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+The Project Gutenberg EBook The Burgomaster's Wife, by Georg Ebers, v3
+#141 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+
+Title: The Burgomaster's Wife, Volume 3.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5580]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on August 12, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURGOMASTER'S WIFE, BY EBERS, V3 ***
+
+
+
+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 3.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+On the afternoon of the sixteenth of May, Burgomaster Van der Werff's
+wife was examining chests and boxes.  Her husband was at the town-hall,
+but had told her that towards evening, the Prince's commissioner, Herr
+Dietrich Van Bronkhorst, the two Seigneurs von Nordwyk, the city clerk
+Van Hout, and several other heads of municipal affairs and friends of
+freedom would meet at his house for a confidential consultation.  Maria
+had the charge of providing the gentlemen with a nice collation, wine,
+and many similar cares.
+
+This invitation had a very cheering influence on the young wife.  It
+pleased her to be able to play the hostess, according to the meaning of
+the word in her parents' house.  How long she had been debarred from
+hearing any grave, earnest conversation.  True, there had been no lack of
+visitors: the friends and relatives of her husband's family, who called
+upon her and talked with Barbara, often begged her to come to their
+houses; among them were many who showed themselves kindly disposed and
+could not help respecting her worth, but not one to whom she was
+attracted by any warm affection.  Maria, whose life was certainly not
+crowded with amusements, dreaded their coming, and when they did call,
+endured their presence as an unavoidable evil.  The worthy matrons were
+all much older than herself and, while sitting over their cakes, stewed
+fruit, and hippocras, knitting, spinning or netting, talked of the hard
+times during the siege, of the cares of children and servants, washing
+and soap-making, or subjected to a rigid scrutiny the numerous
+incomprehensible and reprehensible acts other women were said to have
+committed, to be committing, or to desire to commit, until Maria's heart
+grew heavy and her lonely room seemed to her a peaceful asylum.
+
+She could find words only when the conversation turned upon the misery of
+the country and the sacred duty of bearing every privation a second time,
+if necessary for the freedom of the nation, and then she gladly listened
+to the sturdy women, who evidently meant what they said; but when the
+hours were filled with idle gossip, it caused her actual pain.  Yet she
+dared not avoid it and was obliged to wait until the departure of the
+last acquaintance; for after she had ventured to retire early several
+times, Barbara kindly warned her against it, not concealing that she had
+had great difficulty in defending her against the reproach of pride and
+incivility.
+
+"Such chat," said the widow, "is pleasant and strengthens the courage,
+and whoever leaves the visitors while they are together, can pray the
+Lord for a favorable report."
+
+One lady in Leyden pleased the burgomaster's wife.  This was the wife of
+Herr Van Hout, the city clerk, but the latter rarely appeared in company,
+for though a delicate, aristocratic-looking woman, she was obliged to be
+busy from morning till night, to keep the children and household in good
+order on a narrow income.
+
+Maria felt brighter and happier than she had done for many days, as she
+stood before the shelf that contained the table-furniture and the
+cupboard where the silver was kept.  All the handsome dishes belonging to
+the house were bright and shining, free from every grain of dust, so too
+were the white linen cloths, trimmed with lace.  She selected what she
+needed, but many of the pewter, glass, and silver articles did not please
+her; for they did not match, and she found scratches and cracks on
+numerous pieces.
+
+When her mother had begun to prepare her wedding-outfit, Peter expressed
+a desire that in these hard times the money should be kept and no useless
+things purchased.  There was an abundance of household articles of every
+kind in his home, and he would have thought it wrong to buy even a plate.
+In fact there was no lack of anything on the shelves and cupboards, but
+she had not selected and bought them herself; they belonged to her, but
+not entirely, and what was worse, her eyes, accustomed to prettier
+things, could find no pleasure in these dull, scratched pewter plates,
+these pitchers, cups and tankards painted in coarse figures with glaring
+colors.  The clumsy glass, too, did not suit her taste, and, while
+looking it over and selecting what was necessary, she could not help
+thinking of her recently-wedded friends, who, with sparkling eyes, had
+showed her their spick-and-span new table-furniture as proudly and
+happily, as if each piece had been their own work.  But, even with the
+articles she possessed, a table could be set very prettily and daintily.
+
+She had gone out with Adrian before dinner to cut some flowers in the
+garden by the city wall, and also gathered some delicate grasses in the
+meadow before the gate.  These gifts of May were now tastefully arranged,
+mixed with peacock-feathers, and placed in vases, and she was delighted
+to see even the clumsiest dishes win a graceful aspect from the garlands
+she twined around them.  Adrian watched her in astonishment.  He would
+not have marvelled if, under her hands, the dark dining-room had been
+transformed into a hall of mother-of-pearl and crystal.
+
+When the table was laid, Peter returned home for a moment.  He was going
+to ride out to Valkenburg with Captain Allertssohn, Janus Dousa, and
+other gentlemen, to inspect the fortifications before his guests
+appeared.  As he passed through the dining-room, he waved his hand
+to his wife and glancing over the table, said:
+
+"This decoration was not necessary, least of all the flowers.  We expect
+to hold a serious consultation, and you have arranged a wedding-banquet."
+
+Perceiving that Maria cast down her eyes, he exclaimed kindly:
+
+"But it can remain so for aught I care," and left the room.
+
+Maria stood irresolutely before her work.  Bitter emotions were again
+beginning to stir in her mind, and she was already extending her hand
+defiantly towards one particularly beautiful vase, when Adrian raised his
+large eyes to her face, exclaiming in a tone of earnest entreaty:
+
+"No, mother, you mustn't do that, it looks quite too pretty."
+
+Maria smiled, passed her hand over the boy's curls, took two cakes from
+a dish, gave them to him, and said:
+
+"One for you, the other for Bessie; our flowers shall stay."
+
+Adrian hurried off with the sweet gifts, but Maria glanced over the table
+once more, saying:
+
+"Peter never wants anything but what is absolutely necessary; yet that
+surely isn't all, or God would have made all the birds with grey
+feathers."
+
+After helping Barbara in the kitchen, she went to her own room.  There
+she arranged her hair, put a fresh, beautifully-starched ruff around her
+neck and carefully-plaited lace in the open bosom of her dress, but wore
+her every-day gown, for her husband did not wish to give the assembly at
+his house a festal aspect.
+
+Just as she had put the last gold pin in her hair, and was considering
+whether the place of honor at the table belonged to Herr Van Bronkhorst,
+as representative of the Prince, or to the older Herr yon Nordwyk,
+Trautchen knocked at the door and informed her, that Doctor Bontius
+wished to see the burgomaster on urgent business.  The maid-servant had
+told the physician that her master had ridden out, but he would not be
+put off, and asked permission to see her mistress.
+
+Maria instantly went to Peter's room.  The doctor seemed to be in haste.
+His only greeting was to point with the gold head of his long staff
+towards the peaked black hat, that never left his head, even beside the
+sickbed, and asked in a curt, hurried tone:
+
+"When will Meister Peter come home?"
+
+"In an hour," replied Maria.  "Sit down, Doctor."
+
+"Another time.  It will keep me too long to wait for your husband.  After
+all, you can come with me even without his consent."
+
+"Certainly; but we are expecting visitors."
+
+"Yes.  If I find time, I shall come too.  The gentlemen can do without
+me, but you are necessary to the sick person to whom I wish to take you."
+
+"I have no idea of whom you are speaking."
+
+"Haven't you?  Then once more, it is of some one who is suffering, and
+that will be enough for you at first."
+
+"And you think I could--"
+
+"You can do far more than you know.  Barbara is attending to affairs in
+the kitchen, and now I tell you again: You must help a sufferer."
+
+"But, Doctor--"
+
+"I must beg you to hurry, for my time is limited.  Do you wish to make
+yourself useful; yes or no?"  The door of the dining-room had remained
+open.  Maria again glanced at the table, and all the pleasures she had
+anticipated this evening passed through her mind.  But as the doctor was
+preparing to go, she stopped him, saying:
+
+"I will come."
+
+The manners of this blunt, but unselfish and clever man were familiar to
+Maria who, without waiting for a reply, brought her shawl, and led the
+way downstairs.  As they passed by the kitchen, Bontius called to
+Barbara:
+
+"Tell Meister Peter, I have taken his wife to see Fraulein Van
+Hoogstraten in Nobelstrasse."
+
+Maria could scarcely keep up with the doctor's rapid strides and had some
+difficulty in understanding him, as in broken sentences he told her that
+all the Glipper friends of the Hoogstraten family had left the city, the
+old Fraulein was dead, the servants had run away from fear of the plague,
+which had no existence, and Henrica was now deserted.  She had been very
+ill with a severe fever, but was much better during the past few days.
+"Misfortune has taken up its abode in the Glipper nest," he added.
+"The scythe-man did the old lady a favor when he took her.  The French
+maid, a feeble nonentity, held out bravely, but after watching a few
+nights broke down entirely and was to have been carried to St.
+Catharine's hospital, but the Italian steward, who is not a bad fellow,
+objected and had her taken to a Catholic laundress.  He has followed to
+nurse her.  No one is left in the deserted house to attend to the young
+lady, except Sister Gonzaga, a good little nun, one of the three who were
+allowed to remain in the old convent near you, but early this morning,
+to cap the climax of misfortune, the kind old woman scalded her fingers
+while heating a bath.  The Catholic priest has faithfully remained at his
+post, but what can we men do in nursing the sick girl!  You doubtless now
+suspect why I brought you with me.  You ought not and cannot become the
+stranger's nurse permanently; but if the young lady is not to sink after
+all, she must now have some face about her which she can love, and God
+has blessed you with one.  Look at the sick girl, talk with her, and if
+you are what I believe you--but here we are."
+
+The air of the dark entrance hall of the Hoogstraten residence was filled
+with a strong odor of musk.  The old lady's death had been instantly
+announced at the town-hall by Doctor Bontius' representative, and an
+armed man was marching up and down in the hall, keeping guard, who told
+the physician that Herr Van Hout had already been here with his men and
+put seals on all the doors.
+
+On the staircase Maria siezed her guide's arm in terror; for through an
+open door-way of the second story, to which she was ascending with her
+companion, she saw in the dusk a shapeless figure, moving strangely
+hither and thither, up and down.  Her tone was by no means confident as,
+pointing towards it with her finger, she asked the doctor:
+
+"What is that?"
+
+The physician had paused with her, and seeing the strange object to which
+the burgomaster's wife pointed, recoiled a step himself.  But the cool-
+headed man quickly perceived the real nature of the ghostly apparition,
+and leading Maria forward exclaimed smiling:
+
+"What in the world are you doing there on the floor, Father Damianus?"
+
+"I am scouring the boards," replied the priest quietly.
+
+"Right is right," cried the doctor indignantly.  "You are too good for
+maid-servant's work, Father Damianus, especially when there is plenty of
+money without an owner here in the house, and we can find as many
+scrubbing-women as we want to-morrow."
+
+"But not to-day, doctor; and the young lady won't stay in yonder room any
+longer.  You ordered her to go to sleep yourself, and Sister Gonzaga says
+she won't close her eyes so long as she is next door to the corpse."
+
+"Then Van Hout's men ought to have carried her on her bed into the old
+lady's beautiful sitting-room."
+
+"That's sealed, and so are all the other handsome chambers on this story.
+The men were obliging and tried to find scrub-women, but the poor things
+are afraid of the plague."
+
+"Such rumors grow like wire-grass," cried the doctor.  Nobody sows it,
+yet who can uproot it when it is once here?"
+
+"Neither you  nor I,"  replied the priest.  "The young lady must be
+brought into this room at once; but it looked neglected, so I've just set
+it to rights.  It will do the invalid good, and the exercise can't hurt
+me."  With these words Father Damianus rose, and seeing Maria, said:
+
+"You have brought a new nurse?  That's right.  I need not praise Sister
+Gonzaga, for you know her; but I assure you Fraulein Henrica won't allow
+her to remain with her long, and I shall leave this house as soon as the
+funeral is over."
+
+"You have done your duty; but what does this news about the Sister mean?"
+cried the physician angrily.  "I'd rather have your old Gonzaga with her
+burnt fingers than--what has happened?"
+
+The priest approached and, hastily casting a side glance at the
+burgomaster's wife, exclaimed:
+
+"She speaks through her nose, and Fraulein Henrica said just now it made
+her ache to hear her talk; I must keep her away."
+
+Doctor Bontius reflected a moment, and then said: "There are eyes that
+cannot endure a glare of light, and perhaps certain tones may seem
+unbearable to irritated ears.  Fran Van der Werff, you have been kept
+waiting a long time, please follow me."
+
+It had grown dark.  The curtains of the sick-room were lowered and a
+small lamp, burning behind a screen, shed but a feeble light.
+
+The doctor approached the bed, felt Henrica's pulse, said a few words in
+a low tone to prepare her for her visitor, and then took the lamp to see
+how the invalid looked.
+
+Maria now beheld a pale face with regular outline, whose dark eyes, in
+their size and lustre, formed a striking contrast to the emaciated cheeks
+and sunken features of the sick girl.
