them to your father." + +Janus Dousa turned his back on the boy, waved a farewell to the musician, +and went away. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Young Adrian hurried down the Werffsteg, which had given his family its +name. He heeded neither the lindens on both sides, amid whose tops the +first tiny green leaves were forcing their way out of the pointed buds, +nor the birds that flew hither and thither among the hospitable boughs of +the stately trees, building their nests and twittering to each other, for +he had no thought in his mind except to reach home as quickly as +possible. + +Beyond the bridge spanning the Achtergracht, he paused irresolutely +before a large building. + +The knocker hung on the central door, but he did not venture to lift it +and let it fall on the shining plate beneath, for he could expect no +pleasant reception from his family. + +His doublet had fared ill during his struggle with his stronger enemy. +The torn neck-ruffles had been removed from their proper place and thrust +into his pocket, and the new violet stocking on his right leg, luckless +thing, had been so frayed by rubbing on the pavement, that a large +yawning rent showed far more of Adrian's white knee than was agreeable to +him. + +The peacock feather in his little velvet cap could easily be replaced, +but the doublet was torn, not ripped, and the stocking scarcely capable +of being mended. The boy was sincerely sorry, for his father had bade +him take good care of the stuff to save money; during these times there +were hard shifts in the big house, which with its three doors, triple +gables adorned with beautifully-arched volutes, and six windows in the +upper and lower stories, fronted the Werffsteg in a very proud, stately +guise. + +The burgomaster's office did not bring in a large income, and Adrian's +grandfather's trade of preparing chamois leather, as well as the business +in skins, was falling off; his father had other matters in his head, +matters that claimed not only his intellect, strength and time, but also +every superfluous farthing. + +Adrian had nothing pleasant to expect at home--certainly not from his +father, far less from his aunt Barbara. Yet the boy dreaded the anger of +these two far less, than a single disapproving glance from the eyes of +the young wife, whom he had called "mother" scarcely a twelve month, and +who was only six years his senior. + +She never said an unkind word to him, but his defiance and wildness +melted before her beauty, her quiet, aristocratic manner. He scarcely +knew himself whether he loved her or not, but she appeared like the good +fairy of whom the fairy tales spoke, and it often seemed as if she were +far too delicate, dainty and charming for her simple, unpretending home. +To see her smile rendered the boy happy, and when she looked sad--a thing +that often happened-it made his heart ache. Merciful Heavens! She +certainly could not receive him kindly when she saw his doublet, the +ruffles thrust into his pocket, and his unlucky stockings. + +And then! + +There were the bells ringing again! + +The dinner hour had long since passed, and his father waited for no one. +Whoever came too late must go without, unless Aunt Barbara took +compassion on him in the kitchen. + +But what was the use of pondering and hesitating? Adrian summoned up all +his courage, clenched his teeth, clasped his right hand still closer +around the torn ruffles in his pocket, and struck the knocker loudly on +the steel plate beneath. + +Trautchen, the old maid-servant, opened the door, and in the spacious, +dusky entrance-hall, where the bales of leather were packed closely +together, did not notice the dilapidation of his outer man. + +He hurried swiftly up the stairs. + +The dining-room door was open, and--marvellous--the table was still +untouched, his father must have remained at the town-hall longer than +usual. + +Adrian rushed with long leaps to his little attic room, dressed himself +neatly, and entered the presence of his family before the master of the +house had asked the blessing. + +The doublet and stocking could be confided to the hands of Aunt Barbara +or Trautchen, at some opportune hour. + +Adrian sturdily attacked the smoking dishes; but his heart soon grew +heavy, for his father did not utter a word, and gazed into vacancy as +gravely and anxiously as at the time when misery entered the beleagured +city. + +The boy's young step-mother sat opposite her husband, and often glanced +at Peter Van der Werff's grave face to win a loving glance from him. + +Whenever she did so in vain, she pushed her soft, golden hair back from +her forehead, raised her beautiful head higher, or bit her lips and gazed +silently into her plate. + +In reply to Aunt Barbara's questions: "What happened at the council? Has +the money for the new bell been collected? Will Jacob Van Sloten rent +you the meadow?" he made curt, evasive replies. + +The steadfast man, who sat so silently with frowning brow among his +family, sometimes attacking the viands on his plate, then leaving them +untouched, did not look like one who yields to idle whims. + +All present, even the men and maid-servants, were still devoting +themselves to the food, when the master of the house rose, and pressing +both hands over the back of his head, which was very prominently +developed, exclaimed groaning: + +"I can hold out no longer. Do you give thanks, Maria. Go to the town- +hall, Janche, and ask if no messenger has yet arrived." + +The man-servant wiped his mouth and instantly obeyed. He was a tall, +broad-shouldered Frieselander, but only reached to his master's forehead. + +Peter Van der Werff, without any form of salutation, turned his back on +his family, opened the door leading into his study, and after crossing +the threshold, closed it with a bang, approached the big oak writing- +desk, on which papers and letters lay piled in heaps, secured by rough +leaden weights, and began to rummage among the newly-arrived documents. +For fifteen minutes he vainly strove to fix the necessary attention upon +his task, then grasped his study-chair to rest his folded arms on the +high, perforated back, adorned with simple carving, and gazed +thoughtfully at the wooden wainscoting of the ceiling. After a few +minutes he pushed the chair aside with his foot, raised his hand to his +mouth, separated his moustache from his thick brown beard, and went to +the window. The small, round, leaden-cased panes, however brightly they +might be polished, permitted only a narrow portion of the street to be +seen, but the burgomaster seemed to have found the object for which he +had been looking. Hastily opening the window, he called to his servant, +who was hurriedly approaching the house: + +"Is he in, Janche?" + +The Frieselander shook his head, the window again closed, and a few +minutes after the burgomaster seized his hat, which hung, between some +cavalry pistols and a plain, substantial sword, on the only wall of his +room not perfectly bare. + +The torturing anxiety that filled his mind, would no longer allow him to +remain in the house. + +He would have his horse saddled, and ride to meet the expected messenger. + +Ere leaving the room, he paused a moment lost in thought, then approached +the writing-table to sign some papers intended for the town-hall; for his +return might be delayed till night. + +Still standing, he looked over the two sheets he had spread out before +him, and seized the pen. Just at that moment the door of the room gently +opened, and the fresh sand strewn over the white boards creaked under +a light foot. He doubtless heard it, but did not allow himself to be +interrupted. + +His wife was now standing close behind him. Four and twenty years his +junior, she seemed like a timid girl, as she raised her arm, yet did not +venture to divert her husband's attention from his business. + +She waited quietly till he had signed the first paper, then turned her +pretty head aside, and blushing faintly, exclaimed with downcast eyes: + +"It is I, Peter!" + +"Very well, my child," he answered curtly, raising the second paper +nearer his eyes. + +"Peter!" she exclaimed a second time, still more eagerly, but with +timidity. "I have something to tell you." + +Van der Werff turned his head, cast a hasty, affectionate glance at her, +and said: + +"Now, child? You see I am busy, and there is my hat." + +"But Peter!" she replied, a flash of something like indignation +sparkling in her eyes, as she continued in a voice pervaded with a +slightly perceptible tone of complaint: "We haven't said anything to each +other to-day. My heart is so full, and what I would fain say to you is, +must surely--" + +"When I come home Maria, not now," he interrupted, his deep voice +sounding half impatient, half beseeching. "First the city and the +country--then love-making." + +At these words, Maria raised her head proudly, and answered with +quivering lips: + +"That is what you have said ever since the first day of our marriage." + +"And unhappily--unhappily--I must continue to say so until