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+The Project Gutenberg EBook The Burgomaster's Wife, by Georg Ebers, v4
+#142 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+Title: The Burgomaster's Wife, Volume 4.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5581]
+[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, V4 ***
+
+
+
+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 4.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The burgomaster's wife had been anxious about Henrica, but the latter
+greeted her with special cheerfulness and met her gentle reproaches with
+the assurance that this morning had done her good.  Fate, she said,
+was just, and if it were true that confidence of recovery helped the
+physician, Doctor Bontius would have an easy task with her.  The dead
+Castilian must be the wretch, who had plunged her sister Anna into
+misery.  Maria, surprised, but entirely relieved, left her and sought her
+husband to tell him how she had found the invalid, and in what relation
+the Spanish officer, slain by Allertssohn, seemed to have stood to
+Henrica and her sister.  Peter only half listened to her, and when
+Barbara brought him a freshly-ironed ruff, interrupted his wife in the
+middle of her story, gave her the dead man's letter-case, and said:
+
+"There, let her satisfy herself, and bring it to me again in the evening,
+I shall hardly be able to come to dinner; I suppose you'll see poor
+Allertssohn's widow in the course of the day."
+
+"Certainly," she answered eagerly.  "Whom will you appoint in his place?"
+
+"That is for the Prince to decide."
+
+"Have you thought of any means of keeping the communication with Delft
+free from the enemy?"
+
+"On your mother's account?"
+
+"Not solely.  Rotterdam also lies to the south.  We can expect nothing
+from Haarlem and Amsterdam, that is, from the north, for everything there
+is in the hands of the Spaniards."
+
+"I'll get you a place in the council of war.  Where do you learn your
+wisdom?"
+
+"We have our thoughts, and isn't it natural that I should rather follow
+you into the future with my eyes open, than blindly?  Has the English
+troop been used to secure the fortifications on the old canal?  Kaak too
+is an important point."
+
+Peter gazed at his wife in amazement, and the sense of discomfort
+experienced by an unskilful writer, when some one looks over his
+shoulder, stole over him.  She had pointed out a bad, momentous error,
+which, it is true, did not burden him alone, and as he certainly did not
+wish to defend it to her, and moreover might have found justification
+difficult, he made no reply, saying nothing but: "Men's affairs!  Good-
+bye until evening."  With these words he walked past Barbara, towards the
+door.
+
+Maria did not know how it happened, but before he laid his hand on the
+latch she gained sufficient self-command to call after him:
+
+"Are you going so, Peter!  Is that right?  What did you promise me on
+your return from the journey to the Prince?"
+
+"I know, I know," he answered impatiently.  "We cannot serve two masters,
+and in these times I beg you not to trouble me with questions and matters
+that don't concern you.  To direct the business of the city is my affair;
+you have your invalid, the children, the poor; let that suffice."
+
+Without waiting for her reply he left the room, while she stood
+motionless, gazing after him.
+
+Barbara watched her anxiously for several minutes, then busied herself
+with the papers on her brother's writing-table, saying as if to herself,
+though turning slightly towards her sister-in-law:
+
+"Evil times!  Let every one, who is not oppressed with such burdens as
+Peter, thank the Lord.  He has to bear the responsibility of everything,
+and people can't dance lightly with hundred-pound weights on their legs.
+Nobody has a better heart, and nobody means more honestly.  How the
+traders at the fair praised his caution!  In the storm people know the
+pilot, and Peter was always greatest, when things were going worst.  He
+knows what he is undertaking, but the last few weeks have aged him
+years."
+
+Maria nodded.  Barbara left the room, but returning after a few minutes,
+said beseechingly:
+
+"You look ill, child, come and lie down.  An hour's sleep is better than
+three meals.  At your age, such a night as this last one doesn't pass
+without leaving traces.  The sun is shining so brightly, that I've drawn
+your window-curtains.  I've made your bed, too.  Be sensible and come."
+
+While uttering the last words, she took Maria's hand and drew her away.
+The young wife made no resistance, and though her eyes did not remain dry
+when she was alone, sleep soon overpowered her.
+
+Towards noon, refreshed by slumber, and newly dressed, she went to the
+captain's house.  Her own heart was heavy, and compassion for herself and
+her own fate again had the mastery.  Eva Peterstochter, the fencing-
+master's widow, a quiet, modest woman, whom she scarcely knew by sight,
+did not appear.  She was sitting alone in her room, weeping, but Maria
+found in her house the musician, Wilhelm, who had spoken comforting words
+to his old friend's son, and promised to take charge of him and make him
+a good performer.
+
+The burgomaster's wife sent a message to the widow, begging to see her
+the next day, and then went out into the street with Wilhelm.  Everywhere
+groups of citizens, women, and journeymen were standing together, talking
+about what had happened and the coming trouble.  While Maria was telling
+the musician who the dead Castilian was, and that Henrica desired to
+speak with him, Wilhelm, as soon as possible, she was interrupted more
+than once; for sometimes a company of volunteers or city guards, relieved
+from duty in the towers and on the walls, sometimes a cannon barred their
+way.  Was it the anticipation of coming events, or the beat of drums and
+blare of trumpets, which so excited her companion, that he often pressed
+his hand to his forehead and she was obliged to request him to slacken
+his pace.  There was a strange, constrained tone in his voice as, in
+accordance with her request, he told her that the Spaniards had come by
+ship up the Amstel, the Drecht, and the Brasem See to the Rhine and
+landed at Leyderdorp.
+
+A mounted messenger wearing the Prince's colors, and followed not only by
+children, but by grown persons, who ran after him eager to reach the
+town-hall at the same time, interrupted Wilhelm, and as soon as the crowd
+had passed, the burgomaster's wife asked her companion one question after
+another.  The noise of war, the firing audible in the distance, the gay
+military costumes everywhere to be seen in place of the darker citizens'
+dress, also aroused her eager interest, and what she learned from Wilhelm
+was little calculated to diminish it.  The main body of the Spanish
+troops was on the way to the Hague.  The environment of the city had
+commenced, but the enemy could hardly succeed in his purpose; for the
+English auxiliaries, who were to defend the new fortifications of
+Valkenburg, the village of Alfen, and the Gouda sluice might be trusted.
+Wilhelm had seen the British soldiers, their commander, Colonel Chester,
+and Captain Gensfort, and praised their superb equipments and stately
+bearing.
+
+On reaching her own house, Maria attempted to take leave of her
+companion, but the latter earnestly entreated permission to have an
+interview with Henrica at once, and could scarcely be convinced that
+he must have patience until the doctor had given his consent.
+
+At dinner Adrian, who when his father was not present, talked freely
+enough, related all sorts of things he had seen himself, as well as news
+and rumors heard at school and in the street, his eloquence being no
+little encouraged by his step-mother's eager questions.
+
+Intense anxiety had taken possession of the burgomaster's wife.  Her
+enthusiasm for the cause of liberty, to which her most beloved relatives
+had fallen victims, blazed brightly, and wrath against the oppressors of
+her native land seethed passionately in her breast.  The delicate,
+maidenly, reserved woman, who was utterly incapable of any loud or rude
+expression of feeling in ordinary life, would now have rushed to the
+walls, like Kanau Hasselaer of Haarlem, to fight the foe among the men.
+
+Offended pride, and everything that an hour ago had oppressed her heart,
+yielded to sympathy for her country's cause.  Animated with fresh
+courage, she went to Henrica and, as evening had closed in, sat down by
+the lamp to write to her mother; for she had neglected to do so since the
+invalid's arrival, and communication with Delft might soon be
+interrupted.
+
+When she read over the completed letter, she was satisfied with it and
+herself, for it breathed firm confidence in the victory of the good
+cause, and also distinctly and unconstrainedly expressed her cheerful
+willingness to bear the worst.