+
+After old Sister Gonzaga had restored the lamp to its former place, the
+physician said:
+
+"Excellent!  Now, Sister, go and change the bandage on your arm and lie
+down."  Then he beckoned Maria to approach.
+
+Henrica's face made a strange impression upon the burgomaster's wife.
+She thought her beautiful, but the large eyes and firmly-shut lips seemed
+peculiar, rather than attractive.  Yet she instantly obeyed the
+physician's summons, approached the bed, said kindly that she had been
+glad to come to stay with her a short time, and asked what she desired.
+
+At these words, Henrica raised herself and with a sigh of relief,
+exclaimed:
+
+"That does me good!  Thanks, Doctor.  That's a human voice again.  If you
+want to please me, Frau Van der Werff keep on talking, no matter what you
+say.  Please come and sit down here.  With Sister Gonzaga's hands, your
+voice, and the doctor's--yes, I will say with Doctor Bontius' candor, it
+won't be difficult to recover entirely."
+
+"Good, good," murmured the physician.  "Kind Sister Gonzaga's injuries
+are not serious and she will stay with you, but when it is time for you
+to sleep, you will be moved elsewhere.  You can remain here an hour,
+Frau Van der Werff, but that will be enough for to-day.  I'll go to your
+house and send the servant for you with a lantern."
+
+When the two ladies were left alone together, Maria said:
+
+"You set great value on the sound of voices; so do I, perhaps more than
+is desirable.  True, I have never had any serious illness--"
+
+"This is my first one too," replied Henrica, "but I know now what it is
+to be compelled to submit to everything we don't like, and feel with two-
+fold keenness everything that is repulsive.  It is better to die than
+suffer."
+
+"Your aunt is dead," said Maria sympathizingly.
+
+"She died early this morning.  We had little in common save the tie of
+blood."
+
+"Are your parents no longer living?"
+
+"Only my father; but what of that?"
+
+He will rejoice over your recovery; Doctor Bontius says you will soon be
+perfectly well."
+
+"I think so too," replied Henrica confidently, and then said softly,
+without heeding Maria's presence: "There is one beautiful thing.  When I
+am well again, I shall once more--Do you practise music?"
+
+"Yes, dear Fraulein."
+
+"Not merely as a pastime, but because you feel you cannot live without
+it?"
+
+"You must keep quiet, Fraulein.  Music;--yes, I think my life would be
+far poorer without it than it is."
+
+"Do you sing?"
+
+"Very seldom here; but when a girl in Delft we sung every day."
+
+"Of course you were the soprano?"
+
+"Yes, Fraulein."
+
+"Let the Fraulein drop, and call me Henrica."
+
+"With all my heart, if you will call me Maria, or Frau Maria."
+
+"I'll try.  Don't you think we could practise many a song together?"
+
+Just as these words were uttered, Sister Gonzaga entered the room, saying
+that the wife of Receiver General Cornelius had called to ask if she
+could do anything for the sick lady.
+
+"What does that mean?"  asked Henrica angrily.  "I don't know the woman."
+
+"She is the mother of Herr Wilhelm, the musician," said the young wife.
+
+"Oh!"  exclaimed Henrica.  "Shall I admit her, Maria?"
+
+The latter shook her head and answered firmly "No, Fraulein Henrica.  It
+is not good for you to have more than one visitor at this hour, and
+besides--"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"She is an excellent woman, but I fear her blunt manner, heavy step, and
+loud voice would not benefit you just now.  Let me go to her and ask what
+she desires."
+
+"Receive her kindly, and tell her to remember me to her son.  I am not
+very delicate, but I see you understand me; such substantial fare would
+hardly suit me just now."
+
+After Maria had performed her errand and talked with Henrica for a time,
+Frau Van Hout was announced.  Her husband, who had been present when the
+doors of the house of death were sealed, had told her about the invalid
+and she came to see if the poor girl needed anything.
+
+"You might receive her," said Maria, "for she would surely please you;
+but the bell is ringing again, and you have talked enough for to-day.
+Try to sleep now.  I'll go home with Fran Van Hout and come again
+tomorrow, if agreeable to you."
+
+"Come, pray come!"  exclaimed the young girl.
+
+"Do you want to say anything more to me?"
+
+"I should like to do so, Fraulein Henrica.  You ought not to stay in this
+sad house.  There is plenty of room in ours.  Will you be our guest until
+your father--"
+
+"Yes, take me home with you!"  cried the invalid, tears sparkling in her
+eyes.  "Take me away from here, only take me away--and I will be grateful
+to you all my life."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Maria had not mounted the stairs so joyously for weeks as she did to-day.
+She would have sung, had it been seemly, though she felt a little
+anxious; for perhaps her husband would not think she had done right to
+invite, on her own authority, a stranger, especially a sick stranger, who
+was a friend of Spain, to be their guest.
+
+As she passed the dining-room, she heard the gentlemen consulting
+together.  Then Peter began to speak.  She noticed the pleasant depth of
+his voice, and said to herself that Henrica would like to hear it.  A few
+minutes after she entered the apartment, to greet her husband's guests,
+who were also hers.  Joyous excitement and the rapid walk through the air
+of the May evening, which, though the day had been warm, was still cool,
+had flushed her cheeks and, as she modestly crossed the threshold with a
+respectful greeting, which nevertheless plainly revealed the pleasure
+afforded by the visit of such guests, she looked so winning and lovely,
+that not a single person present remained unmoved by the sight.  The
+older Herr Van der Does clapped Peter on the shoulder and then struck the
+palm of his hand with his fist, as if to say: "I won't question that!"
+Janus Dousa whispered gaily to Van Hout, who was a good Latin scholar:
+
+"Oculi sunt in amore duces."
+
+Captain Allertssohn started up and raised his hand to his hat with a
+military salute; Van Bronkhorst, the Prince's Commissioner, gave
+expression to his feelings in a courtly bow, Doctor Bontius smiled
+contentedly, like a person who has successfully accomplished a hazardous
+enterprise, and Peter proudly and happily strove to attract his wife's
+attention to himself.  But this was not to be, for as soon as Maria
+perceived that she was the mark for so many glances, she lowered her eyes
+with a deep blush, and then said far more firmly than would have been
+expected from her timid manner:
+
+"Welcome, gentlemen!  My greeting comes late, but I would have gladly
+offered it earlier."
+
+"I can bear witness to that," cried Doctor Bontius, rising and shaking
+hands with Maria more cordially than ever before.  Then he motioned
+towards Peter, and exclaimed to the assembled guests: "Will you excuse
+the burgomaster for a moment?"
+
+As soon as he stood apart with the husband and wife at the door, he
+began:
+
+"You have invited a new visitor to the house, Frau Van der Werff; I won't
+drink another drop of Malmsey, if I'm mistaken."
+
+"How do you know?"  asked Maria gaily.  "I see it in your face."
+
+"And the young lady shall be cordially welcome to me," added Peter.
+
+"Then you know?"  asked Maria.
+
+The doctor did not conceal his conjecture from me."
+
+"Why yes, the sick girl will be glad to come to us, and to-morrow--"
+
+"No, I'll send for her to-day," interrupted Peter.  "To-day?"  But dear
+me!  It's so late; perhaps she is asleep, the gentlemen are here, and our
+spare bed--" exclaimed Maria, glancing disapprovingly and irresolutely
+from the physician to her husband.
+
+"Calm yourself; child," replied Peter.  "The doctor has ordered a covered
+litter from St. Catharine's hospital, Jan and one of the city-guard will
+carry her, and Barbara has nothing more to do in the kitchen and is now
+preparing her own chamber for her."
+
+"And," chimed in the physician, "perhaps the sick girl may find sleep
+here.  Besides, it will he far more agreeable to her pride to be carried
+through the streets unseen, under cover of the darkness."
+
+"Yes, yes," said Maria sadly, "that may be so; but I had been thinking--
+People ought not to do anything too hastily."
+
+"Will you be glad to receive the young lady as a guest?"  asked Peter.
+
+"Why, certainly."
+
+"Then we won't do things by halves, but show her all the kindness in our
+power.  There is Barbara beckoning; the litter has come, Doctor.  Guide
+the nocturnal procession in God's name, but don't keep us waiting too
+long."
+
+The burgomaster returned to his seat, and Bontius left the room.
+
+Maria followed him.  In the entry, he laid his hand on her arm and asked:
+
+"Will you know next time, what I expect from you?"
+
+"No," replied the burgomaster's wife, in a tone which sounded gay, though
+it revealed the disappointment she felt; "no--but you have taught me that
+you are a man who understands how to spoil one's best pleasures."
+
+"I  will procure you others," replied the doctor laughing and descended
+the stairs.  He was Peter's oldest friend, and had made many objections
+to the burgomaster's marriage with a girl so many years his junior, in
+these evil times, but to-day he showed himself satisfied with Van der
+Werff's choice.
+
+Maria returned to the guests, filled and offered glasses of wine to the
+gentlemen, and then went to her sister-in-law's room, to help her prepare
+everything for the sick girl as well as possible.  She did not do so
+unwillingly, but it seemed as if she would have gone to the work with
+far greater pleasure early the next morning.
+
+Barbara's spacious chamber looked out upon the court-yard.  No sound
+could be heard there of the conversation going on between the gentlemen
+in the dining-room, yet it was by no means quiet among these men who,
+though animated by the same purpose, differed widely about the ways and
+means of bringing it to a successful issue.
+
+There they sat, the brave sons of a little nation, the stately leaders of
+a small community, poor in numbers and means of defence, which had
+undertaken to bid defiance to the mightiest power and finest armies of
+its age.  They knew that the storm-clouds, which had been threatening for
+weeks on the horizon, would rise faster and faster, mass together, and
+burst in a furious tempest over Leyden, for Herr Van der Werff had
+summoned them to his house because a letter addressed to himself and
+Commissioner Van Bronkhorst by the Prince, contained tidings, that the
+Governor of King Philip of Spain had ordered Senor del Campo Valdez to
+besiege Leyden a second time and reduce it to subjection.  They were
+aware, that William of Orange could not raise an army to divert the
+hostile troops from their aim or relieve the city before the lapse of
+several months; they had experienced how little aid was to be expected
+from the Queen of England and the Protestant Princes of Germany, while
+the horrible fate of Haarlem, a neighboring and more powerful city, rose
+as a menacing example before their eyes.  But they were conscious of
+serving a good cause, relied upon the faith, courage and statesmanship of
+Orange, were ready to die rather than allow themselves to be enslaved
+body and soul by the Spanish tyrant.  Their belief in God's justice was
+deep and earnest, and each individual possessed a joyous confidence in
+his own resolute, manly strength.
+
+In truth, the men who sat around the table, so daintily decked with
+flowers by a woman's hand, understood how to empty the large fluted
+goblets so nimbly, that jug after jug of Peter's Malmsey and Rhine
+wine were brought up from the cellar, the men who made breaches in the
+round pies and huge joints of meat, juicier and more nourishing than any
+country except theirs can furnish--did not look as if pallid fear had
+brought them together.
+
+The hat is the sign of liberty, and the free man keeps his hat on.  So
+some of the burgomaster's guests sat at the board with covered heads, and
+how admirably the high plaited cap of dark-red velvet, with its rich
+ornaments of plumes, suited the fresh old face of the senior Seigneur of
+Nordwyk and the clever countenance of his nephew Janus Dousa; how well
+the broad-brimmed hat with blue and orange ostrich-feathers--the colors
+of the House of Orange--became the waving locks of the young Seigneur of
+Warmond, Jan Van Duivenvoorde.  How strongly marked and healthful were
+the faces of the other men assembled here!  Few countenances lacked ruddy
+color, and strong vitality, clear intellect, immovable will and firm
+resolution flashed from many blue eyes around the table.  Even the black-
+robed magistrates, whose plaited ruffs and high white collars were very
+becoming, did not look as if the dust of documents had injured their
+health.  The moustaches and beards on the lips of each, gave them also a
+manly appearance.  They were all joyously ready to sacrifice themselves
+and their property for a great spiritual prize, yet looked as if they had
+a firm foothold in the midst of life; their hale, sensible faces showed
+no traces of enthusiasm; only the young Seigneur of Warmond's eyes
+sparkled with a touch of this feeling, while Janus Dousa's glance often
+seemed turned within, to seek things hidden in his own heart; and at such
+moments his sharply-cut, irregular features possessed a strange charm.
+
+The broad, stout figure of Commissioner Van Bronkhorst occupied a
+great deal of room.  His body was by no means agile, but from the round,
+closely shaven head looked forth a pair of prominent eyes, that expressed
+unyielding resolution.
+
+The brightly-lighted table, around which such guests had gathered,
+presented a gay, magnificent spectacle.  The yellow leather of the
+doublets worn by Junker von Warmond, Colonel Mulder, and Captain
+Allertssohn, the colored silk scarfs that adorned them, and the scarlet
+coat of brave Dirk Smaling contrasted admirably with the deep black robes
+of Pastor Verstroot, the burgomaster, the city clerk, and their
+associates!  The violet of the commissioner's dress and the dark hues of
+the fur-bordered surcoats worn by the elder Herr Van der Does and Herr
+Van Montfort blended pleasantly and harmonized the light and dark shades.