we reach the +goal," he answered firmly. The blood mounted into the young wife's +delicate cheeks, and with quickened breathing, she answered in a hasty, +resolute tone: + +"Yes, indeed, I have known these words ever since your courtship, and as +I am my father's daughter never opposed them, but now they are no longer +suited to us, and should be: 'Everything for the country, and nothing at +all for the wife.'" + +Van der Werff laid down his pen and turned full towards her. + +Maria's slender figure seemed to have grown taller, and the blue eyes, +swimming in tears, flashed proudly. This life-companion seemed to have +been created by God especially for him. His heart opened to her, and +frankly stretching out both hands, he said tenderly: + +"You know how matters are! This heart is changeless, and other days will +come." + +"When?" asked Maria, in a tone as mournful as if she believed in no +happier future. + +"Soon," replied her husband firmly. "Soon, if only each one gives +willingly what our native land demands." + +At these words the young wife loosed her hands from her husband's, for +the door had opened and Barbara called to her brother from the threshold. + +"Herr Matanesse Van Wibisma, the Glipper, is in the entry and wants to +speak to you." + +"Show him up," said the burgomaster reluctantly. When again alone with +his wife, he asked hastily "Will you be indulgent and help me?" + +She nodded assent, trying to smile. + +He saw that she was sad and, as this grieved him, held out his hand to +her again, saying: + +"Better days will come, when I shall be permitted to be more to you than +to-day. What were you going to say just now?" + +"Whether you know it or not--is of no importance to the state." + +"But to you. Then lift up your head again, and look at me. Quick, love, +for they are already on the stairs." + +"It isn't worth mentioning--a year ago to-day--we might celebrate the +anniversary of our wedding to-day." + +"The anniversary of our wedding-day!" he cried, striking his hands +loudly together. "Yes, this is the seventeenth of April, and I have +forgotten it." + +He drew her tenderly towards him, but just at that moment the door +opened, and Adrian ushered the baron into the room. + +Van der Werff bowed courteously to the infrequent guest, then called to +his blushing wife, who was retiring: "My congratulations! I'll come +later. Adrian, we are to celebrate a beautiful festival to-day, the +anniversary of our marriage." + +The boy glided swiftly out of the door, which he still held in his hand, +for he suspected the aristocratic visitor boded him no good. + +In the entry he paused to think, then hurried up the stairs, seized his +plumeless cap, and rushed out of doors. He saw his school-mates, armed +with sticks and poles, ranging themselves in battle array, and would have +liked to join the game of war, but for that very reason preferred not to +listen to the shouts of the combatants at that moment, and ran towards +the Zylhof until beyond the sound of their voices. + +He now checked his steps, and in a stooping posture, often on his knees, +followed the windings of a narrow canal that emptied into the Rhine. + +As soon as his cap was overflowing with the white, blue, and yellow +spring flowers he had gathered, he sat down on a boundary stone, and with +sparkling eyes bound them into a beautiful bouquet, with which he ran +home. + +On the bench beside the gate sat the old maidservant with his little +sister, a child six years old. Handing the flowers, which he had kept +hidden behind his back, to her, he said: + +"Take them and carry them to mother, Bessie; this is the anniversary of +her wedding-day. Give her warm congratulations too, from us both." + +The child rose, and the old servant said, "You are a good boy, Adrian." + +"Do you think so?" he asked, all the sins of the forenoon returning to +his mind. + +But unluckily they caused him no repentance; on the contrary, his eyes +began to sparkle mischievously, and a smile hovered around his lips, as +he patted the old woman's shoulder, whispering softly in her ear: + +"The hair flew to-day, Trautchen. My doublet and new stockings are lying +up in my room under the bed. Nobody can mend as well as you." + +Trautchen shook her finger at him, but he turned hastily back and ran +towards the Zyl-gate, this time to lead the Spaniards against the +Netherlanders. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The burgomaster had pressed the nobleman to sit down in the study-chair, +while he himself leaned in a half-sitting attitude on the writing-table, +listening somewhat impatiently to his distinguished guest. + +"Before speaking of more important things," Herr Matanesse Van Wibisma +had begun, "I should like to appeal to you, as a just man, for some +punishment for the injury my son has sustained in this city." + +"Speak," said the burgomaster, and the nobleman now briefly, and with +unconcealed indignation, related the story of the attack upon his son at +the church. + +"I'll inform the rector of the annoying incident," replied Van der Werff, +"and the culprits will receive their just dues; but pardon me, noble sir, +if I ask whether any inquiry has been made concerning the cause of the +quarrel?" + +Herr Matanesse Van Wibisma looked at the burgomaster in surprise and +answered proudly: + +"You know my son's report." + +"Both sides must be fairly heard," replied Van der Werff calmly. "That +has been the custom of the Netherlands from ancient times." + +"My son bears my name and speaks the truth." + +"Our boys are called simply Leendert or Adrian or Gerrit, but they do the +same, so I must beg you to send the young gentleman to the examination at +the school." + +"By no means," answered the knight resolutely. "If I had thought the +matter belonged to the rector's department, I should have sought him and +not you, Herr Peter. My son has his own tutor, and was not attacked in +your school, which in any case he has outgrown, for he is seventeen, but +in the public street, whose security it is the burgomaster's duty to +guard." + +"Very well then, make your complaint, take the youth before the judges, +summon witnesses and let the law follow its course. But, sir," continued +Van der Werff, softening the impatience in his voice, "were you not young +yourself once? Have you entirely forgotten the fights under the citadel? +What pleasure will it afford you, if we lock up a few thoughtless lads +for two days this sunny weather? The scamps will find something amusing +to do indoors, as well as out, and only the parents will be punished." + +The last words were uttered so cordially and pleasantly, that they could +not fail to have their effect upon the baron. He was a handsome man, +whose refined, agreeable features, of the true Netherland type, expressed +anything rather than severity. + +"If you speak to me in this tone, we shall come to an agreement more +easily," he answered, smiling. "I will only say this. Had the brawl +arisen in sport, or from some boyish quarrel, I wouldn't have wasted a +word on the matter--but that children already venture to assail with +jeers and violence those who hold different opinions, ought not to be +permitted to pass without reproof. The boys shouted after my son the +absurd word--" + +"It is certainly an insult," interrupted Van der Werff, "a very +disagreeable name, that our people bestow on the enemies of their +liberty." + +The baron rose, angrily confronting the other. + +"Who tells you," he cried, striking his broad breast, padded with silken +puffs, "who tells you that we grudge Holland her liberty? We desire, +just as earnestly as you, to win it back to the States, but by other, +straighter paths than Orange--" + +"I cannot test here whether your paths are crooked or straight," retorted +Van der Werff; "but I do know this--they are labyrinths." + +"They will lead to the heart of Philip, our king and yours." + +"Yes, if he only had what we in Holland call a heart," replied the other, +smiling bitterly; but Wibisma threw his head back vehemently, exclaiming +reproachfully: + +"Sir Burgomaster, you are speaking of the anointed Prince to whom I have +sworn fealty." + +"Baron Matanesse," replied Van der Werff, in a tone of deep earnestness, +as he drew himself up to his full height, folded his arms, and looked the +nobleman sharply in the eye, "I speak rather of the tyrant, whose bloody +council declared all who bore the Netherland name, and you among us, +criminals worthy of death; who, through his destroying devil, Alva, +burned, beheaded, and hung thousands of honest men, robbed and exiled +from the country thousands of others, I speak of the profligate--" + +"Enough!" cried the knight, clenching the hilt of his sword. "Who gives +you the right--" + +"Who gives me the right to speak so bitterly, you would ask?" +interrupted Peter Van der Werff, meeting the nobleman's eyes with a +gloomy glance. "Who gives me this right? I need not conceal it. It was +bestowed by the silent lips of my valiant father, beheaded for the sake +of his faith, by the arbitrary