+
+Barbara had retired when Peter at last appeared, so weary that he could
+scarcely touch the meal that had been kept ready for him.  While raising
+the food to his lips, he confirmed the news Maria had already heard from
+the musician, and was gentle and kind, but his appearance saddened her,
+for it recalled Barbara's allusion to the heavy burden he had assumed.
+To-day, for the first time, she noticed two deep lines that anxiety had
+furrowed between his eyes and lips, and full of tender compassion, went
+behind him, laid her hands on his cheeks and kissed him on the forehead.
+He trembled slightly, seized her slender right hand so impetuously that
+she shrank back, raised it first to his lips, then to his eyes, and held
+it there for several minutes.
+
+At last he rose, passed before her into his sleeping-room, bade her an
+affectionate good-night, and lay down to rest.  When she too sought her
+bed, he was breathing heavily.  Extreme fatigue had quickly overpowered
+him.  The slumber of both was destined to be frequently interrupted
+during this night, and whenever Maria woke, she heard her husband sigh
+and moan.  She did not stir, that she might not disturb the sleep he
+sought and needed, and twice held her breath, for he was talking to
+himself.  First he murmured softly: "Heavy, too heavy," and then: "If I
+can only bear it."
+
+When she awoke next morning, he had already left the room and gone to the
+town-hall.  At noon he returned home, saying that the Spaniards had taken
+the Hague and been hailed with delight by the pitiful adherents of the
+king.  Fortunately, the well-disposed citizens and Beggars had had time
+to escape to Delft, for brave Nicolas Ruichhaver had held the foe in
+check for a time at Geestburg.  The west was still open, and the newly-
+fortified fort of Valkenburg, garrisoned by the English soldiers, would
+not be so easy to storm.  On the east, other British auxiliaries were
+posted at Alfen in the Spaniards' rear.
+
+The burgomaster told all this unasked, but did not speak as freely and
+naturally as when conversing with men.  While talking, he often looked
+into his plate and hesitated.  It seemed as if he were obliged to impose
+a certain restraint upon himself, in order to speak before women,
+servants, and children, of matters he was in the habit of discussing only
+with men of his own position.  Maria listened attentively, but maintained
+a modest reserve, urging him only by loving looks and sympathizing
+exclamations, while Barbara boldly asked one question after another.
+
+The meal was approaching an end, when Junker von Warmond entered
+unannounced, and requested the burgomaster to accompany him at once, for
+Colonel Chester was standing before the White Gate with a portion of his
+troops, asking admittance to the city.
+
+At these tidings, Peter dashed his mug of beer angrily on the table,
+sprang from his seat, and left the room before the nobleman.
+
+During the late hours of the afternoon, the Van der Werff house was
+crowded with people.  The gossips came to talk over with Barbara the
+events occurring at the White Gate.  Burgomaster Van Swieten's wife had
+heard from her own husband, that the Englishmen, without making any
+resistance, had surrendered the beautiful new fort of Valkenburg and
+taken to their heels, at the mere sight of the Spaniards.  The enemy had
+marched out from Haarlem through the downs above Nordwyk, and it would
+have been an easy matter for the Britons to hold the strong position.
+
+"Fine aid such helpers give!"  cried Barbara indignantly.  "Let Queen
+Elizabeth keep the men on her island for herself, and send us the women."
+
+"Yet they are real sons of Anak, and bear themselves like trim soldiers,"
+said the wife of the magistrate Heemskerk.  "High boots, doublets of fine
+leather, gay plumes in their morions and hats, large coats of mail,
+halberds that would kill half a dozen--and all like new."
+
+"They probably didn't want to spoil them, and so found a place of safety
+as soon as possible, the windy cowards," cried the wife of Church-warden
+de Haes, whose sharp tongue was well known.  "You seem to have looked at
+them very closely, Frau Margret."
+
+"From the wind-mill at the gate," replied the other.  "The envoy stopped
+on the bridge directly under us.  A handsome man on a stately horse.  His
+trumpeter too was mounted, and the velvet cloth on his trumpet bristled
+with beautiful embroidery in gold thread and jewels.  They earnestly
+entreated admittance, but the gate remained closed."
+
+"Right, right!"  cried Frau Heemskerk.  "I don't like the Prince's
+commissioner, Van Bronkhorst.  What does he care for us, if only the
+Queen doesn't get angry and withdraw the subsidies?  I've heard he wants
+to accommodate Chester and grant him admission."
+
+"He would like to do so," added Frau Van Hout.  "But your husband, Frau
+Maria, and mine--I was talking with him on the way here--will make every
+effort to prevent it.  The two Seigneurs of Nordwyk are of their opinion,
+so perhaps the commissioner will be out-voted."
+
+"May God grant it!"  cried the resolute voice of Wilhelm's mother.  "By
+to-morrow or the day after, not even a cat will be allowed to leave the
+gates, and my husband says we must begin to save provisions at once."
+
+"Five hundred more consumers in the city, to lessen our children's
+morsels; that would be fine business!"  cried Frau de Haes, throwing
+herself back in her chair so violently, that it creaked, and beating her
+knees with her hands.
+
+"And they are Englishmen, Frau Margret, Englishmen," said the Receiver-
+General's wife.  "They don't eat, they don't consume, they devour.  We
+supply our troops; but Herr von Nordwyk--I mean the younger one, who has
+been at the Queen's court as the Prince's ambassador, told my Wilhelm
+what a British glutton can gobble.  They'll clear off your beef like
+cheese, and our beer is dish-water compared with their black malt brew."
+
+"All that might be borne," replied Barbara, "if they were stout soldiers.
+We needn't mind a hundred head of cattle more or less, and the glutton
+becomes temperate, when a niggard rules the house.  But I wouldn't take
+one of our Adrian's grey rabbits for these runaways."
+
+"It would be a pity," said Frau de Haes.  "I shall go home now, and if I
+find my husband, he'll learn what sensible people think of the
+Englishmen."
+
+"Gently, my friend, gently," said Burgomaster Van Swieten's wife, who had
+hitherto been playing quietly with the cat.  "Believe me, it will be just
+the same on the whole, whether we admit the auxiliaries or not, for
+before the gooseberries in our gardens are ripe, all resistance will be
+over."
+
+Maria, who was passing cakes and hippocras, set her waiter on the table
+and asked:
+
+"Do you wish that, Frau Magtelt?"
+
+"I do," replied the latter positively, "and many sensible people wish it
+too.  No resistance is possible against such superior force, and the
+sooner we appeal to the King's mercy, the more surely it will be
+granted."
+
+The other women listened to the bold speaker in silence, but Maria
+approached and answered indignantly:
+
+"Whoever says that, can go to the Spaniards at once; whoever says that,
+desires the disgrace of the city and country; whoever says that--"
+
+Frau Magtelt interrupted Maria with a forced laugh, saying:
+
+"Do you want to school experienced women, Madam Early-Wise?  Is it
+customary to attack a visitor?"
+
+"Customary or not," replied the other, "I will never permit such words in
+our house, and if they crossed the lips of my own sister I would say to
+her Go, you are my friend no longer!"
+
+Maria's voice trembled, and she pointed with outstretched arm towards the
+door.
+
+Frau Magtelt struggled for composure, but as she left the room found
+nothing to say, except: "Don't be troubled, don't be troubled--you won't
+see me again."
+
+Barbara followed the offended woman, and while those who remained fixed
+their eyes in embarrassment upon their laps, Wilhelm's mother exclaimed:
+
+"Well said, little woman, well said!"