+Everything sorrowful seemed to have been banished far from this
+brilliant, vigorous round table, so words flowed freely and voices
+sounded full and strong enough.
+
+Danger was close at hand.  The Spanish vanguard might appear before
+Leyden any day.  Many preparations were made.  English auxiliaries were
+to garrison the fortifications of Alfen and defend the Gouda lock.  The
+defensive works of Valkenburg had been strengthened and entrusted to
+other British troops, the city soldiers, the militia and volunteers were
+admirably drilled.  They did not wish to admit foreign troops within the
+walls, for during the first siege they had proved far more troublesome
+than useful, and there was little reason to fear that a city guarded by
+water, walls and trees would be taken by storm.
+
+What most excited the gentlemen was the news Van Hout had brought.  Rich
+Herr Baersdorp, one of the four burgomasters, who had the largest grain
+business in Leyden, had undertaken to purchase considerable quantities of
+bread-stuffs in the name of the city.  Several ship loads of wheat and
+rye had been delivered by him the day before, but he was still in arrears
+with three-quarters of what was ordered.  He openly said that he had as
+yet given no positive orders for it, because owing to the prospect of a
+good harvest, a fall in the price of grain was expected in the exchanges
+of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and he would still have several weeks time
+before the commencement of the new blockade.
+
+Van Hout was full of indignation, especially as two out of the four
+burgomasters sided with their colleague Baersdorp.
+
+The elder Herr von Nordwyk agreed with him, exclaiming:
+
+"With all due respect to your dignity, Herr Peter, your three companions
+in office belong to the ranks of bad friends, who would willingly be
+exchanged for open enemies."
+
+"Herr von Noyelles," said Colonel Mulder, "has written about them to the
+Prince, the good and truthful words, that they ought to be sent to the
+gallows."
+
+"And they will suit them," cried Captain Allertssohn, "so long as
+hangmen's nooses and traitors' necks are made for each other."
+
+"Traitors--no,"  said  Van  der Werff resolutely.  Call them cowards,
+call them selfish and base-minded--but not one of them is a Judas."
+
+"Right, Meister Peter, that they certainly are not, and perhaps even
+cowardice has nothing to do with their conduct," added Herr von Nordwyk.
+"Whoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, knows the views of the
+gentlemen belonging to the old city families, who are reared from infancy
+as future magistrates; and I speak not only of Leyden, but the residents
+of Gouda and Delft, Rotterdam and Dortrecht.  Among a hundred, sixty
+would bear the Spanish yoke, even do violence to conscience, if only
+their liberties and rights were guaranteed.  The cities must rule and
+they themselves in them; that is all they desire.  Whether people preach
+sermons or read mass in the church, whether a Spaniard or a Hollander
+rules, is a matter of secondary importance to them.  I except the present
+company, for you would not be here, gentlemen, if your views were similar
+to those of the men of whom I speak."
+
+"Thanks for those words," said Dirk Smaling, "but with all due honor to
+your opinion, you have painted matters in too dark colors.  May I ask if
+the nobles do not also cling to their rights and liberties?"
+
+"Certainly, Herr Dirk; but they are commonly of longer date than yours,"
+replied Van Bronkhorst.  "The nobleman needs a ruler.  He is a lustreless
+star, if the sun that lends him light is lacking.  I, and with me all the
+nobles who have sworn fealty to him, now believe that our sun must and
+can be no other person than the Prince of Orange, who is one of
+ourselves, knows, loves, and understands us; not Philip, who has no
+comprehension of what is passing within and around us, is a foreigner and
+detests us.  We will uphold William with our fortunes and our lives for,
+as I have already said, we need a sun, that is, a monarch--but the cities
+think they have power to shine and wish to be admired as bright stars
+themselves.  True, they feel that, in these troublous times, the country
+needs a leader, and that they can find no better, wiser and more faithful
+one than Orange; but if it comes to pass--and may God grant it--that the
+Spanish yoke is broken, the noble William's rule will seem wearisome,
+because they enjoy playing sovereign themselves.  In short: the cities
+endure a ruler, the nobles gather round him and need him.  No real good
+will be accomplished until noble, burgher and peasant cheerfully yield to
+him, and unite to battle under his leadership for the highest blessings
+of life."
+
+"Right," said Van  flout.  "The well-disposed nobility may well serve as
+an example to the governing classes here and in the other cities, but the
+people, the poor hard-working people, know what is coming and, thank God,
+have not yet lost a hearty love for what you call the highest blessings
+of life.  They wish to be and remain Hollanders, curse the Spanish
+butchers with eloquent hatred, desire to serve God according to the
+yearning of their own souls, and believe what their own hearts dictate-
+and these men call the Prince their Father William.  Wait a little!  As
+soon as trouble oppresses us, the poor and lowly will stand firm, if the
+rich and great waver and deny the good cause."
+
+"They are to be trusted," said Van der Werff, "firmly trusted."
+
+"And because I know them," cried Van Hout, "we shall conquer, with God's
+assistance, come what may."  Janus Dousa had been looking into his glass.
+Now he raised his head and with a hasty gesture, said:
+
+"Strange that those who toil for existence with their hands, and whose
+uncultured brains only move when their daily needs require it, are most
+ready to sacrifice the little they possess, for spiritual blessings."
+
+"Yes," said the pastor, "the kingdom of heaven stands open to the simple-
+hearted.  It is strange that the poor and unlearned value religion,
+liberty and their native land far more than the perishable gifts of this
+world, the golden calf around which the generations throng."
+
+"My companions are not flattered to-day," replied Dirk Smaling; "but I
+beg you to remember in our favor, that we are playing a great and
+dangerous game, and property-holders must supply the lion's share
+of the stake."
+
+"By no means," retorted Van Hout, "the highest stake for which the die
+will be cast is life, and this has the same value to rich and poor.
+Those who will hold back--I think I know them--have no plain motto or
+sign, but a proud escutcheon over their doors.  Let us wait."
+
+"Yes, let us wait," said Van der Werff; "but there are more important
+matters to be considered now.  Day after to-morrow will be Ascension Day,
+when the bells will ring for the great fair.  More than one foreign
+trader and traveller has passed through the gates yesterday and the day
+before.  Shall we order the booths to be set up, or have the fair
+deferred until some other time?  If the enemy hastens his march, there
+will be great confusion, and we shall perhaps throw a rich prize into his
+hands.  Pray give me your opinion, gentlemen."
+
+"The traders ought to be protected from loss and the fair postponed,"
+said Dirk Smaling.
+
+"No," replied Van Hout, "for if this prohibition is issued, we shall
+deprive the small merchants of considerable profit and prematurely damp
+their courage."
+
+"Let them have their festival," cried Janus Dousa.  "We mustn't do coming
+trouble the favor of spoiling the happy present on its account.  If you
+want to act wisely, follow the advice of Horace."
+
+"The Bible also teaches that 'sufficient unto the day is the evil
+thereof,'" added the pastor, and Captain Allertssohn exclaimed:
+
+"On my life, yes!  My soldiers, the city-guard and volunteers must have
+their parade.  Marching in full uniform, with all their weapons, while
+beautiful eyes smile upon them, the old wave greetings, and children run
+before with exultant shouts, a man learns to feel himself a soldier for
+the first time."
+
+So it was determined to let the fair be held.  While other questions were
+being eagerly discussed, Henrica found a loving welcome in Barbara's
+pleasant room.  When she had fallen asleep, Maria went back to her
+guests, but did not again approach the table; for the gentlemen's cheeks
+were flushed and they were no longer speaking in regular order, but each
+was talking about whatever he choose.  The burgomaster was discussing
+with Van Hout and Van Bronkhorst the means of procuring a supply of grain
+for the city, Janus Dousa and Herr von Warmond were speaking of the poem
+the city clerk had repeated at the last meeting of the poets' club, Herr
+Van der Does senior and the pastor were arguing about the new rules of
+the church, and stout Captain Allertssohn, before whom stood a huge
+drinking-horn drained to the dregs, had leaned his forehead on Colonel
+Mulder's shoulder and, as usual when he felt particularly happy over his
+wine, was shedding tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+The next day after the meeting of the council, Burgomaster Van der Werff,
+Herr Van Hout, and a notary, attended by two constables, went to
+Nobelstrasse to set old Fraulein Van Hoogstraten's property in order.
+The fathers of the city had determined to seize the Glippers' abandoned
+dwellings and apply the property found in them to the benefit of the
+common cause.
+
+The old lady's hostility to the patriots was known to all, and as her
+nearest relatives, Herr Van Hoogstraten and Matanesse Van Wibisma, had
+been banished from Leyden, the duty of representing the heirs fell upon
+the city.  It was to be expected that only notorious Glippers would be
+remembered in the dead woman's will, and if this was the case, the
+revenue from the personal and real estate would fall to the city, until
+the deserters mended their ways, and adopted a course of conduct that
+would permit the magistrates to again open their gates to them.  Whoever
+continued to cling to the Spaniards and oppose the cause of liberty,
+would forfeit his share of the inheritance.  This was no new procedure.
+King Philip had taught its practice, nay not only the estates of
+countless innocent persons who had been executed, banished or gone into
+voluntary exile for the sake of the new religion, but also the property
+of good Catholic patriots had been confiscated for his benefit.  After
+being anvil so many years, it is pleasant to play hammer; and if that was
+not always done in a proper and moderate way, people excused themselves
+on the ground of having experienced a hundred-fold harsher and more cruel
+treatment from the Spaniards.  It might have been unchristian to repay in
+the same coin, but they dealt severe blows only in mortal conflict, and
+did not seek the Glippers' lives.
+
+At the door of the house of death, the magistrates met the musician
+Wilhelm Corneliussohn and his mother, who had come to offer Henrica a
+hospitable reception in their house.  The mother, who had at first
+refused to extend her love for her neighbor to the young Glipper girl,
+now found it hard to be deprived of the opportunity to do a good work,
+and gave expression to these feelings in the sturdy fashion peculiar to
+her.
+
+Belotti was standing in the entry, no longer attired in the silk hose and
+satin-bordered cloth garments of the steward, but in a plain burgher
+dress.  He told the musician and Peter, that he remained in Leyden
+principally because he could not bear to leave the sick maid, Denise, in
+the lurch; but other matters also detained him, especially, though he was
+reluctant to acknowledge it, the feeling, strengthened by long years of
+service, that he belonged to the Hoogstraten house.  The dead woman's
+attorney had said that his account books were in good order, and
+willingly paid the balance due him.  His savings had been well invested,
+and as he never touched the interest, but added to the capital, had
+considerably increased.  Nothing detained him in Leyden, yet he could not
+leave it until everything was settled in the house where he had so long
+ruled.
+
+He had daily inquired for the sick lady, and after her death, though
+Denise began to recover, still lingered in Leyden; he thought it his duty
+to show the last honors to the dead by attending her funeral.
+
+The magistrates were glad to find Belotti in the house.  The notary had
+managed his little property, and respected him as an honest man.  He now
+asked him to act as guide to his companions and himself.  The most
+important matter was to find the dead woman's will.  Such a document must
+be in existence, for up to the day after Henrica's illness it had been in
+the lawyer's possession, but was then sent for by the old lady, who
+desired to make some changes in it.  He could give no information about
+its contents, for his dead partner, whose business had fallen to him, had
+assisted in drawing it up.
+
+The steward first conducted the visitors to the padrona's sitting-room
+and boudoir, but though they searched the writing-tables, chests and
+drawers, and discovered many letters, money and valuable jewels in boxes
+and caskets, the document was not found.
+
+The gentlemen thought it was concealed in a secret drawer, and ordered
+one of the constables to call a locksmith.  Belotti allowed this to be
+done, but meantime listened with special attention to the low chanting
+that issued from the bedroom where the old lady's body lay.  He knew that
+the will would most probably be found there, but was anxious to have the
+priest complete the consecration of his mistress undisturbed.  As soon as
+all was still in the death-chamber, he asked the gentlemen to follow him.
+
+The lofty apartment into which he led them, was filled with the odor of
+incense.  A large bedstead, over which a pointed canopy of heavy silk
+rose to the ceiling, stood at the back, the coffin in which the dead
+woman lay had been placed in the middle of the room.  A linen cloth,
+trimmed with lace, covered the face.  The delicate hands, still
+unwrinkled, were folded, and lightly clasped a well-worn rosary.  The
+lifeless form was concealed beneath a costly coverlid, in the centre of
+which lay an exquisitely-carved ivory crucifix.
+
+The visitors bowed mutely before the corpse.  Belotti approached it and,
+as he saw the padrona's well-known hands, a convulsive sob shook the old
+man's breast.  Then he knelt beside the coffin, pressed his lips, to the
+cold, slender fingers, and a warm tear, the only one shed for this dead
+form, fell on the hands now clasped forever.