decree, that without form of law, banished +my brother and myself from the country--by the Spaniards' broken vows, +the torn charters of this land, the suffering of the poor, ill-treated, +worthy people that will perish if we do not save them." + +"You will not save them," replied Wibisma in a calmer tone. "You will +push those tottering on the verge of the abyss completely over the +precipice, and go to destruction with them." + +"We are pilots. Perhaps we shall bring deliverance, perhaps we shall go +to ruin with those for whom we are ready to die." + +"You say that, and yet a young, blooming wife binds you to life." + +"Baron, you have crossed this threshold as complainant to the +burgomaster, not as guest or friend." + +"Quite true, but I came with kind intentions, as monitor to the guiding +head of this beautiful, hapless city. You have escaped the storm once, +but new and far heavier ones are gathering above your heads." + +"We do not fear them." + +"Not even now?" + +"Now, with good reason, far less than ever." + +"Then you don't know the Prince's brother--" + +"Louis of Nassau was close upon the Spaniards on the 14th, and our cause +is doing well--" + +"It certainly did not fare ill at first." + +"The messenger, who yesterday evening--" + +"Ours came this morning." + +"This morning, you say? And what more--" + +"The Prince's army was defeated and utterly destroyed on Mook Heath. +Louis of Nassau himself was slain." + +Van der Werff pressed his fingers firmly on the wood of the writing- +table. The fresh color of his cheeks and lips had yielded to a livid +pallor, and his mouth quivered painfully as he asked in a low, hollow +tone, "Louis dead, really dead?" + +"Dead," replied the baron firmly, though sorrowfully. "We were enemies, +but Louis was a noble youth. I mourn him with you." + +"Dead, William's favorite dead!" murmured the burgomaster as if in a +dream. Then, controlling himself by a violent effort, he said, firmly: + +"Pardon me, noble sir. Time is flying. I must go to the town-hall." + +"And spite of my message, you will continue to uphold rebellion?" + +"Yes, my lord, as surely as I am a Hollander." + +"Do you remember the fate of Haarlem?" + +"I remember her citizens' resistance, and the rescued Alkmaar." + +"Man, man!" cried the baron. "By all that sacred, I implore you to be +circumspect." + +"Enough, baron, I must go to the town-hall." + +"No, only this one more word, this one word. I know you upbraid us as +'Glippers,' deserters, but as truly as I hope for God's mercy, you +misjudge us. No, Herr Peter, no, I am no traitor! I love this country +and this brave, industrious people with the same love as yourself, for +its blood flows in my veins also. I signed the compromise. Here I +stand, sir. Look at me. Do I look like a Judas? Do I look like a +Spaniard? Can you blame me for faithfully keeping the oath I gave the +king? When did we of the Netherlands ever trifle with vows? You, the +friend of Orange, have just declared that you did not grudge any man the +faith to which he clung, and I will not doubt it. Well, I hold firmly to +the old church, I am a Catholic and shall remain one. But in this hour I +frankly confess, that I hate the inquisition and Alva's bloody deeds as +much as you do. They have as little connection with our religion as +iconoclasm had with yours Like you, I love the freedom of our home. +To win it back is my endeavor, as well as yours. But how can a little +handful like us ever succeed in finally resisting the most powerful +kingdom in the world? Though we conquer once, twice, thrice, two +stronger armies will follow each defeated one. We shall accomplish +nothing by force, but may do much by wise concession and prudent deeds. +Philip's coffers are empty; he needs his armies too in other countries. +Well then, let us profit by his difficulties, and force him to ratify +some lost liberty for every revolted city that returns to him. Let us +buy from his hands, with what remains of our old wealth, the rights he +has wrested from us while fighting against the rebels. You will find +open hands with me and those who share my opinions. Your voice weighs +heavily in the council of this city. You are the friend of Orange, and +if you could induce him--" + +"To do what, noble sir?" + +"To enter into an alliance with us. We know that those in Madrid +understand how to estimate his importance and fear him. Let us +stipulate, as the first condition, a full pardon for him and his faithful +followers. King Philip, I know, will receive him into favor again--" + +"In his arms to strangle him," replied the burgomaster resolutely. +"Have you forgotten the false promises of pardon made in former times, +the fate of Egmont and Horn, the noble Montigney and other lords? They +ventured it and entered the tiger's den. What we buy to-day will surely +be taken from us tomorrow, for what oath would be sacred to Philip? I am +no statesman, but I know this--if he would restore all our liberties, he +will never grant the one thing, without which life is valueless." + +"What is that, Herr Peter?" + +"The privilege of believing according to the dictates of our hearts. You +mean fairly, noble sir;--but you trust the Spaniard, we do not; if we +did, we should be deceived children. You have nothing to fear for your +religion, we everything; you believe that the number of troops and power +of gold will turn the scales in our conflict, we comfort ourselves with +the hope, that God will give victory to the good cause of a brave people, +ready to suffer a thousand deaths for liberty. This is my opinion, and I +shall defend it in the town-hall." + +"No, Meister Peter, no! You cannot, ought not." + +"What I can do is little, what I ought to do is written within, and I +shall act accordingly." + +"And thus obey the sorrowing heart rather than the prudent head, and be +able to give naught save evil counsel. Consider, man, Orange's last army +was destroyed on Mock Heath." + +"True, my lord, and for that very reason we will not use the moments for +words, but deeds." + +"I'll take the hint myself, Herr Van der Werf, for many friends of the +king still dwell in Leyden, who must be taught not to follow you blindly +to the shambles." + +At these words Van der Werff retreated from the nobleman, clenched his +moustache firmly in his right hand, and raising his deep voice to a +louder tone, said coldly and imperiously: + +"Then, as guardian of the safety of this city, I command you to quit +Leyden instantly. If you are found within these walls after noon to- +morrow, I will have you taken across the frontiers by the city-guard." + +The baron withdrew without any form of leave-taking. + +As soon as the door had closed behind him, Van der Werff, threw himself +into his arm-chair and covered his face with his hands. When he again +sat erect, two large tear-drops sparkled on the paper which had lain +under his fingers. Smiling bitterly, he wiped them from the page with +the back of his hand. + +"Dead, dead," he murmured, and the image of the gallant youth, the clever +mediator, the favorite of William of Orange, rose before his mind--he +asked himself how this fresh stroke of fate would affect the Prince, whom +he revered as the providence of the country, admired and loved as the +wisest, most unselfish of men. + +William's affliction grieved him as sorely as if it had fallen upon +himself, and the blow that had struck the cause of freedom was a heavy +one, perhaps never to be overcome. + +Yet he only granted himself a short time to indulge in grief, for the +point in question now was to summon all the nation's strength to repair +what was lost, avert by vigorous acts the serious consequences which +threatened to follow Louis's defeat, and devise fresh means to carry on +the war. + +He paced up and down the room with frowning brow, inventing measures and +pondering over plans. His wife had opened the door, and now remained +standing on the threshold, but he did not notice her until she called his +name and advanced towards him. + +In her hand she held part of the flowers the boy had brought, another +portion adorned her bosom. + +"Take it," she said, offering him the bouquet. "Adrian, dear boy, +gathered them, and you surely know what they mean." + +He willingly took the messengers of spring, raised them to his face, drew +Maria to his breast, pressed a long kiss upon her brow, and then said +gloomily: + +"So this is the celebration of the first anniversary of our wedding-day. +Poor wife! The Glipper was not so far wrong; perhaps it would have been +wiser and better for me not to bind your fate to mine." + +"How can such thoughts enter your mind, Peter!" she exclaimed +reproachfully. + +"Louis of Nassau has fallen," he murmured in a hollow tone, "his army is +scattered." + +"Oh-oh!" cried Maria, clasping her hands in horror, but he continued: + +"It was our last body of troops. The coffers are empty, and where we are +to obtain new means, and what will happen now--this, this--Leave me, +Maria, I beg you. If we don't profit by the time now, if we don't find +the right paths