+
+Herr Van Hout's kind wife threw her arm around Maria, kissed her
+forehead, and whispered:
+
+"Turn away from the other women and dry your eyes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A story is told of a condemned man, whom his cruel executioner cast into
+a prison of ingenious structure.  Each day the walls of this cage grew
+narrower and narrower, each day they pressed nearer and nearer to the
+unfortunate prisoner, until in despair he died and the dungeon became his
+coffin.  Even so, league by league, the iron barriers of the Spanish
+regiments drew nearer and nearer Leyden, and, if they succeeded in
+destroying the resistance of their victim, the latter was threatened with
+a still more cruel and pitiless end than that of the unhappy prisoner.
+The girdle Valdez, King Philip's commander, and his skilful lieutenant,
+Don Ayala, had drawn around the city in less than two days, was already
+nearly closed, the fort of Valkenburg, strengthened with the utmost care,
+belonged to the enemy, and the danger had advanced more rapidly and with
+far more irresistible strength, than even the most timid citizens had
+feared.  If Leyden fell, its houses would be delivered to fire and
+pillage, its men to death, its women to disgrace--this was guaranteed by
+the fate of other conquered cities and the Spanish nature.
+
+Who could imagine the guardian angel of the busy city, except under a
+sullen sky, with clouded brow and anxious eyes, and yet it looked as gay
+and bright at the White Gate as if a spring festival was drawing to a
+close with a brilliant exhibition.  Wherever the walls, as far as
+Catherine's Tower, afforded a foothold, they were crowded with men,
+women, and children.  The old masonry looked like the spectators' seats
+in an arena, and the buzzing of the many-headed, curious crowd was heard
+for a long distance in the city.
+
+It is a kind dispensation of Providence, that enables men to enjoy a
+brief glimpse of sunshine amid terrible storms, and thus the journeymen
+and apprentices, women and children, forgot the impending danger and
+feasted their eyes on the beautifully-dressed English soldiers, who were
+looking up at them, nodding and laughing saucily to the young girls,
+though part of them, it is true, were awaiting with thoughtful faces the
+results of the negotiations going on within the walls.
+
+The doors of the White Gate now opened; Commissioner Van Bronkhorst, Van
+der Werff, Van Hout and other leaders of the community accompanied the
+British colonel and his trumpeter to the bridge.  The former seemed to be
+filled with passionate indignation and several times struck his hand on
+the hilt of his sword, the Leyden magistrates were talking to him, and at
+last took leave with low bows, which he answered only with a haughty wave
+of the hand.  The citizens returned, the portals of the gate closed, the
+old lock creaked, the iron-shod beams fell back into their places, the
+chains of the drawbridge rattled audibly, and the assembled throng now
+knew that the Englishmen had been refused admittance to the city.
+
+Loud cheers, mingled with many an expression of displeasure, were heard.
+"Long live Orange!"  shouted the boys, among whom were Adrian and the son
+of the dead fencing-master Allertssohn; the women waved their
+handkerchiefs, and all eyes were fixed on the Britons.  A loud flourish
+of trumpets was heard, the English mounted officers dashed towards the
+colonel and held a short council of war with him, interrupted by hasty
+words from several individuals, and soon after a signal was sounded.  The
+soldiers hurriedly, formed in marching array, many of them shaking their
+fists at the city.  Halberds and muskets, which had been stacked, were
+seized by their owners and, amid the beating of drums and blare of
+trumpets, order arose out of the confusion.  Individuals fell into ranks,
+ranks into companies, gay flags were unfurled and flung to the evening
+breeze, and with loud hurrahs the troops marched along the Rhine towards
+the south-west, where the Spanish outposts were stationed.
+
+The Leyden boys joined loudly in the Englishmen's cheer.
+
+Even Andreas, the fencing-master's son, had begun to shout with them; but
+when he saw a tall captain marching proudly before his company, his voice
+failed and, covering his eyes with his hands, he ran home to his mother.
+
+The other lads did not notice him, for the setting sun flashed so
+brightly on the coats of mail and helmets of the soldiers, the trumpets
+sounded so merrily, the officers' steeds caracoled so proudly under their
+riders, the gay plumes and banners and the smoke of the glimmering
+matches gained such beautiful hues in the roseate light of sunset, that
+eyes and ears seemed spellbound by the spectacle.  But a fresh incident
+now attracted the attention of great and small.
+
+Thirty-six Englishmen, among them several officers, lingered behind the
+others and approached the gate.  Again the lock creaked and the chains
+rattled.  The little band was admitted to the city and welcomed at the
+first houses of the northern end by Herr Van Bronkhorst and the
+burgomaster.
+
+Every one on the walls had expected, that a skirmish between the
+retreating Englishmen and Castilians would now take place before their
+eyes.  But they were greatly mistaken.  Before the first ranks reached
+the enemy, the matches for lighting the cannon flew through the air, the
+banners were lowered, and when darkness came and the curious spectators
+dispersed, they knew that the Englishmen had deserted the good cause and
+gone over to the Spaniards.
+
+The thirty-six men, who had been admitted through the gates, were the
+only ones who refused to be accessory to this treason.
+
+The task of providing quarters for Captain Cromwell and the other
+Englishmen and Netherlanders, who had remained faithful, was assigned to
+Van Hout.  Burgomaster Van der Werff went home with Commissioner Van
+Bronkhorst.  Many a low-voiced but violent word had been exchanged
+between them.  The commissioner protested that the Prince would be highly
+incensed at the refusal to admit the Englishmen, for with good reason he
+set great value on Queen Elizabeth's favorable disposition to the cause
+of freedom, to which the burgomaster and his friends had rendered bad
+service that day.  Van der Werff denied this, for everything depended
+upon holding Leyden.  After the fall of this city, Delft, Rotterdam and
+Gouda would also be lost, and all farther efforts to battle for the
+liberty of Holland useless.  Five hundred consumers would prematurely
+exhaust the already insufficient stock of provisions.  Everything had
+been done to soften their refusal to admit the Englishmen, nay they had
+had free choice to encamp beneath the protection of the walls under the
+cannon of the city.
+
+When the two men parted, neither had convinced the other, but each felt
+sure of his comrade's loyalty.  As Peter took leave, he said:
+
+"Van Hout shall explain the reasons for our conduct to the Prince, in a
+letter as clear and convincing as only he can make it, and his excellency
+will finally approve of it.  Rely upon that."
+
+"We will wait," replied the commissioner, "but don't forget that we shall
+soon be shut within these walls behind bolts and bars, like prisoners,
+and perhaps day after to-morrow no messenger will be able to get to him."
+
+"Van Hout is swift with his pen."
+
+"And let a proclamation be read aloud, early tomorrow morning, advising
+the women, old men and children, in short, all who will diminish the
+stock of provisions and add no strength to the defence, to leave the
+city.  They can reach Delft without danger, for the roads leading to it
+are still open."
+
+"Very well," replied Peter.  "It's said that many girls and women have
+gone to-day in advance of the others."
+
+"That's right," cried the commissioner.  "We are driving in a fragile
+vessel on the high seas.  If I had a daughter in the house, I know what
+I should do.  Farewell till we meet again, Meister.  How are matters at
+Alfen?  The firing is no longer heard."
+
+"Darkness has probably interrupted the battle."
+
+"We'll hope for the best news to-morrow, and even if all the men outside
+succumb, we within the walls will not flinch or yield."
+
+"We will hold out firmly to the end," replied Peter resolutely.
+
+"To the end, and, if God so wills it, a successful end."
+
+"Amen," cried Peter, pressed the commissioner's hand and pursued his way
+home.
+
+Barbara met him on the steps and wanted to call Maria, who was with
+Henrica; but he forbade it and paced thoughtfully to and fro, his lips
+often quivering as if he were suffering great pain.  When, after some
+time, he heard his wife's voice in the dining-room, he controlled himself
+by a violent effort, went to the door, and slowly opened it.
+
+"You are at home already, and I sitting quietly here spinning!"  she
+exclaimed in surprise.