+
+The burgomaster and his companion did not interrupt him, even when he
+laid his forehead upon the wood of the coffin and uttered a brief, silent
+prayer.  After he had risen, and an elderly priest in the sacerdotal
+robes had left the room, Father Damianus beckoned to the acolytes, with
+whom he had lingered in the background, and aided by them and Belotti put
+the lid on the coffin, then turned to Peter Van der Werff, saying:
+
+"We intend to bury Fraulein Van Hoogstraten at midnight, that no offence
+may be given."
+
+"Very well, sir!"  replied the burgomaster.  "Whatever may happen, we
+shall not expel you from the city.  Of course, if you prefer to go to the
+Spaniards--"
+
+Damianus shook his head and, interrupting the burgomaster, answered
+modestly:
+
+"No, sir; I am a native of Utrecht and will gladly pray for the liberty
+of Holland."
+
+"There, there!"  exclaimed Van Hout.  "Those were good words, admirable
+words!  Your hand, Father."
+
+"There it is; and, so long as you don't change the 'haec libertatis ergo'
+on your coins to 'haec religionis ergo,' not one of those words need be
+altered."
+
+"A free country and in it religious liberty for each individual, even for
+you and your followers," said the burgomaster, "is what we desire.
+Doctor Bontius has spoken of you, worthy man; you have cared well for
+this dead woman.  Bury her according to the customs of your church; we
+have come to arrange the earthly possessions she leaves behind.  Perhaps
+this casket may contain the will."
+
+"No, sir," replied the priest.  "She opened  the sealed paper in my
+presence, when she was first taken sick, and wrote a few words whenever
+she felt stronger.  An hour before her end, she ordered the notary to be
+sent for, but when he came life had departed.  I could not remain
+constantly beside the corpse, so I locked up the paper in the linen
+chest.  There is the key."
+
+The opened will was soon found.  The burgomaster quietly unfolded it,
+and, while reading its contents aloud, the notary and city clerk looked
+over his shoulder.
+
+The property was to be divided among various churches and convents, where
+masses were to be read for her soul, and her nearest blood relations.
+Belotti and Denise received small legacies.
+
+"It is fortunate," exclaimed Van Hout, "that this paper is a piece of
+paper and nothing more."
+
+"The document has no legal value whatever," added the notary, "for it was
+taken from me and opened with the explicit statement, that changes were
+to be made.  Here is a great deal to be read on the back."
+
+The task, that the gentlemen now undertook, was no easy one, for the sick
+woman had scrawled short notes above and below, hither and thither, on
+the blank back of the document, probably to assist her memory while
+composing a new will.
+
+At the very top a crucifix was sketched with an unsteady hand, and below
+it the words: "Pray for us!  Everything shall belong to holy Mother
+Church."
+
+Farther down they read: "Nico, I like the lad.  The castle on the downs.
+Ten thousand gold florins in money.  To be secured exclusively to him.
+His father is not to touch it.  Make the reason for disinheriting him
+conspicuous.  Van Vliet of Haarlem was the gentleman whose daughter my
+cousin secretly wedded.  On some pitiful pretext he deserted her, to form
+another marriage.  If he has forgotten it, I have remembered and would
+fain impress it upon him.  Let Nico pay heed:  False love is poison.  My
+life has been ruined by it--ruined."
+
+The second "ruined" was followed by numerous repetitions of the same
+word.  The last one, at the very end of the sentence, had been ornamented
+with numerous curves and spirals by the sick woman's pen.
+
+On the right-hand margin of the sheet stood a series of short notes
+
+"Ten thousand florins to Anna.  To be secured to herself.  Otherwise they
+will fall into the clutches of that foot-pad, d'Avila.
+
+"Three times as much to Henrica.  Her father will pay her the money--from
+the sum he owes me.  Where he gets it is his affair.  Thus the account
+with him would be settled.
+
+"Belotti has behaved badly.  He shall be passed over.
+
+"Denise may keep what was given her."
+
+In the middle of the paper, written in large characters, twice and thrice
+underlined, was the sentence: "The ebony-casket with  the  Hoogstraten
+and d'Avila arms on the lid is to be sent to the widow of the Marquis
+d'Avennes.  Forward it to Chateau Rochebrun in Normandy."
+
+The men, who had mutually deciphered these words, looked at each other
+silently, until Van Hout exclaimed:
+
+"What a confused mixture of malice and feminine weakness.  Let a woman's
+heart seem ever so cold; glacier flowers will always be found in it."
+
+"I'm sorry for the young lady in  your house, Herr Peter," cried the
+notary, it would be easier to get sparks from rye-bread, than such a sum
+from the debt-laden poor devil.  The daughter's portion will be curtailed
+by the father; that's what I call bargaining between relations."
+
+"What can be in the casket?" asked the notary.  "There it is," cried Van
+Hout.
+
+"Bring it here, Belotti."
+
+"We must open it," said the lawyer, "perhaps she is trying to convey her
+most valuable property across the frontiers."
+
+"Open it?  Contrary to the dead woman's express desire?"  asked Van der
+Werff.
+
+"Certainly!"  cried the notary.  "We were sent here to ascertain the
+amount of the inheritance.  The lid is fastened.  Take the picklock,
+Meister.  There, it is open."  The city magistrates found no valuables in
+the casket, merely letters of different dates.  There were not many.
+Those at the bottom, yellow with age, contained vows of love from the
+Marquis d'Avennes, the more recent ones were brief and, signed Don Louis
+d'Avila.  Van Hout, who understood the Castilian language in which they
+were written, hastily read them.  As he was approaching the end of the
+last one, he exclaimed with lively indignation:
+
+"We have here the key of a rascally trick in our hands!  Do you remember
+the excitement aroused four years ago by the duel, in which the Marquis
+d'Avennes fell a victim to a Spanish brawler?  The miserable bravo writes
+in this letter that he has....It will be worth the trouble; I'll
+translate it for you.  The first part of the note is of no importance;
+but now comes the point: 'And now, after having succeeded in crossing
+swords with the marquis and killing him, not without personal danger, a
+fate he has doubtless deserved, since he aroused your displeasure to such
+a degree, the condition you imposed upon me is fulfilled, and to-morrow I
+hope through your favor to receive the sweetest reward.  Tell Donna Anna,
+my adored betrothed, that I would fain lead her to the altar early
+to-morrow morning, for the d'Avennes are influential and the following
+day my safety will perhaps be imperilled.  As for the rest, I hope I may
+be permitted to rely upon the fairness and generosity of my patroness."
+
+Van Hout flung the letter on the table, exclaiming "See, what a dainty
+hand the bravo writes.  And, Jove's thunder, the lady to whom this
+plotted murder was to have been sent, is doubtless the mother of the
+unfortunate marquis, whom the Spanish assassin slew."
+
+"Yes, Herr Van Hout," said Belotti, "I can confirm your supposition.  The
+marquise was the wife of the man, who broke his plighted faith to the
+young Fraulein Van Hoogstraten.  She, who lies there, saw many suns rise
+and set, ere her vengeance ripened."
+
+"Throw the scrawl into the fire!"  cried Van Hout impetuously.
+
+"No," replied Peter.  "We will not send the letters, but you must keep
+them in the archives.  God's mills grind slowly, and who knows what good
+purpose these sheets may yet serve."
+
+The city clerk nodded assent and folding the papers, said: "I think the
+dead woman's property will be an advantage to the city."
+
+"The Prince will dispose of it," replied Van der Werff.  "How long have
+you served this lady, Belotti?"
+
+"Fifteen years."
+
+"Then remain in Leyden for a time.  I think you may expect the legacy she
+originally left you.  I will urge your claim."
+
+A few hours before the nocturnal burial of old Fraulein Van Hoogstraten,
+Herr Matanesse Van Wibisma and his son Nicolas appeared before the city,
+but were refused admittance by the men who guarded the gates, although
+both appealed to their relative's death.  Henrica's father did not come,
+he had gone several days before to attend a tourney at Cologne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Between twelve and one o'clock on the 26th of May, Ascension-Day, the
+ringing of bells announced the opening of the great fair.  The old
+circuit of the boundaries of the fields had long since given place to a
+church festival, but the name of "Ommegang" remained interwoven with that
+of the fair, and even after the new religion had obtained the mastery,
+all sorts of processions took place at the commencement of the fair.
+
+In the days of Catholic rule the cross had been borne through the streets
+in a soleum procession, in which all Leyden took part, now the banners of
+the city and standards bearing the colors of the House of Orange headed
+the train, followed by the nobles on horseback, the city magistrates in
+festal array, the clergy in black robes, the volunteers in magnificent
+uniforms, the guilds with their emblems, and long joyous ranks of school-
+children.  Even the poorest people bought some thing new for their little
+ones on this day.  Never did mothers braid their young daughters' hair
+more carefully, than for the procession at the opening of the fair.
+Spite of the hard times, many a stiver was taken from slender purses for
+fresh ribbons and new shoes, becoming caps and bright-hued stockings.
+The spring sunshine could be reflected from the little girls' shining,
+smoothly-combed hair, and the big boys and little children looked even
+gayer than the flowers in Herr Van Montfort's garden, by which the
+procession was obliged to pass.  Each wore a sprig of green leaves in his
+cap beside the plume, and the smaller the boy, the larger the branch.
+There was no lack of loud talk and merry shouts, for every child that
+passed its home called to its mother, grandparents, and the servants, and
+when one raised its voice many others instantly followed.  The grown
+people too were not silent, and as the procession approached the town-
+hall, head-quarters of military companies, guild-halls or residences of
+popular men, loud cheers arose, mingled with the ringing of bells, the
+shouts of the sailors on both arms of the Rhine and on the canals, the
+playing of the city musicians at the street corners, and the rattle of
+guns and roar of cannon fired by the gunners and their assistants from
+the citadel.  It was a joyous tumult in jocund spring!  These merry
+mortals seemed to lull themselves carelessly in the secure enjoyment of
+peace and prosperity, and how blue the sky was, how warmly and brightly
+the sun shone!  The only grave, anxious faces were among the magistrates;
+but the guilds and the children behind did not see them, so the
+rejoicings continued without interruption until the churches received the
+procession, and words so earnest and full of warning echoed from the
+pulpits, that many grew thoughtful.
+
+All three phases of time belong to man, the past to the graybeard, the
+future to youth, and the present to childhood.  What cared the little
+boys and girls of Leyden, released from school during the fair, for the
+peril close at hand?  Whoever, on the first day and during the great
+linen-fair on Friday and the following days, received spending money from
+parents or godparents, or whoever had eyes to see, ears to hear, and a
+nose to smell, passed through the rows of booths with his or her
+companions, stopped before the camels and dancing-bears, gazed into the
+open taverns, where not only lads and lasses, but merry old people
+whirled in the dance to the music of bagpipes, clarionets and violins--
+examined gingerbread and other dainties with the attention of an expert,
+or obeyed the blasts of the trumpet, by which the quack doctor's negro
+summoned the crowd.
+
+Adrian, the burgomaster's son, also strolled day after day, alone or with
+his companions, through the splendors of the fair, often grasping with
+the secure sense of wealth the leather purse that hung at his belt, for
+it contained several stivers, which had flowed in from various sources;
+his father, his mother, Barbara and his godmother.  Captain Van
+Duivenvoorde, his particular friend, on whose noble horse he had often
+ridden, had taken him three times into a wafer booth, where he eat till
+he was satisfied, and thus, even on the Tuesday after Ascension-Day, his
+little fortune was but slightly diminished.  He intended to buy something
+very big and sensible: a knight's sword or a cross-bow; perhaps even--but
+this thought seemed like an evil temptation--the ginger-cake covered with
+almonds, which was exhibited in the booth of a Delft confectioner.  He
+and Bessie could surely nibble for weeks upon this giant cake, if they
+were economical, and economy is an admirable virtue.  Something must at
+any rate be spared for "little brothers,"--[A kind of griddle or
+pancake.]--the nice spiced cakes which were baked in many booths before
+the eyes of the passers-by.
+
+On Tuesday afternoon his way led him past the famous Rotterdam cake-shop.
+Before the door of the building, made of boards lightly joined together
+and decked with mirrors and gay pictures, a stout, pretty woman, in the
+bloom of youth, sat in a high arm-chair, pouring rapidly, with remarkable
+skill, liquid dough into the hot iron plate, provided with numerous
+indentations, that stood just on a level with her comfortably outspread
+lap.  Her assistant hastily turned with a fork the little cakes, browning
+rapidly in the hollows of the iron, and when baked, laid them neatly on
+small plates.  The waiter prepared them for purchasers by putting a large
+piece of yellow butter on the smoking pile.  A tempting odor, that only
+too vividly recalled former enjoyment, rose from the fireplace, and
+Adrian's fingers were already examining the contents of his purse, when
+the negro's trumpet sounded and the quack doctor's cart stopped directly
+in front of the booth.
+
+The famous Doctor Morpurgo was a fine-looking man, dressed in bright
+scarlet, who had a thin, coalblack beard hanging over his breast.  His
+movements were measured and haughty, the bows and gestures with which he
+saluted the assembled crowd, patronizing and affable.  After a sufficient
+number of curious persons had gathered around his cart, which was stocked
+with boxes and vials, he began to address them in broken Dutch, spiced
+with numerous foreign words.