now, we shall not, cannot prosper." + +With these words he threw the bouquet on the table, hastily seized a +paper, looked into it, and, without glancing at her, waved his right +hand. + +The young wife's heart had been full, wide open, when she entered the +room. She had expected so much that was beautiful from this hour, and +now stood alone in the apartment he still shared with her. Her arms had +fallen by her side; helpless, mortified, wounded, she gazed at him in +silence. + +Maria had grown up amid the battle for freedom, and knew how to estimate +the grave importance of the tidings her husband had received. During his +wooing he had told her that, by his side, she must expect a life full of +anxiety and peril, yet she had joyously gone to the altar with the brave +champion of the good cause, which had been her father's, for she had +hoped to become the sharer of his cares and struggles. And now? What +was she permitted to be to him? What did he receive from her? What had +he consented to share with her, who could not feel herself a feeble +woman, on this, the anniversary of their wedding-day. + +There she stood, her open heart slowly closing and struggling against her +longing to cry out to him, and say that she would as gladly bear his +cares with him and share every danger, as happiness and honor. + +The burgomaster, having now found what he sought, seized his hat and +again looked at his wife. + +How pale and disappointed she was! + +His heart ached; he would so gladly have given expression in words to the +great, warm love he felt for her, offered her joyous congratulations; but +in this hour, amid his grief, with such anxieties burdening his breast, +he could not do it, so he only held out both hands, saying tenderly: + +"You surely know what you are to me, Maria, if you do not, I will tell +you this evening. I must meet the members of the council at the town- +hall, or a whole day will be lost, and at this time we must be avaricious +even of the moments. Well, Maria?" + +The young wife was gazing at the floor. She would gladly have flown to +his breast, but offended pride would not suffer her to do so, and some +mysterious power bound her hands and did not permit her to lay them in +his. + +"Farewell," she said in a hollow tone. + +"Maria!" he exclaimed reproachfully. "To-day is no well-chosen time for +pouting. Come and be my sensible wife." + +She did not move instantly; but he heard the bell ring for the fourth +hour, the time when the session of the council ended, and left the room +without looking back at her. + +The little bouquet still lay on the writing-table; the young wife saw it, +and with difficulty restrained her tears. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Countless citizens had flocked to the stately townhall. News of Louis of +Nassau's defeat had spread quickly through all the eighteen wards of the +city, and each wanted to learn farther particulars, express his grief and +fears to those who held the same views, and hear what measures the +council intended to adopt for the immediate future. + +Two messengers had only too thoroughly confirmed Baron Matanesse Van +Wibisma's communication. Louis was dead, his brother Henry missing, and +his army completely destroyed. + +Jan Van Hout, who had taught the boys that morning, now came to a window, +informed the citizens what a severe blow the liberty of the country had +received, and in vigorous words exhorted them to support the good cause +with body and soul. + +Loud cheers followed this speech. Gay caps and plumed hats were tossed +in the air, canes and swords were waved, and the women and children, who +had crowded among the men, fluttered their handkerchiefs, and with their +shriller voices drowned the shouts of the citizens. + +The members of the valiant city-guard assembled, to charge their captain +to give the council the assurance, that the "Schutterij" was ready to +support William of Orange to the last penny and drop of their blood, and +would rather die for the cause of Holland, than live under Spanish +tyranny. Among them was seen many a grave, deeply-troubled face; for +these men, who filled its ranks by their own choice, all loved William of +Orange: his sorrow hurt them--and their country's distress pierced their +hearts. As soon as the four burgomasters, the eight magistrates of the +city, and the members of the common council appeared at the windows, +hundreds of voices joined in the Geusenlied,--[Beggars' Song or Hymn. +Beggar was the name given to the patriots by those who sympathized with +Spain.]--which had long before been struck up by individuals, and when at +sunset the volatile populace scattered and, still singing, turned, either +singly or by twos or threes, towards the taverns, to strengthen their +confidence in better days and dispel many a well-justified anxiety by +drink, the market-place of Leyden and its adjoining streets presented no +different aspect, than if a message of victory had been read from the +town-hall. + +The cheers and Beggars' Song had sounded very powerful--but so many +hundreds of Dutch throats would doubtless have been capable of shaking +the air with far mightier tones. + +This very remark had been made by the three welldressed citizens, who +were walking through the wide street, past the blue stone, and the eldest +said to his companions: + +"They boast and shout and seem large to themselves now, but we shall see +that things will soon be very different." + +"May God avert the worst!" replied the other, "but the Spaniards will +surely advance again, and I know many in my ward who won't vote for +resistance this time." + +"They are right, a thousand times right. Requesens is not Alva, and if +we voluntarily seek the king's pardon--" + +"There would be no blood shed and everything would take the best course." + +"I have more love for Holland than for Spain," said the third. "But, +after Mook-Heath, resistance is a thing of the past. Orange may be an +excellent prince, but the shirt is closer than the coat." + +"And in fact we risk our lives and fortunes merely for him." + +"My wife said so yesterday." + +"He'll be the last man to help trade. Believe me, many think as we do, +if it were not so, the Beggars' Song would have sounded louder." + +"There will always be five fools to three wise men," said the older +citizen. "I took good care not to split my mouth." + +"And after all, what great thing is there behind this outcry for freedom? +Alva burnt the Bible-readers, De la Marck hangs the priests. My wife +likes to go to Mass, but always does so secretly, as if she were +committing a crime." + +"We, too, cling to the good old faith." + +"Never mind faith," said the third. We are Calvinists, but I take no +pleasure in throwing my pennies into Orange's maw, nor can it gratify me +to again tear up the poles before the Cow-gate, ere the wind dries the +yarn." + +"Only let us hold together," advised the older man. "People don't +express their real opinions, and any poor ragged devil might play the +hero. But I tell you there will be sensible men enough in every ward, +every guild, nay, even in the council, and among the burgomasters." + +"Hush," whispered the second citizen, "there comes Van der Werff with the +city clerk and young Van der Does; they are the worst of all." + +The three persons named came down the broad street, talking eagerly +together, but in low tones. + +"My uncle is right, Meister Peter," said Jan Van der Does, the same tall +young noble, who, on the morning of that day, had sent Nicolas Van +Wibisma home with a kindly warning. "It's no use, you must seek the +Prince and consult with him." + +"I suppose I must," replied the burgomaster. "I'll go to-morrow +morning." + +"Not to-morrow," replied Van Hout. "The Prince rides fast, and if you +don't find him in Delft--" + +"Do you go first," urged the burgomaster, "you have the record of our +session." + +"I cannot; but to-day you, the Prince's friend, for the first time lack +good-will." + +"You are right, Jan," exclaimed the burgomaster, "and you shall know what +holds me back." + +"If it is anything a friend can do for you, here he stands," said von +Nordwyk. + +Van der Werff grasped the hand the young nobleman extended, and answered, +smiling: "No, my lord, no. You know my young wife. To-day we should +have celebrated the first anniversary of our marriage, and amid all these +anxieties I disgracefully forgot it." + +"Hard, hard," said Van Hout, softly. Then he drew himself up to his full +height, and added resolutely: "And yet, were I in your place, I would go, +in spite of her." + +"Would you go to-day?" + +"To-day, for to-morrow it may be too late. Who knows how soon egress +from the city may be stopped and, before again venturing the utmost, we +must know the Prince's opinion. You possess more of his confidence than +any of us." + +"And God knows how gladly I would bring him a cheering word in these +sorrowful hours; but it must not be to-day. The messenger has ridden off +on my bay." + +"Then take my chestnut, he is faster too," said Janus Dousa and Van