+
+"Yes, child.  Please come in here, I have something to say to you."
+
+"For Heaven's sake!  Peter, tell me what has happened.  How your voice
+sounds, and how pale you look!"
+
+"I'm not ill, but matters are serious, terribly serious, Maria."
+
+"Then it is true that the enemy--"
+
+They gained great advantage to-day and yesterday, but I beg you, if you
+love me, don't interrupt me now; what I have to say is no easy thing, it
+is hard to force the lips to utter it.  Where shall I begin?  How shall I
+speak, that you may not misunderstand me?  You know, child, I took you
+into my house from a warm nest.  What we could offer was very little, and
+you had doubtless expected to find more.  I know you have not been
+happy."
+
+"But it would be so easy for you to make me so."
+
+"You are mistaken, Maria.  In these troublous times but one thing claims
+my thoughts, and whatever diverts them from it is evil.  But just now one
+thing paralyzes my courage and will-anxiety about your fate; for who
+knows what is impending over us, and therefore it must be said, I must
+take my heart to the shambles  and  express  a  wish.--A  wish?  Oh,
+merciful Heaven, is there no other word for what I mean!"
+
+"Speak, Peter, speak, and do not torture me!"  cried Maria, gazing
+anxiously into her husband's face.  It could be no small matter, that
+induced the clear-headed, resolute man to utter such confused language.
+
+The burgomaster summoned up his courage and began again:
+
+"You are right, it is useless to keep back what must be said.  We have
+determined at the town-hall to-day, to request the women and girls to
+leave the city.  The road to Delft is still open; day after to-morrow it
+may no longer be so, afterwards--who can predict what will happen
+afterwards?  If no relief comes and the provisions are consumed, we shall
+be forced to open the gates to the enemy, and then, Maria, imagine what
+will happen!  The Rhine and the canals will grow crimson, for much blood
+will flow into them and they will mirror an unequalled conflagration.
+Woe betide the men, tenfold woe betide the women, against whom the
+conqueror's fury will then be directed.  And you, you--the wife of the
+man who has induced thousands to desert King Philip, the wife of the
+exile, who directs the resistance within these walls."
+
+At the last words Maria had opened her large eyes wider and wider, and
+now interrupted her husband with the question: "Do you wish to try how
+high my courage will rise?"
+
+"No, Maria.  I know you will hold out loyally and would look death in the
+face as fearlessly as your sister did in Haarlem; but I, I cannot endure
+the thought of seeing you fall into the hands of our butchers.  Fear for
+you, terrible fear, will destroy my vigorous strength in the decisive
+hours, so the words must be uttered--"
+
+Maria had hitherto listened to her husband quietly; she knew what he
+desired.  Now she advanced nearer and interrupted him by exclaiming
+firmly, nay imperiously:
+
+"No more, no more, do you hear!  I will not endure another word!"
+
+"Maria!"
+
+"Silence it is my turn now.  To escape fear, you will thrust your wife
+from the house; fear, you say, would undermine your strength.  But will
+longing strengthen it?  If you love me, it will not fail to come--"
+
+"If I love you, Maria!"
+
+"Well, well!  But you have forgotten to consider how I shall feel in
+exile, if I also love you.  I am your wife.  We vowed at the altar, that
+nothing save death should part us.  Have you forgotten it?  Have your
+children become mine?  Have I taught them, rejoiced to call myself their
+mother?  Yes, or no?"
+
+"Yes, Maria, yes, yes, a hundred times yes!"
+
+"And you have the heart to throw me into the arms of this wasting
+longing!  You wish to prevent me from keeping the most sacred of vows?
+You can bring yourself to tear me from the children?  You think me
+too shallow and feeble, to endure suffering and death for the sacred
+cause, which is mine as well as yours!  You are fond of calling me your
+child, but I can be strong, and whatever may come, will not weep.  You
+are the husband and have the right to command, I am only the wife and
+shall obey.  Shall I go?  Shall I stay?  I await your answer."
+
+She had uttered the last words in a trembling voice, but the burgomaster
+exclaimed with deep emotion:
+
+"Stay, stay, Maria!  Come, come, and forgive me!"  Peter seized her hand,
+exclaiming again:
+
+"Come, come!"
+
+But the young wife released herself, retreated a step and said
+beseechingly:
+
+"Let me go, Peter, I cannot; I need time to overcome this."
+
+He let his arms fall and gazed mournfully into her face, but she turned
+away and silently left the room.  Peter Van der Werff did not follow her,
+but went quietly into his study and strove to reflect upon many things,
+that concerned his office, but his thoughts constantly reverted to Maria.
+His love oppressed him as if it were a crime, and he seemed to himself
+like a courier, who gathers flowers by the way-side and in this idling
+squanders time and forgets the object of his mission.  His heart felt
+unspeakably heavy and sad, and it seemed almost like a deliverance when,
+just before midnight, the bell in the Tower of Pancratius raised its
+evilboding voice.  In danger, he knew, he would feel and think of nothing
+except what duty required of him, so with renewed strength he took his
+hat from the hook and left the house with a steady step.
+
+In the street he met Junker Van Duivenvoorde, who summoned him to the
+Hohenort Gate, before which a body of Englishmen had again appeared; a
+few brave soldiers who, in a fierce, bloody combat, had held Alfen and
+the Gouda sluice against the Spaniards until their powder was exhausted
+and necessity compelled them to yield or seek safety in flight.  The
+burgomaster followed the officer and ordered the gates to be opened to
+the brave soldiers.  They were twenty in number, among them the
+Netherland Captain Van der Iaen, and a Young German officer.  Peter
+commanded, that they should have shelter for the night in the town-hall
+and the guard-house at the gate.  The next morning suitable quarters
+would be found for them in the houses of the citizens.  Janus Dousa
+invited the captain to lodge with him, the German went to Aquanus's
+tavern.  All were ordered to report to the burgomaster at noon the next
+day, to be assigned to quarters and enrolled among the volunteer troops.
+
+The ringing of the alarm-bell in the tower also disturbed the night's
+rest of the ladies in the Van der Werff household.  Barbara sought Maria,
+and neither returned to their rooms until they had learned the cause of
+the ringing and soothed Henrica.
+
+Maria could not sleep.  Her husband's purpose of separating from her
+during the impending danger, had stirred her whole soul, wounded her
+to the inmost depths of her heart.  She felt humiliated, and, if not
+misunderstood, at least unappreciated by the man for whose sake she
+rejoiced, whenever she perceived a lofty aspiration or noble emotion in
+her own soul.  What avail is personal loveliness to the beautiful wife of
+a blind man; of what avail to Maria was the rich treasure buried in her
+bosom, if her husband would not see and bring it to the surface!  "Show
+him, tell him how lofty are your feelings," urged love; but womanly pride
+exclaimed: "Do not force upon him what he disdains to seek."
+
+So the hours passed, bringing her neither sleep, peace, nor the desire to
+forget the humiliation inflicted upon her.
+
+At last Peter entered the room, stepping lightly and cautiously, in order
+not to wake her.  She pretended to be asleep, but with half-closed eyes
+could see him distinctly.  The lamp-light fell upon his face, and the
+lines she had formerly perceived looked like deep shadows between his
+eyes and mouth.  They impressed upon his features the stamp of heavy,
+sorrowful anxiety, and reminded Maria of the "too hard" and "if I can
+only bear it," he had murmured in his sleep the night before.  Then he
+approached her bed and stood there a long time; she no longer saw him,
+for she kept her eyes tightly closed, but the first loving glance, with
+which he gazed down upon her, had not escaped her notice.  It continued
+to beam before her mental vision, and she thought she felt that he was
+watching and praying for her as if she were a child.