+
+He praised the goodness of the Providence which had created the marvel of
+human organism.  Everything, he said, was arranged and formed wisely and
+in the best possible manner, but in one respect nature fared badly in the
+presence of adepts.
+
+"Do you know where the error is, ladies and gentlemen?"  he asked.
+
+"In the purse," cried a merry barber's clerk, "it grows prematurely thin
+every day."
+
+"Right, my son," answered the quack graciously.  "But nature also
+provides it with the great door from which your answer has come.  Your
+teeth are a bungling piece of workmanship.  They appear with pain, decay
+with time, and so long as they last torture those who do not
+industriously attend to them.  But art will correct nature.  See this
+box--" and he now began to praise the tooth-powder and cure for toothache
+he had invented.  Next he passed to the head, and described in vivid
+colors, its various pains.  But they too were to be cured, people need
+only buy his arcanum.  It was to be had for a trifle, and whoever bought
+it could sweep away every headache, even the worst, as with a broom.
+
+Adrian listened to the famous doctor with mouth wide open.  Specially
+sweet odors floated over to him from the hot surface of the stove before
+the booth, and he would have gladly allowed himself a plate of fresh
+cakes.  The baker's stout wife even beckoned to him with a spoon, but he
+closed his hand around the purse and again turned his eyes towards the
+quack, whose cart was now surrounded by men and women buying tinctures
+and medicines.
+
+Henrica lay ill in his father's house.  He had been taken into her room
+twice, and the beautiful pale face, with its large dark eyes, had filled
+his heart with pity.  The clear, deep voice in which she addressed a few
+words to him, also seemed wonderful and penetrated the inmost depths of
+his soul:  He was told one morning that she was there, and since that
+time his mother rarely appeared and the house was far more quiet than
+usual; for everybody walked lightly, spoke in subdued tones, rapped
+cautiously at a window instead of using the knocker, and whenever Bessie
+or he laughed aloud or ran up or down-stairs, Barbara, his mother, or
+Trautchen appeared and whispered: "Gently, children, the young lady has a
+headache."
+
+There were many bottles in the cart which were warranted to cure the
+ailment, and the famous Morpurgo seemed to be a very sensible man, no
+buffoon like the other mountebanks.  The wife of the baker, Wilhelm
+Peterssohn, who stood beside him, a woman he knew well, said to her
+companion that the doctor's remedies were good, they had quickly cured
+her godmother of a bad attack of erysipelas.
+
+The words matured the boy's resolution.  Fleeting visions of the sword,
+the cross-bow, the gingerbread and the nice little brothers once more
+rose before his mind, but with a powerful effort of the will he thrust
+them aside, held his breath that he might not smell the alluring odor of
+the cakes, and hastily approached the cart.  Here he unfastened his purse
+from his belt, poured its contents into his hand, showed the coins to the
+doctor, who had fixed his black eyes kindly on the odd customer, and
+asked: "Will this be enough?"
+
+"For what?"
+
+"For the medicine to cure headache."
+
+The quack separated the little coins in Adrian's hand with his
+forefinger, and answered gravely: "No, my son, but I am always glad to
+advance the cause of knowledge.  There is still a great deal for you to
+learn at school, and the headache will prevent it.  Here are the drops
+and, as it's you, I'll give this prescription for another arcanum into
+the bargain."
+
+Adrian hastily wrapped the little vial the quack handed him in the piece
+of printed paper, received his dearly-bought treasure, and ran home.  On
+the way he was stopped by Captain Allertssohn, who came towards him with
+the musician Wilhelm.
+
+"Have you seen my Andreas, Master Good-for-nothing?" he asked.
+
+"He was standing listening to the musicians," replied Adrian, released
+himself from the captain's grasp, and vanished among the crowd.
+
+"A nimble lad," said the fencing-master.  "My boy is standing with the
+musicians again.  He has nothing but your art in  his mind.  He would
+rather blow on a comb than comb his hair with it, he's always tooting on
+every leaf and pipe, makes triangles of broken sword-blades, and not even
+a kitchen pot is sate from his drumming; in short there's nothing but
+singsong in the good-for-nothing fellow's head; he wants to be a musician
+or something of the sort."
+
+"Right, right!"  replied Wilhelm eagerly; "he has a fine ear and the best
+voice in the choir."
+
+"The matter must be duly considered," replied the captain, "and you, if
+anybody, are the person to tell us what he can accomplish in your art.
+If you have time this evening, Herr Wilhelm, come to me at the watch
+house, I should like to speak to you.  To be sure, you'll hardly find me
+before ten o'clock.  I have a stricture in my throat again, and on such
+days--Roland, my fore man!"
+
+The captain cleared his throat loudly and vehemently.  "I am at your
+service," said Wilhelm, "for the night is long, but I won't let you go
+now until I know what you mean by your fore man Roland."
+
+"Very well, it's not much of a story, and perhaps you won't understand.
+Come in here; I can tell it better over a mug of beer, and the legs rebel
+if they're deprived of rest four nights in succession."
+
+When the two men were seated opposite to each other in the tap-room, the
+fencing-master pushed his moustache away from his lips, and began:  "How
+long ago is it-?  We'll say fifteen years, since I was riding to Haarlem
+with the innkeeper Aquarius, who as you know, is a learned man and has
+all sorts of old stuff and Latin manuscripts.  He talks well, and when
+the conversation turned upon our meeting with many things in life that we
+fancy we have already seen, remarked that this could be easily explained,
+for the human soul was an indestructible thing, a bird that never dies.
+So long as we live it remains with us, and when we die flies away and is
+rewarded or punished according to its deserts; but after centuries, which
+are no more to the Lord than the minutes in which I empty this fresh mug
+--one more, bar-maid--the merciful Father releases it again, and it
+nestles in some new born child.  This made me laugh; but he was not at
+all disturbed and told the story of an old Pagan, a wonderfully wise
+chap, who knew positively that his soul had formerly lodged in the body
+of a mighty hero.  This same hero also remembered exactly where, during
+his former life, he had hung his shield, and told his associates.  They
+searched and found the piece of armor, with the initials of the Christian
+and surname which had belonged to the philosopher in his life as a
+soldier, centuries before.  This puzzled me, for you see--now don't
+laugh--something had formerly happened to me very much like the Pagan's
+experience.  I don't care much for books, and from a child have always
+read the same one.  I inherited it from my dead father and the work is
+not printed, but written.  I'll show it to you some time--it contains the
+history of the brave Roland.  Often, when absorbed in these beautiful and
+true stories, my cheeks have grown as red as fire, and I'll confess to
+you, as I did to my travelling-companion:  If I'm not mistaken, I've sat
+with King Charles at the board, or I've worn Roland's chain armor in
+battle and in the tourney.  I believe I have seen the Moorish king,
+Marsilia, and once when reading how the dying Roland wound his horn in
+the valley of the Roncesvalles, I felt such a pain in my throat, that it
+seemed as if it would burst, and fancied I had felt the same pain before.
+When I frankly acknowledged all this, my companion exclaimed that there
+was no doubt my soul had once inhabited Roland's body, or in other words,
+that in a former life I had been the Knight Roland."
+
+The musician looked at the fencing-master in amazement and asked: "Could
+you really believe that, Captain?"
+
+"Why not," replied the other.  "Nothing is impossible to the Highest.  At
+first I laughed in the man's face, but his words followed me; and when I
+read the old stories--I needn't strain my eyes much, for at every line I
+know beforehand what the next will be--I couldn't help asking myself--In
+short, sir, my soul probably once inhabited Roland's body, and that's why
+I call him my 'fore man.'  In the course of years, it has become a habit
+to swear by him.  Folly, you will think, but I know what I know, and now
+I must go.  We will have another talk this evening, but about other
+matters.  Yes, everybody in this world is a little crackbrained, but at
+least I don't bore other people.  I only show my craze to intimate
+friends, and strangers who ask me once about the fore man Roland rarely
+do so a second time.  The score, bar-maid--There it is again.  We must
+see whether the towers are properly garrisoned, and charge the sentinels
+to keep their eyes open.  If you come prepared for battle, you may save
+yourself a walk, I'll answer for nothing to-day.  You will probably pass
+the new Rhine.  Just step into my house, and tell my wife she needn't
+wait supper for me.  Or, no, I'll attend to that myself; there's
+something in the air, you'll see it, for I have the Roncesvalles throat
+again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+In the big watch-house that had been erected beside the citadel, during
+the siege of the city, raised ten months before, city-guards and
+volunteers sat together in groups after sunset, talking over their beer
+or passing the time in playing cards by the feeble light of thin tallow
+candles.
+
+The embrasure where the officers' table stood was somewhat better
+lighted.  Wilhelm, who, according to his friend's advice, appeared in the
+uniform of an ensign of the city-guards, seated himself at the empty
+board just after the clock in the steeple had struck ten.  While ordering
+the waiter to bring him a mug of beer, Captain Allertssohn appeared with
+Junker von Warmond, who had taken part in the consultation at Peter Van
+der Werff's, and bravely earned his captain's sash two years before at
+the capture of Brill.  As this son of one of the richest and most
+aristocratic families in Holland, a youth whose mother had borne the name
+of Egmont, entered, he drew his hand, encased in a fencing glove, from
+the captain's arm and said, countermanding the musician's order:
+
+"Nothing of that sort, waiter!  The little keg from the Wurzburger Stein
+can't be empty yet.  We'll find the bottom of it this evening.  What do
+you say, Captain?"
+
+"Such an arrangement will lighten the keg and not specially burden us,"
+replied the other.  "Good-evening, Herr Wilhelm, punctuality adorns the
+soldier.  People are beginning to understand how much depends upon it.
+I have posted the men, so that they can overlook the country in every
+direction.  I shall have them relieved from time to time, and at
+intervals look after them myself.  This is good liquor, Junker.  All
+honor to the man who melts his gold into such a fluid.  The first glass
+must be a toast to the Prince."
+
+The three men touched their glasses, and soon after drank to the liberty
+of Holland and the prosperity of the good city of Leyden.  Then the
+conversation took a lively turn, but duty was not forgotten, for at the
+end of half an hour the captain rose to survey the horizon himself and
+urge the sentinels to vigilant watchfulness.
+
+When he returned, Wilhelm and Junker von Warmond were so engaged in eager
+conversation, that they did not notice his entrance.  The musician was
+speaking of Italy, and Allertssohn heard him exclaim impetuously:
+
+"Whoever has once seen that country can never forget it, and when I am
+sitting on the house-top with my doves, my thoughts only too often fly
+far away with them, and my eyes no longer see our broad, monotonous
+plains and grey, misty sky."
+
+"Oh! ho!  Meister Wilhelm," interrupted the captain, throwing himself
+into the arm-chair and stretching out his booted legs.  "Oh! ho!  This
+time I've discovered the crack in your brain.  Italy, always Italy!  I
+know Italy too, for I've been in Brescia, looking for good steel sword-
+blades for the Prince and other nobles, I crossed the rugged Apennines
+and went to Florence to see fine pieces of armor.  From Livorno I went by
+sea to Genoa, where I obtained chased gold and silverwork for shoulder-
+belts and sheaths.  Truth is truth the brown-skinned rascals can do fine
+work.  But the country--the country!  Roland, my fore man--how any
+sensible man can prefer it to ours is more than I understand."
+
+"Holland is our mother," replied von Warmond.  "As good sons we believe
+her the best of women; yet we can admit, without shame, that there are
+more beautiful ones in the world."
+
+"Do you blow that trumpet too?"  exclaimed the fencing-master, pushing
+his glass angrily further upon the table.  Did you ever cross the Alps?"
+
+"No, but--"
+
+"But you believe the color-daubers of the artist guild, whose eyes are
+caught by the blue of the sky and sea, or the musical gentry who allow
+themselves to be deluded by the soft voices and touching melodies there,
+but you would do well to listen to a quiet man too for once."
+
+"Go on, Captain."
+
+"Very well.  And if anybody can get an untruthful word out of me, I'll
+pay his score till the Day of Judgment.  I'll begin the story at the
+commencement.  First you must cross the horrible Alps.  There you see
+barren, dreary rocks, cold snow, wild glacier torrents on which no boat
+can be used.  Instead of watering meadows, the mad waves fling stones on
+their banks.  Then we reach the plains, where it is true many kinds of
+plants grow.  I was there in June, and made my jokes about the tiny
+fields, where small trees stood, serving as props for the vines.  It
+didn't look amiss, but the heat, Junker, the heat spoiled all pleasure.
+And the dirt in the taverns, the vermin, and the talk about bravos, who
+shed the blood of honest Christians in the dark for a little paltry
+money.  If your tongue dries up in your mouth, you'll find nothing but
+hot wine, not a sip of cool beer.  And the dust, gentlemen, the frightful
+dust.  As for the steel in Brescia--it's worthy of all honor.  But the
+feather was stolen from my hat in the tavern, and the landlord devoured
+onions as if they were white bread.  May God punish me if a single piece
+of honest beef, such as my wife can set before me every day--and we don't
+live like princes--ever came between my teeth.