der +Werff answered hastily. + +"Thanks, my lord. I'll send for him early tomorrow morning." + +The blood mounted to Van Hout's head and, thrusting his hand angrily +between his girdle and doublet, he exclaimed: "Send me the chestnut, if +the burgomaster will give me leave of absence." + +"No, send him to me," replied Peter calmly. "What must be, must be; I'll +go to-day." + +Van Hout's manly features quickly smoothed and, clasping the +burgomaster's right hand in both his, he said joyously: + +"Thanks, Herr Peter. And no offence; you know my hot temper. If the +time seems long to your young wife, send her to mine." + +"And mine," added Dousa. "It's a strange thing about those two little +words 'wish' and 'ought.' The freer and better a man becomes, the more +surely the first becomes the slave of the second. + +"And yet, Herr Peter, I'll wager that your wife will confound the two +words to-day, and think you have sorely transgressed against the 'ought.' +These are bad times for the 'wish.'" + +Van der Werff nodded assent, then briefly and firmly explained to his +friends what he intended to disclose to the Prince. + +The three men separated before the burgomaster's house. + +"Tell the Prince," said Van Hout, on parting, "that we are prepared for +the worst, will endure and dare it." + +At these words Janus Dousa measured both his companions with his eyes, +his lips quivered as they always did when any strong emotion filled his +heart, and while his shrewd face beamed with joy and confidence, he +exclaimed: "We three will hold out, we three will stand firm, the tyrant +may break our necks, but he shall not bend them. Life, fortune, all that +is dear and precious and useful to man, we will resign for the highest of +blessings." + +"Ay," said Van der Werff, loudly and earnestly, while Van Hout +impetuously repeated: "Yes, yes, thrice yes." + +The three men, so united in feeling, grasped each other's hands firmly +for a moment. A silent vow bound them in this hour, and when Herr von +Nordwyk and Van Hout turned in opposite directions, the citizens who met +them thought their tall figures had grown taller still within the last +few hours. + +The burgomaster went to his wife's room without delay, but did not find +her there. + +She had gone out of the gate with his sister. + +The maid-servant carried a light into his chamber; he followed her, +examined the huge locks of his pistols, buckled on his old sword, put +what he needed into his saddle-bags, then, with his tall figure drawn up +to its full height, paced up and down the room, entirely absorbed in his +task. + +Herr von Nordwyk's chestnut horse was stamping on the pavement before the +door, and Hesperus was rising above the roofs. + +The door of the house now opened. + +He went into the entry and found, not his wife, but Adrian, who had just +returned home, told the boy to give his most loving remembrances to his +mother, and say that he was obliged to seek the Prince on important +business. + +Old Trautchen had already washed and undressed little Elizabeth, and now +brought him the child wrapped in a coverlet. He kissed the dear little +face, which smiled at him out of its queer disguise, pressed his lips to +Adrian's forehead, again told him to give his love to his mother, and +then rode down Marendorpstrasse. + +Two women, coming from the Rheinsburger gate, met him just as he reached +St. Stephen's cloister. He did not notice them, but the younger one +pushed the kerchief back from her head, hastily grasped her companion's +wrist, and exclaimed in a low tone: + +"That was Peter!" + +Barbara raised her head higher. + +"It's lucky I'm not timid. Let go of my arm. Do you mean the horseman +trotting past St. Ursula alley?" + +"Yes, it is Peter." + +"Nonsense, child! The bay has shorter legs than that tall camel; and +Peter never rides out at this hour." + +"But it was he." + +"God forbid! At night a linden looks like a beechtree. It would be a +pretty piece of business, if he didn't come home to-day." + +The last words had escaped Barbara's lips against her will; for until +then she had prudently feigned not to suspect that everything between +Maria and her husband was not exactly as it ought to be, though she +plainly perceived what was passing in the mind of her young sister-in- +law. + +She was a shrewd woman, with much experience of the world, who certainly +did not undervalue her brother and his importance to the cause of their +native land; nay, she went so far as to believe that, with the exception +of the Prince of Orange, no man on earth would be more skilful than Peter +in guiding the cause of freedom to a successful end; but she felt that +her brother was not treating Maria justly, and being a fair-minded woman, +silently took sides against the husband who neglected his wife. + +Both walked side by side for a time in silence. At last the widow +paused, saying: + +"Perhaps the Prince has sent a messenger for Peter. In such times, after +such blows, everything is possible. You might have seen correctly." + +"It was surely he," replied Maria positively. + +"Poor fellow!" said the other. "It must be a sad ride for him! Much +honor, much hardship! You've no reason to despond, for your husband will +return tomorrow or the day after; while I--look at me, Maria! I go +through life stiff and straight, do my duty cheerfully; my cheeks are +rosy, my food has a relish, yet I've been obliged to resign what was +dearest to me. I have endured my widowhood ten years; my daughter +Gretchen has married, and I sent Cornelius myself to the Beggars of the +Sea. Any hour may rob me of him, for his life is one of constant peril. +What has a widow except her only son? And I gave him up for our +country's cause! That is harder than to see a husband ride away for a +few hours on the anniversary of his wedding-day. He certainly doesn't do +it for his own pleasure!" + +"Here we are at home," said Maria, raising the knocker. + +Trautchen opened the door and, even before crossing the threshold, +Barbara exclaimed: + +"Is your master at home?" + +The reply was in the negative, as she too now expected. + +Adrian gave his message; Trautchen brought up the supper, but the +conversation would not extend beyond "yes" and "no." + +After Maria had hastily asked the blessing, she rose, and turning to +Barbara, said: + +"My head aches, I should like to go to bed." + +"Then go to rest," replied the widow. "I'll sleep in the next room and +leave the door open. In darkness and silence--whims come." + +Maria kissed her sister-in-law with sincere affection, and lay down in +bed; but she found no sleep, and tossed restlessly to and fro until near +midnight. + +Hearing Barbara cough in the next room, she sat up and asked: + +"Sister-in-law, are you asleep?" + +"No, child. Do you feel ill?" + +"Not exactly; but I'm so anxious--horrible thoughts torment me." + +Barbara instantly lighted a candle at the night-lamp, entered the chamber +with it, and sat down on the edge of the bed. + +Her heart ached as she gazed at the pretty young creature lying alone, +full of sorrow, in the wide bed, unable to sleep from bitter grief. + +Maria had never seemed to her so beautiful; resting in her white night- +robes on the snowy pillow, she looked like a sorrowing angel. + +Barbara could not refrain from smoothing the hair back from the narrow +forehead and kissing the flushed cheeks. + +Maria gazed gratefully into her small, light-blue eyes and said +beseechingly: + +"I should like to ask you something." + +"Well?" + +"But you must honestly tell me the truth." + +"That is asking a great deal!" + +"I know you are sincere, but it is--" + +"Speak freely." + +"Was Peter happy with his first wife?" + +"Yes, child, yes." + +"And do you know this not only from him, but also from his dead wife, +Eva?" + +"Yes, sister-in-law, yes." + +"And you can't be mistaken?" + +"Not in this case certainly! But what puts such thoughts into your head? +The Bible says: 'Let the dead bury their dead.' Now turn over and try +to sleep." + +Barbara went back to her room, but hours elapsed ere Maria found the +slumber she sought. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The next morning two horsemen, dressed in neat livery, were waiting +before the door of a handsome House in Nobelstrasse, near the market- +place. A third was leading two sturdy roan steeds up and down, and a +stable-boy held by the bridle a gaily-bedizened, long maned pony. This +was intended for the young negro lad, who stood in the door-way of the +house and kept off the street-boys, who ventured to approach, by rolling +his eyes and gnashing his white teeth at them. + +"Where can they be?" said one of the mounted men: "The rain won't keep +off long to-day." + +"Certainly not," replied the other. "The sky is as grey as my old felt- +hat, and, by the time we reach the forest, it will be pouring." + +It's misting already." + +"Such cold, damp weather is particularly disagreeable to me." + +"It was pleasant yesterday." + +"Button the flaps tighter over the pistol-holsters! The portmanteau +behind the young master's saddle isn't exactly even. There! Did the +cook fill the flask for you?" + +"With brown Spanish wine. There it is." + +"Then let it pour. When a fellow is wet inside, he can bear a great deal +of moisture without." + +"Lead the horses up to the door; I hear the gentlemen." + +The man was not mistaken; for before his companion had succeeded in +stopping the larger roan, the voices of his master, Herr Matanesse Van +Wibisma, and his son, Nicolas, were heard in the wide entry. + +Both were exchanging affectionate farewells with a young girl, whose +voice sounded deeper than the halfgrown boy's. + +As the older gentleman thrust his hand through the roan's mane and was +already lifting his foot to put it in the stirrup, the young girl, who +had remained in the entry, came out into the street, laid her hand on +Wibisma's arm, and said: + +"One word more, uncle, but to you alone." + +The baron still held his horse's mane in his hand, exclaiming with a +cordial smile: + +"If only it isn't too heavy for the roan. A secret from beautiful lips +has its weight." + +While speaking, he bent his ear towards his niece, but she did not seem +to have intended to whisper, for she approached no nearer and merely +lowered her tone, saying in the Italian language: + +"Please tell my father, that I won't stay here." + +"Why, Henrica!" + +"Tell him I won't do so under any circumstances." + +"Your aunt won't let you go." + +"In short, I won't stay." + +"I'll deliver the message, but in somewhat milder terms, if agreeable to +you." + +"As you choose. Tell him, too, that I beg him to send for me. If he +doesn't wish to enter this heretic's nest himself, for which I don't +blame him in the least, he need only send horses or the carriage for me." + +"And your reasons?" + +"I won't weight your baggage still more heavily. Go, or the saddle will +be wet before you ride off" + +"Then I'm to tell Hoogstraten to expect a letter." + +"No. Such things can't be written. Besides, it won't be necessary. +Tell my father I won't stay with aunt, and want to go home. Good-bye, +Nico. Your riding-boots and green cloth doublet are much more becoming +than those silk fal-lals." + +The young lady kissed her hand to the youth, who had already swung +himself into the saddle, and hurried back to the house. Her uncle +shrugged his shoulders, mounted the roan, wrapped the dark cloak closer +around him, beckoned Nicolas to his side, and rode on with him in advance +of the servants. + +No word was exchanged between them, so long as their way led through the +city, but outside the gate, Wibisma said: + +"Henrica finds the time long in Leyden; she would like to go back to her +father." + +"It can't be very pleasant to stay with aunt," replied the youth. + +"She is old and sick, and her life has been a joyless one." + +"Yet she was beautiful. Few traces of it are visible, but her eyes are +still like those in the portrait, and besides she is so rich." + +"That doesn't give happiness." + +"But why has she remained unmarried?" The baron shrugged his shoulders, +and replied: "It certainly didn't suit the men." + +"Then why didn't she go into a convent?" + +"Who knows? Women's hearts are harder to understand than your Greek +books. You'll learn that later. What were you saying to your aunt as +I came up?" + +"Why, just see," replied the boy, putting the bridle in his mouth, and +drawing the glove from his left hand, "she slipped this ring on my +finger." + +"A splendid emerald! She doesn't usually like to part with such things." + +"She first offered me another, saying she would give it to me to make +amends for the thumps I received yesterday as a faithful follower of the +king. Isn't it comical?" + +"More than that, I should think." + +"It was contrary to my nature to accept gifts for my bruises, and I +hastily drew my hand back, saying the burgher lads had taken some home +from me, and I wouldn't have the ring as a reward for that." + +"Right, Nico, right." + +"So she said too, put the little ring back in the box, found this one, +and here it is." + +"A valuable gem!" murmured the baron, thinking: "This gift is a good +omen. The Hoogstratens and he are her nearest heirs, and if the silly +girl doesn't stay with her, it might happen--" + +But he found no time to finish these reflections, Nicolas interrupted +them by saying: + +"It's beginning to rain already. Don't the fogs on the meadows look like +clouds fallen from the skies? I am cold." + +"Draw your cloak closer." + +"How it rains and hails! One would think it was winter. The water in +the canals looks black, and yonder--see--what is that?" + +A tavern stood beside the road, and just in front of it a single lofty +elm towered towards the sky. Its trunk, bare as a mast, had grown +straight up without separating into branches until it attained the height +of a house. Spring had as yet lured no leaves from the boughs, but there +were many objects to be seen in the bare top of the tree. A small flag, +bearing the colors of the House of Orange, was fastened to one branch, +from another hung a large doll, which at a distance strongly resembled a +man dressed in black, an old hat dangled from a third, and a fourth +supported a piece of white pasteboard, on which might be read in large +black letters, which the rain was already beginning to efface: + + "Good luck to Orange, to the Spaniard death. + So Peter Quatgelat welcomes his guests." + +This tree, with its motley adornments, offered a by no means pleasant +spectacle, seen in the grey, cold, misty atmosphere of the rainy April +morning. + +Ravens had alighted beside the doll swaying to and fro in the wind, +probably mistaking it for a man. They must have been by no means +teachable birds, for during the years the Spaniards had ruled in Holland, +the places of execution were never empty. They were screeching as if in +anger, but still remained perched on the tree, which they probably +mistook for a gibbet. The rest of the comical ornaments and the thought +of the nimble adventurer, who must have climbed up to fasten them, formed +a glaring and offensive contrast to the caricature of the gallows. + +Yet Nicolas laughed loudly, as he perceived the queer objects in the top +of the elm, and pointing upward, said: + +"What kind of fruits are hanging there?" + +But the next instant a chill ran down his back, for a raven perched on +the black doll and pecked so fiercely at it with its hard beak, that bird +and image swayed to and fro like a pendulum. + +"What does this nonsense mean?" asked the baron, turning to the servant, +a bold-looking fellow, who rode behind him. + +"It's something like a tavern-sign," replied the latter. "Yesterday, +when the sun was shining, it looked funny enough--but to-day--b-r-r-r- +it's horrible." + +The nobleman's eyes were not keen enough to read the inscription on the +placard. When Nicolas read it aloud to him, he muttered an oath, then +turned again to the servant, saying: + +"And does this nonsense bring guests to the rascally host's tavern?" + +"Yes, my lord, and 'pon my soul, it looked very comical yesterday, when +the ravens were not to be seen; a fellow couldn't look at it without +laughing. Half Leyden was there, and we went with the crowd. There was +such an uproar on the grass-plot yonder. Dudeldum--Hubutt, Hubutt-- +Dudeldum--fiddles squeaking and bag-pipes droning as if they never would +stop. The crazy throng shouted amidst the din; the noise still rings in +my ears. There was no end to the games and dancing. The lads tossed +their brown, blue and red-stockinged legs in the air, just as the fiddle +played--the coat-tails flew and, holding a girl clasped in the right arm +and a mug of beer high over their heads till the foam spattered, the +throng of men whirled round and round. There was as much screaming and +rejoicing as if every butter-cup in the grass had been changed into a +gold florin. But to-day--holy Florian--this is a rain!" + +"It will do the things up there good," exclaimed the baron. "The tinder +grows damp in such a torrent, or I'd take out my pistols and shoot the +shabby liberty hat and motley tatters off the tree." + +"That was the dancing ground," said the man, pointing to a patch of +trampled grass. + +"The people are possessed, perfectly possessed," cried the baron, +"dancing and rejoicing to-day, and tomorrow the wind will blow the felt- +hat and flag from the tree, and instead of the black puppet they +themselves will come to the gallows. Steady roan, steady! The hail +frightens the beasts. Unbuckle the portmanteau, Gerrit, and give your +young master a blanket." + +"Yes, my lord. But wouldn't it be better for you to go in here until the +shower is over? Holy Florian! + +"Just see that piece of ice in your horse's mane! It's as large as a +pigeon's egg. Two horses are already standing under the shed, and +Quatgelat's beer isn't bad." The baron glanced inquiringly at his son. + +"Let us go in," replied Nicolas; "we shall get to the Hague early enough. +See how poor Balthasar is shivering! Henrica says he's a white boy +painted; but if she could see how well he keeps his color in this +weather, she would take it back." + +Herr Van Wibisma turned his dripping, smoking steed, frightened by the +hail-stones, towards the house, and in a few minutes crossed the +threshold of the inn with his son. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A current of warm air, redolent of beer and food, met the travellers as +they entered the large, low room, dimly lighted by the tiny windows, +scarcely more than loop-holes, pierced in two sides. The tap-room itself +looked like the cabin of a ship. Ceiling and floor, chairs and tables, +were made of the same dark-brown wood that covered the walls, along which +beds were ranged like berths. + +The host, with many bows, came forward to receive the aristocratic +guests, and led them to the fire-place, where huge pieces of peat were +glimmering. The heat they sent forth answered several purposes at the +same time. It warmed the air, lighted a portion of the room, which was +very dark in rainy weather, and served to cook three fowl that, suspended +from a thin iron bar over the fire, were already beginning to brown. + +As the new guests approached the hearth, an old woman, who had been +turning the spit, pushed a white cat from her lap and rose. + +The landlord tossed on a bench several garments spread over the backs of +two chairs to dry, and hung in their place the dripping cloaks of the +baron and his son. + +While the elder Wibisma was ordering something hot to drink for himself +and servants, Nicolas led the black page to the fire. + +The shivering boy crouched on the floor beside the ashes, and stretched +now his soaked feet, shod in red morocco, and now his stiffened fingers +to the blaze. + +The father and son took their seats at a table, over which the maid- +servant had spread a cloth. The baron was inclined to enter into +conversation about the decorated tree with the landlord, an over-civil, +pock-marked dwarf, whose clothes were precisely the same shade of brown +as the wood in his tap-room; but refrained from doing so because two +citizens of Leyden, one of whom was well known to him, sat at a short +distance from his table, and he did not wish to be drawn into a quarrel +in a place like this. + +After Nicolas had also glanced around the tap-room, he touched his +father, saying in a low tone: + +"Did you notice the men yonder? The younger one--he's lifting the cover +of the tankard now--is the organist who released me from the boys and +gave me his cloak yesterday." + +"The one yonder?" asked the nobleman. "A handsome young fellow. He +might be taken for an artist or something of that kind. Here, landlord, +who is the gentleman with brown hair and large eyes, talking to +Allertssohn, the fencing-master?" + +"It's Herr Wilhelm, younger son of old Herr Cornelius, Receiver General, +a player or musician, as they call them." + +"Eh, eh," cried the baron. "His father is one of my old Leyden +acquaintances. He was a worthy, excellent man before the craze for +liberty turned people's heads. The youth, too, has a face pleasant to +look at. + +"There is something pure about it--something-it's hard to say, something +--what do you think, Nico? Doesn't he look like our Saint Sebastian? +Shall I speak to him and thank him for his kindness?" + +The baron, without waiting for his son, whom he treated as an equal, to +reply, rose to give expression to his friendly feelings towards the +musician, but this laudable intention met with an unexpected obstacle. + +The man, whom the baron had called the fencing-master Allertssohn, had +just perceived that the "Glippers" cloaks were hanging by the fire, while +his friend's and his own were flung on a bench. This fact seemed to +greatly irritate the Leyden burgher; for as the baron rose, he pushed his +own chair violently back, bent his muscular body forward, rested both +arms on the edge of the table opposite to him and, with a jerking motion, +turned his soldierly face sometimes towards the baron, and sometimes +towards the landlord. At last he shouted loudly: + +"Peter Quatgelat--you villain, you! What ails you, you, miserable +hunchback!--Who gives you a right to toss our cloaks into a corner?" + +"Yours, Captain," stammered the host, "were already--" + +"Hold your tongue, you fawning knave!" thundered the other in so loud a +tone and such excitement, that the long grey moustache on his upper lip +shook, and the thick beard on his chin trembled. "Hold your tongue! +We know better. Jove's thunder! Nobleman's cloaks are favored here. +They're of Spanish cut. That exactly suits the Glippers' faces. Good +Dutch cloth is thrown into the corner. Ho, ho, Brother Crooklegs, we'll +put you on parade." + +"Pray, most noble Captain--" + +"I'll blow away your most noble, you worthless scamp, you arrant rascal! +First come, first served, is the rule in Holland, and has been ever since +the days of Adam and Eve. Prick up your ears, Crooklegs! If my 'most +noble' cloak, and Herr Wilhelm's too, are not hanging in their old places +before I count twenty, something will happen here that won't suit you. +One-two-three--" + +The landlord cast a timid, questioning glance at the nobleman, and as the +latter shrugged his shoulders and said audibly: "There is probably room +for more than two cloaks at the fire," Quatgelat took the Leyden guests' +wraps from the bench and hung them on two chairs, which he pushed up to +the mantel-piece. + +While this was being done, the fencing-master slowly continued to count. +By the time he reached twenty the landlord had finished his task, yet the +irate captain still gave him no peace, but said: + +"Now our reckoning, man. Wind and storm are far from pleasant, but I +know even worse company. There's room enough at the fire for four +cloaks, and in Holland for all the animals in Noah's ark, except +Spaniards and the allies of Spain. Deuce take it, all the bile in my +liver is stirred. Come to the horses with me, Herr Wilhelm, or there'll +be mischief." + +The fencing-master, while uttering the last words, stared angrily +at the nobleman with his prominent eyes, which even under ordinary +circumstances, always looked as keen as if they had something marvellous +to examine. + +Wibisma pretended not to hear the provoking words, and, as the fencing- +master left the room, walked calmly, with head erect, towards the +musician, bowed courteously, and thanked him for the kindness he had +shown his son the day before. + +"You are not in the least indebted to me," replied Wilhelm Corneliussohn. +"I helped the young nobleman, because it always has an ill look when +numbers attack one." + +"Then allow me to praise this opinion," replied the baron. + +"Opinion," repeated the musician with a subtle smile, drawing a few notes +on the table. + +The baron watched his fingers silently a short time, then advanced nearer +the young man, asking: + +"Must everything now relate to political dissensions?" + +"Yes," replied Wilhelm firmly, turning his face with a rapid movement +towards the older man. "In these times 'yes,' twenty times 'yes.' You +wouldn't do well to discuss opinions with me, Herr Matanesse." + +"Every man," replied the nobleman, shrugging his shoulders, "every man of +course believes his own opinion the right one, yet he ought to respect +the views of those who think differently." + +"No, my lord," cried the musician. "In these times there is but one +opinion for us. I wish to share nothing, not even a drink at the table, +with any man who has Holland blood, and feels differently. Excuse me, my +lord; my travelling companion, as you have unfortunately learned, has an +impatient temper and doesn't like to wait." + +Wilhelm bowed distantly, waved his hand to Nicolas, approached the +chimney-piece, took the half-dried cloaks on his arm, tossed a coin on +the table and, holding in his hands a covered cage in which several birds +were fluttering, left the room. + +The baron gazed after him in silence. The simple words and the young +man's departure aroused painful emotions. He believed he desired what +was right, yet at this moment a feeling stole over him that a stain +rested on the cause he supported. + +It is more endurable to be courted than avoided, and thus an expression +of deep annoyance rested on the nobleman's pleasant features as he +returned to his son. + +Nicolas had not lost a single word uttered by the organist, and the blood +left his ruddy cheeks as he was forced to see this man, whose appearance +had especially won his young heart, turn his back upon his father as if +he were a dishonorable man to be avoided. + +The words, with which Janus Dousa had left him the day before, returned +to his mind with great force, and when the baron again seated himself +opposite him, the boy raised his eyes and said hesitatingly, but with +touching earnestness and sincere anxiety: + +"Father, what does that mean? Father--are they so wholly wrong, if they +would rather be Hollanders than Spaniards?" + +Wibisma looked at his son with surprise and displeasure, and because he +felt his own firmness wavering, and a blustering word