+
+Sleep had long since overpowered her husband, while Maria lay gazing at
+the glimmering dawn, as wakeful as if it were broad day.  For the sake of
+his love she would forgive much, but she could not forget the humiliation
+she had experienced.  "A toy," she said to herself, "a work of art which
+we enjoy, is placed in security when danger threatens the house; the axe
+and the bread, the sword and the talisman that protects us, in short
+whatever we cannot dispense with while we live, we do not release from
+our hands till death comes.  She was not necessary, indispensable to him.
+If she had obeyed his wish and left him, then--yes, then--"
+
+Here the current of her thoughts was checked, for the first time she
+asked herself the question: "Would he have really missed your helping
+hand, your cheering word?"
+
+She turned restlessly, and her heart throbbed anxiously, as she told
+herself that she had done little to smooth his rugged pathway.  The vague
+feeling, that he had not been entirely to blame, if she had not found
+perfect happiness by his side, alarmed her.  Did not her former conduct
+justify him in expecting hindrance rather than support and help in
+impending days of severest peril?
+
+Filled with deep longing to obtain a clear view of her own heart, she
+raised herself on her pillows and reviewed her whole former life.
+
+Her mother had been a Catholic in her youth, and had often told her how
+free and light-hearted she had felt, when she confided everything that
+can trouble a woman's heart to a silent third person, and received from
+the lips of God's servant the assurance that she might now begin a new
+life, secure of forgiveness.  "It is harder for us now," her mother said
+before her first communion, "for we of the Reformed religion are referred
+to ourselves and our God, and must be wholly at peace with ourselves
+before we approach the Lord's table.  True, that is enough, for if we
+frankly and honestly confess to the judge within our own breasts all that
+troubles our consciences, whether in thought or deed, and sincerely
+repent, we shall be sure of forgiveness for the sake of the Saviour's
+wounds."
+
+Maria now prepared for this silent confession, and sternly and pitilessly
+examined her conduct.  Yes, she had fixed her gaze far too steadily upon
+herself, asked such and given little.  The fault was recognized, and now
+the amendment should begin.
+
+After this self-inspection, her heart grew lighter, and when she at last
+turned away from the morning-light to seek sleep, she looked forward with
+pleasure to the affectionate greeting she meant to offer Peter in the
+morning; but she soon fell asleep and when she woke, her husband had long
+since left the house.
+
+As usual, she set Peter's study in order before proceeding to any other
+task, and while doing so, cast a friendly glance at the dead Eva's
+picture.  On the writing-table lay the bible, the only book not connected
+with his business affairs, that her husband ever read.  Barbara sometimes
+drew comfort and support from the volume, but also used it as an oracle,
+for when undecided low to act she opened it and pointed with her finger
+to certain passage.  This usually had a definite meaning and she
+generally, though not always, acted as it directed.  To-day she had been
+disobedient, for in response to her question whether she might venture to
+send a bag of all sorts of dainties to her son, a Beggar of the Sea, in
+spite of the Spaniards encircling the city, he had received the words of
+Jeremiah: "Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall
+take to themselves their curtains and all their vessels and their
+camels," and yet the bag had been entrusted early that morning to a
+widow, who intended to make her escape to Delft with her young daughter,
+according to the request of the magistrates.  The gift might perhaps reach
+Rotterdam; a mother always hopes for a miracle in behalf of her child.
+
+Before Maria restored the bible to its old place, she opened it at the
+thirteenth chapter of the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, which
+speaks of love, and was specially dear to her.  There were the words:
+"Charity suffereth long and is kind, charity is not easily provoked;" and
+"Charity beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
+endureth all things."
+
+To be kind and patient, to hope and endure all things, was the duty love
+imposed upon her.
+
+When she had closed the bible and was preparing to go to Henrica, Barbara
+ushered Janus Dousa into the room.  The young nobleman to-day wore armor
+and gorget, and looked far more like a soldier than a scientist or poet.
+He had sought Peter in vain at the town-hall, and hoped to find him at
+home.  One of the messengers sent to the Prince had returned from
+Dortrecht with a letter, which conferred on Dousa the office made vacant
+by Allertssohn's death.  He was to command not only the city-guard, but
+all the armed force.  He had accepted the appointment with cheerful
+alacrity, and requested Maria to inform her husband.
+
+"Accept my congratulations," said the burgomaster's wife.  "But what will
+now become of your motto: 'Ante omnia Musae?'"
+
+"I shall change the words a little and say: 'Omnia ante Musas."
+
+"Do you understand that jargon, child?"  asked Barbara.
+
+"A passport will be given the Muses," replied Maria gaily.
+
+Janus was pleased with the ready repartee and exclaimed: "How bright and
+happy you look!  Faces free from care are rare birds in these days."
+
+Maria blushed, for she did not know how to interpret the words of the
+nobleman, who understood how to reprove with subtle mockery, and answered
+naively: "Don't think me frivolous, Junker.  I know the seriousness of
+the times, but I have just finished a silent confession and discovered
+many bad traits in my character, but also the desire to replace them with
+more praiseworthy ones."
+
+"There, there," replied Janus.  "I knew long ago that you had formed a
+friendship in the Delft school with my old sage.  'Know thyself,' was the
+Greek's principal lesson, and you wisely obey it.  Every silent
+confession, every desire for inward purification, must begin with the
+purpose of knowing ourselves and, if in so doing we unexpectedly
+encounter things which tend to make our beloved selves uncomely, and have
+the courage to find them just as hideous in ourselves as in others--"
+
+"Abhorrence will come, and we shall have taken the first step towards
+improvement."
+
+"No, dear lady, we shall then stand on one of the higher steps.  After
+hours of long, deep thought, Socrates perceived--do you know what?"
+
+"That he knew nothing at all.  I shall arrive at this perception more
+speedily."
+
+"And the Christian learns it at school," said Barbara, to join in the
+conversation.  "All knowledge is botchwork."
+
+"And we are all sinners," added Janus.  "That's easily said, dear madam,
+and easily understood, when others are concerned.  'He is a sinner' is
+quickly uttered, but 'I am a sinner' escapes the lips with more
+difficulty, and whoever does exclaim it with sorrow, in the stillness of
+his own quiet room, mingles the white feathers of angels' wings with the
+black pinions of the devil.  Pardon me!  In these times everything
+thought and said is transformed into solemn earnest.  Mars is here, and
+the cheerful Muses are silent.  Remember me to your husband, and tell
+him, that Captain Allertssohn's body has been brought in and to-morrow is
+appointed for the funeral."
+
+The nobleman took his leave, and Maria, after visiting her patient and
+finding her well and bright, sent Adrian and Bessie into the garden
+outside the city-wall to gather flowers and foliage, which she intended
+to help them weave into wreaths for the coffin of the brave soldier.  She
+herself went to the captain's widow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+The burgomaster's wife returned home just before dinner, and found a
+motley throng of bearded warriors assembled in front of the house, they
+were trying to make themselves intelligible in the English language to
+some of the constables, and when the latter respectfully saluted Maria,
+raised their hands to their morions also.
+
+She pleasantly returned the greeting and passed into the entry, where the
+full light of noon streamed in through the open door.
+
+Peter had assigned quarters to the English soldiers outside, and after a
+consultation with the new commandant, Jan Van der Does, gave them
+officers.  They were probably waiting for their comrades, for when the
+young wife had ascended the first steps of the staircase and looked
+upward, she found the top of the narrow flight barred by the tall figure
+of a soldier.  The latter had his back towards her and was showing Bessie
+his dark velvet cap, surrounded by rectangular teeth, above which floated
+a beautiful light-blue ostrich-plume.  The child seemed to have formed a
+close friendship with the soldier, for, although the latter was refusing
+her something, the little girl laughed gaily.