+
+"And the butter, Junker, the butter!  We burn oil in lamps, and grease
+door-hinges with it, when they creak, but the Italians use it to fry
+chickens and fish.  Confound such doings!"
+
+"Beware, Captain," cried Wilhelm, "or I shall take you at your word and
+you'll be obliged to pay my score for life.  Olive-oil is a pure, savory
+seasoning."
+
+"For a man that likes it.  I commend Holland butter.  Olive-oil has its
+value for polishing steel, but butter is the right thing for roasting and
+frying; so that's enough!  But I beg you to hear me farther.  From
+Lombardy I went to Bologna, and then crossed the Apennines.  Sometimes
+the road ascended, then suddenly plunged downward again, and it's a queer
+pleasure, which, thank God, we are spared in this country, to sit in the
+saddle going down a mountain.  On the right and left, lofty cliffs tower
+like walls.  Your breathing becomes oppressed in the narrow valleys, and
+if you want to get a distant view--there's nothing to be seen, for
+everywhere some good-for-nothing mountain thrusts itself directly before
+your nose.  I believe the Lord created those humps for a punishment to
+men after Adam's fall.  On the sixth day of creation the earth was level.
+It was in August, and when the noon sun was reflected from the rocks, the
+heat was enough to kill one; it's a miracle, that I'm not sitting beside
+you dried up and baked.  The famous blue of the Italian sky!  Always the
+same!  We have it here in this country too, but it alternates with
+beautiful clouds.  There are few things in Holland I like better than our
+clouds.  When the rough Apennines at last lay behind me, I reached the
+renowned city of Florence."
+
+"And can you deny it your approval?"  asked the musician.
+
+"No, sir, there are many proud, stately palaces and beautiful churches
+and no lack of silk and velvet everywhere, the trade of cloth-weaving too
+is flourishing; but my health, my health was not good in your Florence,
+principally on account of the heat, and besides I found many things
+different from what I expected.  In the first place, there's the river
+Arno!  The stream is a puddle, nothing but a puddle!  Do you know what
+the water looks like?  Like the pools that stand between the broken
+fragments and square blocks in a stonecutter's yard, after a heavy
+thunder-shower."
+
+"The score, Captain, the score!"
+
+"I mean the yard of a stone-cutter, who does a large business, and pools
+of tolerable width.  Will you still contradict me if I maintain--the Arno
+is a shallow, narrow stream, just fit to sail a boy's bark-boat.  It
+spreads over a wide surface of grey pebbles, very much as the gold fringe
+straggles over the top of Junker von Warmond's fencing-glove."
+
+"You saw it at the end of a hot summer," replied Wilhelm, "it's very
+different in spring."
+
+"Perhaps so; but I beg you to remember the Rhine, the Meuse, and our
+other rivers, even the Marne, Drecht and whatever the smaller streams are
+called.  They remain full and bear stately ships at all seasons of the
+year.  Uniform and reliable is the custom of this country; to-day one
+way, to-morrow another, is the Italian habit.  It's just the same with
+the blades in the fencing-school."
+
+"The Italians wield dangerous weapons," said von Warmond.
+
+"Very true, but they bend to and fro and lack firmness.  I know what I'm
+talking about, for I lodged with my colleague Torelli, the best fencing-
+master in the city.  I'll say nothing of the meals he set before me.
+To-day macaroni, to-morrow macaroni with a couple of chicken drumsticks
+to boot, and so on.  I've often drawn my belt tighter after dinner.  As
+for the art of fencing, Torelli is certainly no bungler, but he too has
+the skipping fashion in his method.  You must keep your eyes open in a
+passado with him, but if I can once get to my quarte, tierce, and side-
+thrust, I have him."
+
+"An excellent series," said Junker von Warmond.  "It has been useful to
+me."
+
+"I know, I know," replied the captain eagerly.  "You silenced the French
+brawler with it at Namur.  There's the catch in my throat again.
+Something will happen to-day, gentlemen, something will surely happen."
+
+The fencing-master grasped the front of his ruff with his left hand and
+set the glass on the table with his right.  He had often done so far more
+carelessly, but to-day the glass shattered into many fragments.
+
+"That's nothing," cried the young nobleman.  "Waiter, another glass for
+Captain Allertssohn."
+
+The fencing-master pushed his chair back from the table, and looking at
+the broken pieces of greenish glass, said in an altered tone, as if
+speaking to himself rather than his companions:
+
+"Yes, yes, something serious will happen to-day.  Shattered into a
+thousand pieces.  As God wills!  I know where my place is."
+
+Von Warmond filled a fresh glass, saying with a slight shade of reproof
+in his tone:  "Why, Captain, Captain, what whims are these?  Before the
+battle of Brill I fell in jumping out of the boat and broke my sword.
+I soon found another, but the idea came into my head: 'you'll meet your
+death to-day.'  Yet here I sit, and hope to empty many a beaker with
+you."
+
+"It has passed already," said the fencing-master, raising his hat and
+wiping the perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand.
+"Every one must meet his death-hour, and if mine is approaching to-day
+--be it as God wills!  My family won't starve.  The house on the new
+Rhine is free from mortgage, and though they don't inherit much else, I
+shall leave my children an honest name and trustworthy friends.  I know
+you won't lose sight of my second boy, the musician, Wilhelm.  Nobody is
+indispensable, and if Heaven wishes to call me from this command, Junker
+von Nordwyk, Jan Van der Does, can fill my place.  You, Herr von Warmond,
+are in just the right spot, and the good cause will reach a successful
+end even without me."
+
+The musician listened with surprise to the softened tone of the strange
+man's voice, but the young nobleman raised his drinking-cup, exclaiming:
+
+"Such heavy thoughts for a light glass!  You make too much of the matter,
+Captain.  Take your bumper again, and pledge me: Long live the noble art
+of fencing, and your series: quarte, tierce and side-thrust!"
+
+"They'll live," replied Allertssohn, "ay, they'll live.  Many hundreds of
+noble gentlemen use the sword in this country, and the man who sits here
+has taught them to wield it according to the rules.  My series has served
+many in duelling, and I, Andreas, their master, have made tierce follow
+quarte and side-thrust tierce thousands of times, but always with buttons
+on the foils and against padded doublets.  Outside the walls, in the
+battle-field, no one, often as I have pressed upon the leaders, has ever
+stood against me in single combat.  This Brescian sword-blade has more
+than once pierced a Spanish jerkin, but the art I teach, gentlemen, the
+art I love, to which my life has been devoted, I have never practised in
+earnest.  That is hard to bear, gentlemen, and if Heaven is disposed,
+before calling him away from earth, to grant a poor man, who is no worse
+than his neighbors, one favor, I shall be permitted to cross blades once
+in a true, genuine duel, and try my series against an able champion in a
+mortal struggle.  If God would grant Andreas this--"
+
+Before the fencing-master had finished the last sentence, an armed man
+dashed the door open, shouting: "The light is raised at Leyderdorp!"
+
+At these words Allertssohn sprang from his chair as nimbly as a youth,
+drew himself up to his full height, adjusted his shoulder-belt and drew
+down his sash, exclaiming:
+
+"To the citadel, Hornist, and sound the call for assembling the troops.
+To your volunteers, Captain Van Duivenvoorde.  Post yourself with four
+companies at the Hohenort Gate, to be ready to take part, if the battle
+approaches the city-walls.  The gunners must provide matches.  Let the
+garrisons in the towers be doubled.  Klaas, go to the sexton of St.
+Pancratius and tell him to ring the alarm-bell, to warn the people at
+the fair.  Your hand, Junker.  I know you will be at your post, and you,
+Meister Wilhelm."
+
+"I'll go with you," said the musician resolutely.  "Don't reject me.
+I have remained quiet long enough; I shall stifle here."
+
+Wilhelm's cheeks flushed, and his eyes sparkled with a lustre so bright
+and angry, that Junker von Warmond looked at his phlegmatic friend in
+astonishment, while the captain called:
+
+"Then station yourself in the first company beside my ensign.  You don't
+look as if you felt like jesting, and the work will be in earnest now,
+bloody earnest."
+
+Allertssohn walked out of doors with a steady step, addressed his men in
+a few curt, vigorous words, ordered the drummers to beat their drums,
+while marching through the city, to rouse the people at the fair, placed
+himself at the head of his trusty little band, and led them towards the
+new Rhine.
+
+The moon shone brightly down into the quiet streets, was reflected from
+the black surface of the river, and surrounded the tall peaked gables of
+the narrow houses with a silvery lustre.  The rapid tramp of the soldiers
+was echoed loudly back from the houses through the silence of the night,
+and the vibration of the air, shaken by the beating of the drums, made
+the panes rattle.
+
+This time no merry children with paper flags and wooden swords preceded
+the warriors, this time no gay girls and proud mothers followed them, not
+even an old man, who remembered former days, when he himself bore arms.
+As the silent troops reached the neighborhood of Allertssohn's house, the
+clock in the church-steeple slowly struck twelve, and directly after the
+alarm-bell began to sound from the tower of Pancratius.
+
+A window in the second story of the fencing-toaster's house was thrown
+open, and his wife's face appeared.  An anxious married life with her
+strange husband had prematurely aged pretty little Eva's countenance,
+but the mild moonlight transfigured her faded features.  The beat of her
+husband's drums was familiar to her, and when she saw him at midnight
+marching past to the horrible call of the alarm-bell, a terrible dread
+overpowered her and would scarcely allow her to call: "Husband, husband!
+What is the matter, Andreas?"
+
+He did not hear, for the roll of the drums, the tramp of the soldiers'
+feet on the pavement and the ringing of the alarm-bell drowned her voice;
+but he saw her distinctly, and a strange feeling stole over him.  Her
+face, framed in a white kerchief and illumined by the moonlight, seemed
+to him fairer than he had ever seen it since the days of his wooing, and
+he felt so youthful and full of chivalrous daring, on his way to the
+field of danger, that he drew himself up to his full height and marched
+by, keeping most perfect time to the beat of the drums, as in lover-like
+fashion he threw her a kiss with his left hand, while waving his sword in
+the right.
+
+The beating of drums and waving of banners had banished every gloomy
+thought from his mind.  So he marched on to the Gansort.  There stood a
+cart, the home of travelling traders, who had been roused from sleep by
+the alarm-bell, and were hastily collecting their goods.  An old woman,
+amid bitter lamentations, was just harnessing a thin horse to the shafts,
+and from a tiny window a child's wailing voice was heard calling,
+"mother, mother," and then, "father, father."
+
+The fencing-master heard the cry.  The smile faded from his lips, and his
+step grew heavier.  Then he turned and shouted a loud "Forward" to his
+men.  Wilhelm was marching close behind him and at a sign from the
+captain approached; but Allertssohn, quickening his pace, seized the
+musician's arm, saying in a low tone:
+
+"You'll take the boy to teach?"
+
+"Yes, Captain."
+
+"Good; you'll be rewarded for it some day," replied the fencing-master,
+and waving his sword, shouted: "Liberty to Holland, death to the
+Spaniard, long live Orange!"
+
+The soldiers joyously joined in the shout, and marched rapidly with him
+through the Hohenort Gate into the open country and towards Leyderdorp.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Adrian hurried home with his vial, and in his joy at bringing the sick
+lady relief, forgot her headache and struck the knocker violently against
+the door.  Barbara received him with a by no means flattering greeting,
+but he was so full of the happiness of possessing the dearly-bought
+treasure, that he fearlessly interrupted his aunt's reproving words, by
+exclaiming eagerly, in the consciousness of his good cause:
+
+"You'll see; I have something here for the young lady; where is mother?"
+
+Barbara perceived that the boy was the bearer of some good tidings, which
+engrossed his whole attention, and the fresh happy face pleased her so
+much, that she forgot to scold and said smiling:
+
+"You make me very curious; what is the need of so much hurry?"
+
+"I've bought something; is mother up-stairs?"
+
+"Yes, show me what you have bought."
+
+"A remedy.  Infallible, I tell you; a remedy for headache."
+
+"A remedy for headache?"  asked the widow in astonishment.  "Who told you
+that fib?"
+
+"Fib?"  repeated the boy, laughing.  "I got it below cost."
+
+"Show it to me, boy," said Barbara authoritatively, snatching at the
+vial, but Adrian stepped back, hid the medicine behind him, and replied:
+
+"No, aunt; I shall take it to mother myself."
+
+"Did one ever hear of such a thing!"  cried the widow.  "Donkeys dance on
+ropes, school-boys dabble in doctor's business!  Show me the thing at
+once!  We want no quack wares."
+
+"Quack wares!"  replied Adrian eagerly.  "It cost all my fair money, and
+it's good medicine."
+
+During this little discussion Doctor Bontius came down-stairs with the
+burgomaster's wife.  He had heard the boy's last words and asked sternly:
+
+"Where did you get the stuff?"