often does good +service where there is lack of possibility or inclination to contend +against reasons, he exclaimed more angrily than he had spoken to his son +for years: + +"Are you, too, beginning to relish the bait with which Orange lures +simpletons? Another word of that kind, and I'll show you how malapert +lads are treated. Here, landlord, what's the meaning of that nonsense on +yonder tree?" + +"The people, my lord, the Leyden fools are to blame for the mischief, +not I. They decked the tree out in that ridiculous way, when the troops +stationed in the city during the siege retired. I keep this house as a +tenant of old Herr Van der Does, and dare not have any opinions of my +own, for people must live, but, as truly as I hope for salvation, I'm +loyal to King Philip." + +"Until the Leyden burghers come out here again," replied Wibisma +bitterly. "Did you keep this inn during the siege?" + +"Yes, my lord, the Spaniards had no cause to complain of me, and if a +poor man's services are not too insignificant for you, they are at your +disposal." + +"Ah! ha!" muttered the baron, gazing attentively at the landlord's +disagreeable face, whose little eyes glittered very craftily, then +turning to Nicolas, said: + +"Go and watch the blackbirds in the window yonder a little while, my son, +I have something to say to the host." + +The youth instantly obeyed and as, instead of looking at the birds, he +gazed after the two enthusiastic supporters of Holland's liberty, who +were riding along the road leading to Delft, remembered the simile of +fetters that drag men down, and saw rising before his mental vision the +glitter of the gold chain King Philip had sent his father, Nicolas +involuntarily glanced towards him as he stood whispering eagerly with the +landlord. Now he even laid his hand on his shoulder. Was it right for +him to hold intercourse with a man whom he must despise at heart? Or was +he--he shuddered, for the word "traitor," which one of the school-boys +had shouted in his ears during the quarrel before the church, returned to +his memory. + +When the rain grew less violent, the travellers left the inn. The baron +allowed the hideous landlord to kiss his hand at parting, but Nicolas +would not suffer him to touch his. + +Few words were exchanged between father and son during the remainder of +their ride to the Hague, but the musician and the fencing-master were +less silent on the way to Delft. + +Wilhelm had modestly, as beseemed the younger man, suggested that his +companion had expressed his hostile feelings towards the nobleman too +openly. + +"True, perfectly true," replied Allertssohn, whom his friends called +"Allerts." "Very true! Temper oh! temper! You don't suspect, Herr +Wilhelm--But we'll let it pass." + +"No, speak, Meister." + +"You'll think no better of me, if I do." + +"Then let us talk of something else." + +"No, Wilhelm. I needn't be ashamed, no one will take me for a coward." + +The musician laughed, exclaiming: "You a coward! How many Spaniards has +your Brescian sword killed?" + +"Wounded, wounded, sir, far oftener than killed," replied the other. "If +the devil challenges me I shall ask: Foils, sir, or Spanish swords? But +there's one person I do fear, and that's my best and at the same time my +worst friend, a Netherlander, like yourself, the man who rides here +beside you. Yes, when rage seizes upon me, when my beard begins to +tremble, my small share of sense flies away as fast as your doves when +you let them go. You don't know me, Wilhelm." + +"Don't I? How often must one see you in command and visit you in the +fencing-room?" + +"Pooh, pooh--there I'm as quiet as the water in yonder ditch--but when +anything goes against the grain, when--how shall I explain it to you, +without similes?" + +"Go on." + +"For instance, when I am obliged to see a sycophant treated as if he were +Sir Upright--" + +"So that vexes you greatly?" + +"Vexes? No! Then I grow as savage as a tiger, and I ought not to be so, +I ought not. Roland, my foreman, probably likes--" + +"Meister, Meister, your beard is beginning to tremble already!" + +"What did the Glippers think, when their aristocratic cloaks--" + +The landlord took yours and mine from the fire entirely on his own +responsibility." + +"I don't care! The crook-legged ape did it to honor the Spanish +sycophant. It enraged me, it was intolerable." + +"You didn't keep your wrath to yourself, and I was surprised to see how +patiently the baron bore your insults." + +"That's just it, that's it!" cried the fencing-master, while his beard +began to twitch violently. "That's what drove me out of the tavern, +that's why I took to my heels. That--that--Roland, my fore man." + +"I don't understand you." + +"Don't you, don't you? How should you; but I'll explain. When you're as +old as I am, young man, you'll experience it too. There are few +perfectly sound trees in the forest, few horses without a blemish, few +swords without a stain, and scarcely a man who has passed his fortieth +year that has not a worm in his breast. Some gnaw slightly, others +torture with sharp fangs, and mine--mine.--Do you want to cast a glance +in here?" + +The fencing-master struck his broad chest as he uttered these words and, +without waiting for his companion's reply, continued: + +"You know me and my life, Herr Wilhelm. What do I do, what do I +practise? Only chivalrous work. + +"My life is based upon the sword. Do you know a better blade or surer +hand than mine? Do my soldiers obey me? Have I spared my blood in +fighting before the red walls and towers yonder? No, by my fore man +Roland, no, no, a thousand times no." + +"Who denies it, Meister Allerts? But tell me, what do you mean by your +cry: Roland, my fore man?" + +"Another time, Wilhelm; you mustn't interrupt me now. Hear my story +about where the worm hides in me. So once more: What I do, the calling I +follow, is knightly work, yet when a Wibisma, who learned how to use his +sword from my father, treats me ill and stirs up my bile, if I should +presume to challenge him, as would be my just right, what would he do? +Laugh and ask: 'What will the passado cost, Fencing-master Allerts? Have +you polished rapiers?' Perhaps he wouldn't even answer at all, and we +saw just now how he acts. His glance slipped past me like an eel, and he +had wax in his ears. Whether I reproach, or a cur yelps at him, is all +the same to his lordship. If only a Renneberg or Brederode had been in +my place just now, how quickly Wibisma's sword would have flown from its +sheath, for he understands how to fight and is no coward. But I--I? +Nobody would willingly allow himself to be struck in the face, yet so +surely as my father was a brave man, even the worst insult could be more +easily borne, than the feeling of being held in too slight esteem to be +able to offer an affront. You see, Wilhelm, when the Glipper looked past +me--" + +"Your beard lost its calmness." + +"It's all very well for you to jest, you don't know--" + +"Yes, yes, Herr Allerts; I understand you perfectly." + +"And do you also understand, why I took myself and my sword out of doors +so quickly?" + +"Perfectly; but please stop a moment with me now. The doves are +fluttering so violently; they want air." The fencing-master stopped his +steed, and while Wilhelm was removing the dripping cloth from the little +cage that rested between him and his horse's neck, said: + +"How can a man trouble himself about such gentle little creatures? If +you want to diminish, in behalf of feathered folk, the time given to +music, tame falcons, that's a knightly craft, and I can teach you." + +"Let my doves alone," replied Wilhelm. "They are not so harmless as +people suppose, and have done good service in many a war, which is +certainly chivalrous pastime. Remember Haarlem. There, it's beginning +to pour again. If my cloak were only not so short; I would like to cover +the doves with it." + +"You certainly look like Goliath in David's garments." + +"It's my scholar's cloak; I put my other on young Wibisma's shoulders +yesterday." + +"The Spanish green-finch?" + +"I told you about the boys' brawl." + +"Yes, yes. And the monkey kept your cloak?" + +"You came for me and wouldn't wait. They probably sent it back soon +after our departure." + +"And their lordships expect thanks because the young nobleman accepted +it!" + +"No, no; the baron expressed his gratitude." + +"But that doesn't make your cape any longer. Take my cloak, Wilhelm. +I've no doves to shelter, and my skin is thicker than yours." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A blustering word often does good service +Held in too slight esteem to be able to offer an affront +The shirt is closer than the coat +Those two little words 'wish' and 'ought' +Wet inside, he can bear a great deal of moisture without + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURGOMASTER'S WIFE, BY EBERS, V1 *** + +*********** This file should be named 5578.txt or 5578.zip ********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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