+
+Maria paused irresolutely a moment; but when the child snatched the gay
+cap and put it on her own curls, she thought she must check her and
+exclaimed warningly: "Why, Bessie, that is no plaything for children."
+
+The soldier turned, stood still a moment in astonishment, raised his hand
+to his forehead, and then, with a few hurried bounds, sprang down the
+stairs and rushed up to the burgomaster's wife.  Maria had started back
+in surprise; but he gave her no time to think, for stretching out both
+hands he exclaimed in an eager, joyous tone, with sparkling eyes: "Maria!
+Jungfrau Maria!  You here!  This is what I call a lucky day!"  The young
+wife had instantly recognized the soldier and willingly laid her right
+hand in his, though not without a shade of embarrassment.
+
+The officer's clear, blue eyes sought hers, but she fixed her gaze on the
+floor, saying: "I am no longer what I was, the young girl has become a
+housewife."
+
+"A housewife!"  he exclaimed.  "How dignified that sounds!  And yet!
+Yet!  You are still Jungfrau Maria!  You haven't changed a hair.  That's
+just the way you bent your head at the wedding in Delft, the way you
+raised your hands, lowered your eyes--you blushed too, just as prettily."
+
+There was a rare melody in the voice which uttered these words with
+joyous, almost childlike freedom, which pleased Maria no less than the
+officer's familiar manner annoyed her.  With a hasty movement she raised
+her head, looked steadily into the young man's handsome face and said
+with dignity:
+
+"You see only the exterior, Junker von Dornburg; three years have made
+many changes within."
+
+"Junker von Dornburg," he repeated, shaking his waving locks.  "I was
+Junker Georg in Delft.  Very different things have happened to us, dear
+lady, very different things.  You see I have grown a tolerable, though
+not huge moustache, am stouter, and the sun has bronzed my pink and white
+boyish face--in short: my outer man has changed for the worse, but within
+I am just the same as I was three years ago."
+
+Maria felt the blood again mounting into her cheeks, but she did not wish
+to blush and answered hastily: "Standing still is retrograding, so you
+have lost three beautiful years, Herr von Dornburg."
+
+The officer looked at Maria in perplexity, and then said more gravely
+than before:
+
+"Your jest is more opportune, than you probably suppose; I had hoped to
+find you again in Delft, but powder was short in Alfen, so the Spaniard
+will probably reach your native city sooner than we.  Now a kind fate
+brings me to you here; but let me be honest--What I hope and desire
+stands clearly before my eyes, echoes in my soul, and when I thought of
+our meeting, I dreamed you would lay both hands in mine and, instead of
+greeting me with witty words, ask the old companion of happy hours, your
+brother Leonhard's best friend: 'Do you still remember our dead?'  And
+when I had told you: 'Yes, yes, yes, I have never forgotten him,' then I
+thought the mild lustre of your eyes--Oh, oh, how I thank you!  The dear
+orbs are floating in a mist of tears.  You are not so wholly changed as
+you supposed, Frau Maria, and if I loyally remember the past, will you
+blame me for it?"
+
+"Certainly not," she answered  cordially.  "And now that you speak to me
+so, I will with pleasure again call you Junker Georg, and as Leonhard's
+friend and mine, invite you to our house."
+
+"That will be delightful," he cried cordially.  "I have so much to ask
+you and, as for myself--alas, I wish I had less to tell."
+
+"Have you seen my husband?" asked Maria.
+
+"I know nobody in Leyden," he replied, "except my learned, hospitable
+host, and the doge of this miniature Venice, so rich in water and
+bridges."
+
+Georg pointed up the stair-case.  Maria blushed again as she said:
+
+"Burgomaster Van der Werff is my husband."
+
+The nobleman was silent for a short time, then he said quickly:
+
+"He received me kindly.  And the pretty elf up yonder?"
+
+"His child by his first marriage, but now mine also.  How do you happen
+to call her the elf?"
+
+"Because she looks as if she had been born among white flowers in the
+moonlight, and because the afterglow of the sunrise, from which the elves
+flee, crimsoned her cheeks when I caught her."
+
+"She has already received the name once," said Maria.  "May I take you to
+my husband?"
+
+"Not now, Frau Van der Werff, for I must attend to my men outside, but
+to-morrow, if you will allow me."
+
+Maria found the dishes smoking on the dining-table.  Her family had
+waited for her, and, heated by the rapid walk at noon, excited by her
+unexpected meeting with the young German, she opened the door of the
+study and called to her husband:
+
+"Excuse me!  I was detained.  It is very late."
+
+"We were very willing to wait," he answered kindly, approaching her.
+Then all she had resolved to do returned to her memory and, for the first
+time since her marriage, she raised her husband's hand to her lips.  He
+smilingly withdrew it, kissed her on the forehead, and said:
+
+"It is delightful to have you here."
+
+"Isn't it?"  she asked, gently shaking her finger at him.
+
+"But we are all here now, and dinner is waiting."
+
+"Come then," she answered gaily.  "Do you know whom I met on the stairs?"
+
+"English soldiers."
+
+"Of course, but among them Junker von Dornburg."
+
+"He called on me.  A handsome fellow, whose gayety is very attractive,
+a German from the evangelical countries."
+
+"Leonhard's best friend.  Don't you know?  Surely I've told you about
+him.  Our guest at Jacoba's wedding."
+
+"Oh! yes.  Junker Georg.  He tamed the chestnut horse for the Prince's
+equerry."
+
+"That was a daring act," said Maria, drawing a long breath.
+
+"The chestnut is still an excellent horse," replied Peter.  "Leonhard
+thought the Junker, with his gifts and talents, would lift the world out
+of its grooves; I remember it well, and now the poor fellow must remain
+quietly here and be fed by us.  How did he happen to join the Englishmen
+and take part in the war?"
+
+"I don't know; he only told me that he had had many experiences."
+
+"I can easily believe it.  He is living at the tavern; but perhaps we can
+find a room for him in the side wing, looking out upon the court-yard."
+
+"No, Peter," cried the young wife eagerly.  "There is no room in order
+there."
+
+"That can be arranged later.  At any rate we'll invite him to dinner to-
+morrow, he may have something to tell us.  There is good marrow in the
+young man.  He begged me not to let him remain idle, but make him of use
+in the service.  Jan Van der Does has already put him in the right place,
+the new commandant looks into people's hearts."
+
+Barbara mingled in the conversation, Peter, though it was a week-day,
+ordered a jug of wine to be brought instead of the beer, and an event
+that had not occurred for weeks happened: the master of the house sat at
+least fifteen minutes with his family after the food had been removed,
+and told them of the rapid advance of the Spaniards, the sad fate of the
+fugitive Englishmen, who had been disarmed and led away in sections, the
+brave defence the Britons, to whose corps Georg belonged, had made at
+Alfen, and of another hot combat in which Don Gaytan, the right-hand and
+best officer of Valdez, was said to have fallen.  Messengers still went
+and came on the roads leading to Delft, but to-morrow these also would
+probably be blocked by the enemy.
+
+He always addressed everything he said to Maria, unless Barbara expressly
+questioned him, and when he at last rose from the table, ordered a good
+roast to be prepared the next day for the guest he intended to invite.
+Scarcely had the door of his room closed behind him, when little Bessie
+ran up to Maria, threw her arms around her and asked:
+
+"Mother, isn't Junker Georg the tall captain with the blue feather, who
+ran down-stairs so fast to meet you?"
+
+"Yes, child."
+
+"And he's coming to dinner to-morrow!  He's coming, Adrian."
+
+The child clapped her hands in delight and then ran to Barbara to exclaim
+once more:
+
+"Aunt Barbel, did you hear?  He's coming!"
+
+"With the blue feather," replied the widow.
+
+"And he has curls, curls as long as Assendelft's little Clara.  May I go
+with you to see Cousin Henrica?"