+
+With these words, he seized the hand of the lad, who did not venture to
+resist the stern man, took the little vial and printed directions from
+him and, after Adrian had curtly answered: "From Doctor Morpurgo!"
+continued angrily:
+
+"The brew is good to be thrown away; only we must take care not to poison
+the fishes with it, and the thing cost half a florin.  You're a rich
+young man, Meister Adrian!  If you have any superfluous capital again,
+you can lend it to me."
+
+These words spoiled the boy's pleasure, but did not convince him, and he
+defiantly turned half away from the physician.  Barbara understood what
+was passing in his mind, and whispered compassionately to the doctor and
+her sister-in-law:
+
+"All his fair money to help the young lady."
+
+Maria instantly approached the disappointed child, drew his curly head
+towards her and silently kissed his forehead, while the doctor read the
+printed label, then without moving a muscle, said as gravely as ever:
+
+"Morpurgo isn't the worst of quacks, the remedy he prescribes here may do
+the young lady good after all."  Adrian had been nearer crying than
+laughing.  Now he uttered a sigh of relief, but still clasped Maria's
+hand firmly, as he again turned his face towards the doctor, listening
+intently while the latter continued:
+
+"Two parts buckbeans, one part pepper-wort, and half a part valerian.
+The latter specially for women.  Let it steep in boiling water and drink
+a cupful cold every morning and evening!  Not bad--really not bad.  You
+have found a good remedy, my worthy colleague.
+
+"I had something else to say to you, Adrian.  My boys are going to the
+English riders this evening, and would be glad to have you accompany
+them.  You can begin with the decoction to-day."
+
+The physician bowed to the ladies and went on; Barbara followed him into
+the street, asking:
+
+"Are you in earnest about the prescription?"
+
+"Of course, of course," replied the doctor, "my grandmother used this
+remedy for headache, and she was a sensible woman.  Evening and morning,
+and the proper amount of sleep."
+
+Henrica occupied a pretty, tastefully-furnished room.  The windows looked
+out upon the quiet court-yard, planted with trees, adjoining the chamois-
+leather work shops.  She was allowed to sit up part of the day in a
+cushioned arm-chair, supported by pillows.  Her healthy constitution was
+rapidly rallying.  True, she was still weak, and the headache spoiled
+whole days and nights.  Maria's gentle and thoughtful nature exerted a
+beneficial influence upon her, and she cheerfully welcomed Barbara, with
+her fresh face and simple, careful, helpful ways.
+
+When Maria told her about the purchase Adrian had made for her, she was
+moved to tears; but to the boy she concealed her grateful emotion under
+jesting words, and greeted him with the exclamation:
+
+"Come nearer, my preserver, and give me your hand."
+
+Afterwards, she always called him "my preserver" or, as she liked to
+mingle Italian words with her Dutch, "Salvatore" or "Signor Salvatore."
+She was particularly fond of giving the people, with whom she associated,
+names of her own, and so called Barbara, whose Christian name she thought
+frightful, "Babetta," and little slender, pretty Bessie, whose company
+she specially enjoyed, "the elf."  The burgomaster's wife only remained
+"Frau Maria," and when the latter once jestingly asked the cause of such
+neglect, Henrica replied that she suited her name and her name her; had
+she been called Martha, she would probably have named her "Maria."
+
+The invalid had passed a pleasant, painless day, and when towards evening
+Adrian went to see the English riders and the fragrance of the blooming
+lindens and the moonlight found their way through the open windows of her
+room, she begged Barbara not to bring a light, and invited Maria to sit
+down and talk with her.
+
+From Adrian and Bessie the conversation turned upon their own childhood.
+Henrica had grown up among her father's boon companions, amid the
+clinking of glasses and hunting-shouts, Maria in a grave burgher
+household, and what they told each other seemed like tidings from a
+strange world.
+
+"It was easy for you to become the tall, white lily you are now," said
+Henrica, "but I must thank the saints, that I came off as well as I did,
+for we really grew up like weeds, and if I hadn't had a taste for singing
+and the family priest hadn't been such an admirable musician, I might
+stand before you in a still worse guise.  When will the doctor let me
+hear you sing?"
+
+"Next week; but you musn't expect too much.  You have too high an opinion
+of me.  Remember the proverb about still waters.  Here in the depths it
+often looks far less peaceful, than you probably suppose."
+
+"But you have learned to keep the surface calm when it storms; I haven't.
+A strange stillness has stolen over me here.  Whether I owe it to illness
+or to the atmosphere that pervades this house, I can't tell, but how long
+will it last?  My soul used to be like the sea, when the hissing waves
+plunge into black gulfs, the seagulls scream, and the fishermen's wives
+pray on the shore.  Now the sea is calm.  Don't be too much frightened,
+if it begins to rage again."
+
+At these words Maria clasped the excited girl's hands, saying
+beseechingly:
+
+"Be quiet, be quiet, Henrica.  You must think only of your recovery now.
+And shall I confess something?  I believe everything hard can be more
+easily borne, if we can cast it impatiently forth like the sea of which
+you speak; with me one thing is piled on another and remains lying there,
+as if buried under the sand."
+
+"Until the hurricane comes, that sweeps it away.  I don't want to be an
+evil prophet, but you surely remember these words.  What a wild, careless
+thing I was!  Then a day came, that made a complete revolution in my
+whole nature."
+
+"Did a false love wound you?"  asked Maria modestly.
+
+"No, except the false love of another," replied Henrica bitterly.  "When
+I was a child this fluttering heart often throbbed more quickly, I don't
+know how often.  First I felt something more than reverence for the one-
+eyed chaplain, our music-teacher, and every morning placed fresh flowers
+on his window, which he never noticed.  Then--I was probably fifteen--
+I returned the ardent glances of Count Brederode's pretty page.  Once he
+tried to be tender, and received a blow from my riding-whip.  Next came
+a handsome young nobleman, who wanted to marry me when I was barely
+sixteen, but he was even more heavily in debt than my father, so he was
+sent home.  I shed no tears for him, and when, two months after, at a
+tournament in Brussels, I saw Don Frederic, the son of the great Duke of
+Alva, fancied myself as much in love with him as ever any lady worshipped
+her Amadis, though the affair never went beyond looks.  Then the storm,
+of which I have already spoken, burst, and that put an end to love-
+making.  I will tell you more about this at some future time; I need not
+conceal it, for it has been no secret.  Have you ever heard of my sister?
+No?  She was older than I, a creature-God never created anything more
+perfect.  And her singing!  She came to my dead aunt's, and there--But I
+won't excite myself uselessly--in short, the man whom she loved with all
+the strength of her heart thrust her into misery, and my father cursed
+and would not stretch out a finger to aid her.  I never knew my mother,
+but through Anna I never missed her.  My sister's fate opened my eyes to
+men.  During the last few years many have wanted me, but I lacked
+confidence and, still more, love, for I shall never have anything to do
+with that."
+
+"Until it finds you," replied Maria.  "It was wrong to speak of such
+things with you, it excites you, and that is bad."
+
+"Never mind; it will do me good to relieve my heart.  Did you love no one
+before your husband?"
+
+"Love?  No, Henrica, I never really loved any one except him."
+
+"And your heart waited for the burgomaster, ere it beat faster?"
+
+"No, it had not always remained quiet before; I grew up among social
+people, old and young, and of course liked some better than others."
+
+"And surely one best of all."
+
+"I won't deny it.  At my sister's wedding, my brother-in-law's friend,
+a young nobleman, came from Germany and remained several weeks with us.
+I liked him, and remember him kindly even now."
+
+"Have you never heard from him again?"
+
+"No; who knows what has become of him.  My brother-in-law expected great
+things from him, and he possessed many rare gifts, but was reckless,
+fool-hardy, and a source of constant anxiety to his mother."
+
+"You must tell me more about him."
+
+"What is the use, Henrica?"
+
+"I don't want to talk any more, but I should like to be still, inhale the
+fragrance of the lindens, and listen, only listen."
+
+"No, you must go to bed now.  I'll help you undress and, when you have
+been alone an hour, come back again."
+
+"One learns obedience in your house, but when my preserver comes home,
+bring him here.  He must tell me about the English riders.  There comes
+Fran Babetta with his decoction.  You shall see that I take it
+punctually."
+
+The boy returned home late, for he had enjoyed all the glories of the
+fair with the doctor's children.  He was permitted to pay only a short
+visit to Henrica, and did not see his father at all, the latter having
+gone to a night council at Herr Van Bronkhorst's.
+
+The next morning the fair holidays were to end, school would begin and
+Adrian had intended to finish his tasks this evening; but the visit to
+the English riders had interfered, and he could not possibly appear
+before the rector without his exercise.  He frankly told Maria so, and
+she cleared a place for him at the table where she was sewing, and helped
+the young scholar with many a word and rule she had learned with her dead
+brother.
+
+When it lacked only half an hour of midnight, Barbara entered, saying:
+
+"That's enough now.  You can finish the rest early to-morrow morning
+before school."
+
+Without waiting for Maria's reply, she closed the boy's books and pushed
+them together.
+
+While thus occupied, the room shook with rude blows on the door of the
+house.  Maria threw down her sewing and started from her seat, while
+Barbara exclaimed:
+
+"For Heaven's sake, what is it?"  Adrian rushed into his father's room
+and opened the window.
+
+The ladies had hurried after him, and before they could question the
+disturber of the peace, a deep voice called:
+
+"Open, I must come in."
+
+"What is it?"  asked Barbara, who recognized a soldier in the moonlight.
+"We can't hear our own voices; stop that knocking."
+
+"Call the burgomaster!"  shouted the messenger, who had been constantly
+using the knocker.  "Quick, woman; the Spaniards are coming."
+
+Barbara shrieked aloud and beat her hands.  Maria turned pale, but
+without losing her composure, replied: "The burgomaster is not at home,
+but I'll send for him.  Quick, Adrian, call your father."
+
+The boy rushed down-stairs, meeting in the entry the man-servant and
+Trautchen, who had jumped hastily out of bed, throwing on an under-
+petticoat, and was now trying, with trembling hands, to unlock the door.
+The man pushed her aside, and as soon as the door creaked on its hinges,
+Adrian darted out and ran, as if in a race, down the street to the
+commissioner's.  Arriving before any other messenger, he pressed through
+the open door into the dining-hall and called breathlessly to the men,
+who were holding a council over their wine:
+
+"The Spaniards are here!"
+
+The gentlemen hastily rose from their seats.  One wanted to rush to the
+citadel, another to the town-hall and, in the excitement of the moment,
+no sensible reflection was made.  Peter Van der Werff alone maintained
+his composure and, after Allertssohn's messenger had appeared and
+reported that the captain and his men were on the way to Leyderdorp, the
+burgomaster pointed out that the leaders' care should now be devoted to
+the people who had come to the fair.  He and Van Hout undertook to
+provide for them, and Adrian was soon standing with his father and the
+city clerk among the crowds of people, who had been roused from sleep by
+the wailing iron voice from the Tower or Pancratius.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Adrian's activity for this night was not yet over, for his father did not
+prevent his accompanying him to the town-hall.  There he directed him to
+tell his mother, that he should be busy until morning and the servant
+might send all persons, who desired to speak to him after one o'clock,
+to the timber-market on the Rhine.  Maria sent the boy back to the town-
+hall, to ask his father if he did not want his cloak, wine, a lunch or
+anything of the sort.
+
+The boy fulfilled this commission with great zeal, for he never had felt
+so important as while forcing his way through the crowds that had
+gathered in the narrower streets; he had a duty to perform, and at night,
+the time when other boys were asleep, especially his school-mates, who
+certainly would not be allowed to leave the house now.  Besides, an
+eventful period, full of the beating of drums, the blare of trumpets, the
+rattle of musketry and roar of cannon might be expected.  It seemed as if
+the game "Holland against Spain" was to be continued in earnest, and on a
+grand scale.  All the vivacity of his years seized upon him, and when he
+had forced a way with his elbows to less crowded places, he dashed
+hurriedly along, shouting as merrily as if spreading some joyful news in
+the darkness:
+
+"They are coming!" "the Spaniards!" or "Hannibal ante portas."
+
+After learning on his return to the town-hall, that his father wanted
+nothing and would send a constable if there was need of anything, he
+considered his errand done and felt entitled to satisfy his curiosity.
+
+This drew him first to the English riders.  The tent where they had given
+their performances had disappeared from the earth, and screaming men and
+women were rolling up large pieces of canvas, fastening packs, and
+swearing while they harnessed horses.  The gloomy light of torches
+mingled with the moonbeams and showed him on the narrow steps, that led
+to a large four-wheeled cart, a little girl in shabby clothes, weeping
+bitterly.  Could this be the rosy-cheeked angel who, floating along on
+the snow-white pony, had seemed to him like a happy creature from more
+beautiful worlds?  A scolding old woman now lifted the child into the
+cart, but he followed the crowd and saw Doctor Morpurgo, no longer clad
+in scarlet, but in plain dark cloth, mounted on a lean horse, riding
+beside his cart.  The negro was furiously urging the mule forward, but
+his master seemed to have remained in full possession of the calmness
+peculiar to him.  His wares were of small value, and the Spaniards had
+no reason to take his head and tongue, by which he gained more than he
+needed.