+
+"Afterwards, perhaps," replied Maria.  "Go now, children, get the flowers
+and separate them carefully from the leaves.  Trautchen will bring some
+hoops and strings, and then we'll bind the wreaths."
+
+Junker Georg's remark, that this was a lucky day, seemed to be verified;
+for the young wife found Henrica bright and free from pain.  With the
+doctor's permission, she had walked up and down her room several times,
+sat a longer time at the open window, relished her chicken, and when
+Maria entered, was seated in the softly-cushioned arm-chair, rejoicing in
+the consciousness of increasing strength.
+
+Maria was delighted at her improved appearance, and told her how well she
+looked that day.
+
+"I can return the compliment," replied Henrica.  "You look very happy.
+What has happened to you?"
+
+"To me?  Oh!  my husband was more cheerful than usual, and there was a
+great deal to tell at dinner.  I've only come to enquire for your health.
+I will see you later.  Now I must go with the children to a sorrowful
+task."
+
+"With the children?  What have the little elf and Signor Salvatore to do
+with sorrow?"
+
+"Captain Allertssohn will be buried to-morrow, and we are going to make
+some wreaths for the coffin."
+
+"Make wreaths!"  cried Henrica, "I can teach you that!  There, Trautchen,
+take the plate and call the little ones."
+
+The servant went away, but Maria said anxiously: "You will exert yourself
+too much again, Henrica."
+
+"I?  I shall be singing again to-morrow.  My preserver's potion does
+wonders, I assure you.  Have you flowers and oak-leaves enough?"
+
+"I should think so."
+
+At the last words the door opened and Bessie cautiously entered the room,
+walking on tiptoe as she had been told, went up to Henrica, received a
+kiss from her, and then asked eagerly:
+
+"Cousin Henrica, do you know?  Junker Georg, with the blue feather, is
+coming again to-morrow and will dine with us."
+
+"Junker Georg?"  asked the young lady.
+
+Maria interrupted the child's reply, and answered in an embarrassed tone:
+
+"Herr von Domburg, an officer who came to the city with the Englishmen,
+of whom I spoke to you--a German--an old acquaintance.  Go and arrange
+the flowers with Adrian, Bessie, then I'll come and help you."
+
+"Here, with Cousin Henrica," pleaded the child.
+
+"Yes, little elf, here; and we'll both make the loveliest wreath you ever
+saw."
+
+The child ran out, and this time, in her delight, forgot to shut the door
+gently.
+
+The young wife gazed out of the window.  Henrica watched her silently for
+a time and then exclaimed:
+
+"One word, Frau Maria.  What is going on in the court-yard?  Nothing?
+And what has become of the happy light in your eyes?  Your house isn't
+swarming with guests; why did you wait for Bessie to tell me about Junker
+Georg, the German, the old acquaintance?"
+
+"Let that subject drop, Henrica."
+
+"No, no!  Do you know what I think?  The storm of war has blown to your
+house the young madcap, with whom you spent such happy hours at your
+sister's wedding.  Am I right or wrong?  You needn't blush so deeply."
+
+"It is he," replied Maria gravely.  "But if you love me, forget what I
+told you about him, or deny yourself the idle amusement of alluding to
+it, for if you should still do so, it would offend me."
+
+"Why should I!  You are the wife of another."
+
+"Of another whom I honor and love, who trusts me and himself invited the
+Junker to his house.  I have liked the young man, admired his talents,
+been anxious when he trifled with his life as if it were a paltry leaf,
+which is flung into the river."
+
+"And now that you have seen him again, Maria?"
+
+"Now I know, what my duty is.  Do you see, that my peace here is not
+disturbed by idle gossip."
+
+"Certainly not, Maria; yet I am still curious about this Chevalier Georg
+and his singing.  Unfortunately we shan't be long together.  I want to go
+home."
+
+"The doctor will not allow you to travel yet."
+
+"No matter.  I shall go as soon as I feel well enough.  My father is
+refused admittance, but your husband can do much, and I must speak with
+him."
+
+"Will you receive him to-morrow?"
+
+"The sooner the better, for he is your husband and, I repeat, the ground
+is burning under my feet."
+
+"Oh!"  exclaimed Maria.
+
+"That sounds very sad," cried Henrica.  "Do you want to hear, that I
+shall find it hard to leave you?  I shouldn't go yet; but my sister Anna,
+she is now a widow--Thank God, I should like to say, but she is suffering
+want and utterly deserted.  I must speak to my father about her, and go
+forth from the quiet haven into the storm once more."
+
+"My husband will come to you," said Maria.
+
+"That's right, that's right!  Come in, children!  Put the flowers on the
+table yonder.  You, little elf, sit down on the stool and you, Salvatore,
+shall give me the flowers.  What does this mean?  I really believe the
+scamp has been putting perfumed oil on his curly head.  In honor of me,
+Salvatore?  Thank you!--We shall need the hoops later.  First we'll make
+bouquets, and then bind them with the leaves to the wood.  Sing me a song
+while we are working, Maria.  The first one!  I can bear it to-day."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+Half Leyden had followed the brave captain's coffin, and among the other
+soldiers, who rendered the last honors to the departed, was Georg von
+Dornburg.  After the funeral, the musician Wilhelm led the son of the
+kind comrade, whom so many mourned, to his house.  Van der Werff found
+many things to be done after the burial, but reserved the noon hour; for
+he expected the German to dine.
+
+The burgomaster, as usual, sat at the head of the table; the Junker had
+taken his place between him and Maria, opposite to Barbara and the
+children.
+
+The widow never wearied of gazing at the young man's fresh, bright face,
+for although her son could not compare with him in beauty, there was an
+honest expression in the Junker's eyes, which reminded her of her
+Wilhelm.
+
+Many a question and answer had already been exchanged between those
+assembled round the board, many a pleasant memory recalled, when Peter,
+after the dishes had been removed and a new jug with better wine placed
+on the table, filled the young nobleman's glass again, and raised his
+own.
+
+"Let us drink this bumper," he cried, gazing at Georg with sincere
+pleasure in his eyes, "let us drink to the victory of the good cause,
+for which you too voluntarily draw your sword.  Thanks for the vigorous
+pledge.  Drinking is also an art, and the Germans are masters of it."
+
+"We learn it in various places, and not worst at the University of Jena."
+
+"All honor to the doctors and professors, who bring their pupils up to
+the standard of my dead brother-in-law, and judging from this sample
+drink, you also."
+
+"Leonhard was my teacher in the 'ars bibendi.'  How long ago it is!"
+
+"Youth is not usually content," replied Peter, "but when the point in
+question concerns years, readily calls 'much,' what seems to older people
+'little.' True, many experiences may have been crowded into the last few
+years of your life.  I can still spare an hour, and as we are all sitting
+so cosily together here, you can tell us, unless you wish to keep silence
+on the subject, how you chanced to leave your distant home for Holland,
+and your German and Latin books to enlist under the English standard."
+
+"Yes," added Maria, without any trace of embarrassment.  "You still owe
+me the story.  Give thanks, children, and then go."