+
+Adrian followed him to the long row of booths in the wide street, and
+there saw things, which put an end to his thoughtlessness and made him
+realize, that the point in question now concerned serious, heart-rending
+matters.  He had still been able to laugh as he saw the ginger-bread
+bakers and cotton-sellers fighting hand to hand, because in the first
+fright they had tossed their packages of wares hap-hazard into each
+other's open chests, and were now unable to separate their property; but
+he felt sincerely sorry for the Delft crockery-dealer on the corner,
+whose light booth had been demolished by a large wagon from Gouda, loaded
+with bales, and who now stood beside her broken wares, by means of which
+she supported herself and children, wringing her hands, while the driver,
+taking no notice of her, urged on his horses with loud cracks of his
+whip.  A little girl, who had lost her parents and was being carried away
+by a compassionate burgher woman, was weeping piteously.  A poor rope-
+dancer, who had been robbed by a thief in the crowd, of the little tin
+box containing he pennies he had collected, was running about, ringing
+his hands and looking for the watchman.  A shoemaker was pounding riding-
+boots and women's shoes in motley confusion into a wooden chest with rope
+handles, while his wife, instead of helping him, tore her hair and
+shrieked: "I told you so, you fool, you simpleton, you blockhead!
+They'll come and rob us of everything."
+
+At the entrance of the street that led past the Assendelft house to the
+Leibfrau Bridge, several loaded wagons had become entangled, and the
+drivers, instead of getting down and procuring help, struck at each other
+in their terror, hitting the women and children seated among the bales.
+Their cries and shrieks echoed a long distance, but were destined to be
+drowned, for a dancing-bear had broken loose and was putting every one
+near him to flight.  The people, who were frightened by the beast, rushed
+down the street, screaming and yelling, dragging with them others who did
+not know the cause of the alarm, and misled by the most imminent fear,
+roared: "The Spaniards!  The Spaniards!"  Whatever came in the way of the
+terrified throngs was overthrown.  A sieve-dealer's child, standing
+beside its father's upset cart, fell beneath the mob close beside Adrian,
+who had stationed himself in the door-way of a house.  But the lad was
+crowded so closely into his hiding-place, that he could not spring to the
+little one's aid, and his attention was attracted to a new sight, as
+Janus Dousa appeared on horseback.  In answer to the cry of "The
+Spaniards!  The Spaniards!" he shouted loudly: "Quiet, people, quiet!
+The enemy hasn't come yet!  To the Rhine!  Vessels are waiting there for
+all strangers.  To the Rhine!  There are no Spaniards there, do you hear,
+no Spaniards!"
+
+The nobleman stopped just before Adrian, for his horse could go no
+farther and stood snorting and trembling under his rider.  The advice
+bore little fruit, and not until hundreds had rushed past him, did the
+frightened crowd diminish.  The bear, from which they fled, had been
+caught by a brewer's apprentice and taken back to its owner long before.
+The city constables now appeared, led by Adrian's father, and the boy
+followed them unobserved to the timber-market on the southern bank of the
+Rhine.  There another crowd met him, for many dealers had hurried thither
+to save their property in the ships.  Men and women pressed past bales
+and wares, that were being rolled down the narrow wooden bridges to the
+vessels.  A woman, a child, and a rope-maker's cart had been pushed into
+the water, and the wildest confusion prevailed around the spot.  But the
+burgomaster reached the place just at the right time, gave directions for
+rescuing the drowning people, and then made every, exertion to bring
+order out of the confusion.
+
+The constables were commanded to admit fugitives only on board the
+vessels bound for the places where they belonged; two planks were laid to
+every ship, One for goods, the other for passengers; the constables
+loudly shouted that--as the law directed when the alarm-bell rang--all
+citizens of Leyden must enter their houses and the streets be cleared, on
+pain of a heavy penalty.  All the city gates were opened for the passage
+of wheeled vehicles, except the Hohenort Gate, which led to Leyderdorp,
+where egress was refused.  Thus the crowd in the streets was lessened,
+order appeared amid the tumult, and when, in the dawn of morning, Adrian
+turned his steps towards home, there was little more bustle in the
+streets than on ordinary nights.
+
+His mother and Barbara had been anxious, but he told them about his
+father and in what manner he had put a stop to the confusion.
+
+While talking, the rattle of musketry was heard in the distance, awaking
+such excitement in Adrian's mind, that he wanted to rush out again; but
+his mother stopped him and he was obliged to mount the stairs to his
+room.  He did not go to sleep, but climbed to the upper loft in the gable
+of the rear building and gazed through the window, to which the bales of
+leather were raised by pulleys, towards the east, from whence the sound
+of firing was still audible.  But he saw nothing except the dawn and
+light clouds of smoke, that assumed a rosy hue as they floated upward.
+As nothing new appeared, his eyes closed, and he fell asleep beside the
+open window where he dreamed of a bloody battle and the English riders.
+His slumber was so sound, that he did not hear the rumble of wheels in
+the quiet courtyard below him.  The carts from which the noise proceeded
+belonged to traders from neighboring cities, who preferred to leave their
+goods in the threatened town, rather than carry them towards the
+advancing Spaniards.  Meister Peter had allowed some of them to store
+their property with him.  The carts were obliged to pass through the
+back-building with the workshops, and the goods liable to be injured by
+the weather, were to be placed in the course of the day in the large
+garrets of his house.
+
+The burgomaster's wife had gone to Henrica at midnight to soothe her
+fears, but the sick girl seemed free from all anxiety, and when she heard
+that the Spaniards were on the march, her eyes sparkled joyously.  Maria
+noticed it and turned away from her guest, but she repressed the harsh
+words that sprang to her lips, wished her good-night, and left the
+chamber.
+
+Henrica gazed thoughtfully after her and then rose, for no sleep was
+possible that night.  The alarm-bell in the Tower of Pancratius rang
+incessantly, and more than once doors opened, voices and shots were
+heard.  Many tones and noises, whose origin and nature she could not
+understand, reached her ears, and when morning dawned, the court-yard
+under her windows, usually so quiet, was full of bustle.  Carts rattled,
+loud tones mingled excitedly, and a deep masculine voice seemed to be
+directing what was going on.  Her curiosity and restlessness increased
+every moment.  She listened so intently that her head began to ache
+again, but could hear only separate words and those very indistinctly.
+Had the city been surrendered to the Spaniards, had King Philip's
+soldiers found quarters in the burgomaster's house?  Her blood boiled
+indignantly, when she thought of the Castilians' triumph and the
+humiliation of her native land, but soon her former joyous excitement
+again filled her mind, as she beheld in imagination art re-enter the bare
+walls of the Leyden churches, now robbed of all their ornaments, chanting
+processions move through the streets, and priests in rich robes
+celebrating mass in the newly-decorated tabernacles, amid beautiful
+music, the odor of incense, and the ringing of bells.  She expected to
+receive from the Spaniards a place where she could pray and free her soul
+by confession.  Amid her former surroundings nothing had afforded her any
+support, except her religion.  A worthy priest, who was also her
+instructor, had zealously striven to prove to her, that the new religion
+threatened to destroy the mystical consecration of life, the yearning for
+the beautiful, every ideal emotion of the human soul, and with them art
+also; so Henrica preferred to see her native land Spanish and Catholic,
+rather than free from the foreigners whom she hated and Calvinistical.
+
+The court-yard gradually became less noisy, but when the first rays of
+morning light streamed into her windows, the bustle again commenced and
+grew louder.  Heavy soles tramped upon the pavement, and amid the voices
+that now mingled with those she had formerly heard, she fancied she
+distinguished Maria's and Barbara's.  Yes, she was not mistaken.  That
+cry of terror must proceed from her friend's mouth, and was followed by
+exclamations of grief from bearded lips and loud sobs.
+
+Evil tidings must have reached her host's house, and the woman weeping so
+impetuously below was probably kind "Babetta."
+
+Anxiety drove her from her bed.  On the little table beside it, amid
+several bottles and glasses, the lamp and the box of matches, stood the
+tiny bell, at whose faint sound one of her nurses invariably hastened in.
+Henrica rang it three times, then again and again, but nobody appeared.
+Then her hot blood boiled, and half from impatience and vexation, half
+from curiosity and sympathy, she slipped into her shoes, threw on a
+morning dress, went to the chair which stood on the platform in the
+niche, opened the window, and looked down at the groups gathered below.
+
+No one noticed her, for the men who stood there sorrowing, and the
+weeping women, among whom were Maria and Barbara, were listening with
+many tokens of sympathy to the eager words of a young man, and had eyes
+and ears for him alone.  Henrica recognized in the speaker the musician
+Wilhelm, but only by his voice, for the morion on his curls and the
+blood-stained coat of mail gave the unassuming artist a martial, nay
+heroic air.
+
+He had advanced a long way in his story, when Henrica unseen became a
+listener.
+
+"Yes, sir," he replied, in answer to a question from the burgomaster,
+"we followed them, but they disappeared in the village and all remained
+still.  To risk storming the houses, would have been madness.  So we kept
+quiet, but towards two o'clock heard firing in the neighborhood of
+Leyderdorp.  'Junker von Warmond has made a sally,' said the captain,
+leading us in the direction of the firing.  This was what the Spaniards
+had wanted, for long before we reached the goal, a company of Castilians,
+with white sheets over their armor, climbed out of a ditch in the dim
+light, threw themselves on their knees, murmured a 'Pater-noster,'
+shouted their San Jago and pressed forward upon us.  We had seen them in
+time for the halberdiers to extend their pikes, and the musketeers to he
+down amid the grass.  So the Spaniards had a warm reception, and four of
+them fell in this attack.  We were superior in numbers, and their captain
+led them back to the ditch in good order.  There they halted, for their
+duty was probably to detain us and then have us cut down by a larger
+body.  We were too weak to drive them from their position, but when the
+east began to brighten and they still did not come forward, the captain
+advanced towards them with the drummer, bearing a white flag, and shouted
+to them in Italian, which he had learned to speak a little in Italy, that
+he wished the Castilian gentlemen good-morning, and if there was any
+officer with a sense of honor among them, let him come forth and meet a
+captain who wished to cross swords with him.  He pledged his word, that
+his men would look on at the duel without taking any share in it, no
+matter what the result might be.  Just at that moment two shots were
+fired from the ditch and the bullets whizzed close by the poor captain.
+We called to him to save his life, but he did not stir, and shouted that
+they were cowards and assassins, like their king.
+
+"Meantime it had grown tolerably light--we heard them calling to and fro
+from the ditch, and just as Allertssohn was turning away, an officer
+sprang into the meadow, exclaiming: 'Stand, braggart, and draw your
+blade.'
+
+"The captain drew his Brescian sword, bowed to his enemy as if he were in
+the fencing-school, bent the steel and closed with the Castilian.  The
+latter was a thin man of stately figure and aristocratic bearing, and as
+it soon appeared, a dangerous foe.  He circled like a whirlwind, round
+the captain with bounds, thrusts and feints, but Allertssohn maintained
+his composure, and at first confined himself to skilful parrying.  Then
+he dealt a magnificent quarte, and when the other parried it, followed
+with the tierce, and this being warded off, gave with the speed of
+lightning a side-thrust such as only he can deal.  The Castilian fell on
+his knees, for the Brescian blade had pierced his lungs.  His death was
+speedy.
+
+"As soon as he lay on the turf, the Spaniards again rushed upon us, but
+we repulsed them and took the officer's body in our midst.  Never have I
+seen the captain so proud and happy.  You, Junker von Warmond, can easily
+guess the cause.  He had now done honor to his series in a genuine duel
+against an enemy of equal rank, and told me this was the happiest morning
+of his life.  Then he ordered us to march round the ditch and attack the
+enemy on the flank.  But scarcely had we begun to move, when the expected
+troops from Leyderdorp pressed forward, their loud San Jago resounding
+far and wide, while at the same time the old enemy rose from the ditch
+and attacked us.  Allertssohn rushed forward, but did not reach them--oh,
+gentlemen!  I shall never forget it, a bullet struck him down at my
+side.  It probably pierced his heart, for he said: nothing but:
+'Remember the boy!' stretched out his powerful frame and died.  We wanted
+to bear his body away with us, but were pressed by superior numbers, and
+it was hard enough to come within range of Junker von Warmond's
+volunteers.  The Spaniards did not venture so far.  Here we are.  The
+Castilian's body is lying in the tower at the Hohenort Gate.  These are
+the papers we found in the dead man's doublet, and this is his ring; he
+has a proud escutcheon."
+
+Peter Van der Werff took the dead man's letter-case in his hand, looked
+through it and said: "His name was Don Luis d Avila."
+
+He said no more, for his wife had seen Henrica's head stretched far out
+of the window, and cried loudly in terror: "Fraulein, for Heaven's sake,
+Fraulein--what are you doing?"
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Hat is the sign of liberty, and the free man keeps his hat on
+Must take care not to poison the fishes with it
+
+
+
+
+
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