+
+Adrian gazed beseechingly first at his mother and then at his father, and
+as neither forbade him to stay, moved his chair close to his sister, and
+both leaned their heads together and listened with wide open eyes, while
+the Junker first quietly, then with increasing vivacity, related the
+following story:
+
+"You know that I am a native of Thuringia, a mountainous country in the
+heart of Germany.  Our castle is situated in a pleasant valley, through
+which a clear river flows in countless windings.  Wooded mountains, not
+so high as the giants in Switzerland, yet by no means contemptible,
+border the narrow boundaries of the valley.  At their feet the fields and
+meadows, at a greater height rise pine forests, which, like the huntsman,
+wear green robes at all seasons of the year.  In winter, it is true, the
+snow cover them with a glimmering white sheet.  When spring comes, the
+pines put forth new shoots, as fresh and full of sap as the budding
+foliage of your oaks and beeches, and in the meadows by the river it
+begins to snow in the warm breezes, for then one fruit-tree blooms beside
+another, and when the wind rises, the delicate white petals flutter
+through the air and fall among the bright blossoms in the grass, and on
+the clear surface of the river.  There are also numerous barren cliffs on
+the higher portions of the mountains, and where they towered in the most
+rugged, inaccessible ridges, our ancestors built their fastnesses, to
+secure themselves from the attacks of their enemies.  Our castle stands
+on a mountain-ridge in the midst of the valley of the Saale.  There I was
+born, there I sported through the years of my boyhood, learned to read
+and guide the pen.  There was plenty of hunting in the forests, we had
+spirited horses in the stable, and, wild lad that I was, I rarely went
+voluntarily into the school-room, the grey-haired teacher, Lorenz, had to
+catch me, if he wanted to get possession of me.  My sisters and Hans, our
+youngest child, the boy was only three years younger than I, kept quiet--
+I had an older brother too, yet did not have him.  When his beard was
+first beginning to grow, he was given by our gracious Duke to Chevalier
+von Brand as his esquire, and sent to Spain, to buy Andalusian horses.
+John Frederick's father had learned their value in Madrid after the
+battle of Muhlburg.  Louis was a merry fellow when he went away, and knew
+how to tame the wildest stallion.  It was hard for our parents to believe
+him dead, but years elapsed, and as neither he nor Chevalier von Brand
+appeared, we were obliged to give him up for lost.  My mother alone could
+not do this, and constantly expected his return.  My father called me the
+future heir and lord of the castle.  When I had passed beyond boyhood and
+understood Cicero tolerably well, I was sent to the University of Jena to
+study law, as my uncle, the chancellor, wished me to become a counsellor
+of state.
+
+"Oh Jena, beloved Jena!  There are blissful days in May and June, when
+only light clouds float in the sky, and all the leaves and flowers are so
+fresh and green, that one would think--they probably think so themselves
+--that they could never fade and wither; such days in human existence are
+the period of joyous German student life.  You can believe it.  Leonhard
+has told you enough of Jena.  He understood how to unite work and
+pleasure; I, on the contrary, learned little on the wooden benches, for I
+rarely occupied them, and the dust of books certainly didn't spoil my
+lungs.  But I read Ariosto again and again, devoted myself to singing,
+and when a storm of feeling seethed within my breast, composed many songs
+for my own pleasure.  We learned to wield the sword too in Jena, and I
+would gladly have crossed blades with the sturdy fencing-master
+Allertssohn, of whom you have just told me.  Leonhard was older than I,
+and when he graduated with honor, I was still very weak in the pandects.
+But we were always one in heart and soul, so I went to Holland with him
+to attend his wedding.  Ah, those were days!  The theologians in Jena
+have actively disputed about the part of the earth, in which the little
+garden of Paradise should be sought.  I considered them all fools, and
+thought: 'There is only one Eden, and that lies in Holland, and the
+fairest roses the dew waked on the first sunny morning, bloom in Delft!'"
+
+At these words Georg shook back his waving locks and hesitated in great
+embarrassment, but as no one interrupted him and he saw Barbara's eager
+face and the children's glowing cheeks, quietly continued:
+
+"So I came home, and was to learn for the first time, that in life also
+beautiful sunny days often end with storms.  I found my father ill, and a
+few days after my return he closed his eyes in death.  I had never seen
+any human being die, and the first, the very first, was he, my father."
+
+Georg paused, and deeply moved, passed his hand over his eyes.
+
+"Your father!"  cried Barbara, in a tone of cordial sympathy, breaking
+the silence.  "If we can judge the tree by the apple, he was surely a
+splendid man."
+
+The Junker again raised his head, exclaiming with sparkling eyes:
+
+"Unite every good and noble quality, and embody them in the form of a
+tall, handsome man, then you will have the image of my father;--and I
+might tell you of my mother--"
+
+"Is she still alive?" asked Peter.
+
+"God grant it!" exclaimed the young man.  "I have heard nothing from my
+family for two months.  That is hard.  Pleasures smile along every path,
+and I like my profession of soldier, but it often grieves me sorely to
+hear so little from home.  Oh! if one were only a bird, a sunbeam, or a
+shooting-star, one might, if only for the twinkling of an eye, learn how
+matters go at home and fill the soul with fresh gratitude, or, if it must
+be--but I will not think of that.  In the valley of the Saale, the trees
+are blossoming and a thousand flowers deck all the meadows, just as they
+do here, and did there two years ago, when I left home for the second
+time.
+
+"After my father's death I was the heir, but neither hunting nor riding
+to court, neither singing nor the clinking of beakers could please me.
+I went about like a sleep-walker, and it seemed as if I had no right to
+live without my father.  Then--it is now just two years ago--a messenger
+brought from Weimar a letter which had come from Italy with several
+others, addressed to our most gracious sovereign; it contained the news
+that our lost brother was still alive, lying sick and wretched in the
+hospital at Bergamo.  A kind nun had written for him, and we now learned
+that on the journey from Valencia to Livorno Louis had been captured by
+corsairs and dragged to Tunis.  How much suffering he endured there, with
+what danger he at last succeeded in obtaining his liberty, you shall
+learn later.  He escaped to Italy on a Genoese galley.  His feet carried
+him as far as Bergamo, but he could go no farther, and now lay ill,
+perhaps dying, among sympathizing strangers.  I set out at once and did
+not spare horseflesh on the way to Bergamo, but though there were many
+strange and beautiful things to be seen on my way, they afforded me
+little pleasure, the thought of Louis, so dangerously ill, saddened my
+joyous spirits.  Every running brook urged me to hasten, and the lofty
+mountains seemed like jealous barriers.  When once beyond St. Gotthard I
+felt less anxious, and as I rode down from Bellinzona to Lake Lugano, and
+the sparkling surface of the water beyond the city smiled at me like a
+blue eye, forgot my grief for a time, waved my hat, and sung a song.  In
+Bergamo I found my brother, alive, but enfeebled in mind and body, weak,
+and without any desire to take up the burden of life again.  He had been
+in good hands, and after a few weeks we were able to travel homeward--
+this time I went through beautiful Tyrol.  Louis's strength daily
+increased, but the wings of his soul had been paralyzed by suffering.
+Alas, for long years he had dug and carried heavy loads, with chains on
+his feet, beneath a broiling sun.  Chevalier von Brand could not long
+endure this hard fate, but Louis, while in Tunis, forgot both how to
+laugh and weep, and which of the two can be most easily spared?
+
+"Even when he saw my mother again, he could not shed a tear, yet his
+whole body--and surely his heart also--trembled with emotion.  Now he
+lives quietly at the castle.  In the prime of manhood he is an old man,
+but he is beginning to accommodate himself to life, only he can't bear
+the sight of a strange face.  I had a hard battle with him, for as the
+eldest son, the castle and estate, according to the law, belong to him,
+but he wanted to resign his rights and put me in his place.  Even when
+he had brought my mother over to his side, and my uncle and brothers and
+sisters tried to persuade me to yield to his wish, I remained resolute.
+I would not touch what did not belong to me, and our youngest boy,
+Wolfgang, has grown up, and can fill my place wherever it is necessary.
+When the entreaties and persuasions became too strong for me, I saddled
+my horse and went away again.  It was hard for my mother to let me go,
+but I had tasted the delight of travelling, and rode off as if to a
+wedding.  If I must be perfectly frank, I'll confess that I resigned
+castle and estates like a troublesome restraint.  Free as the wind and
+clouds, I followed the same road over which I had ridden with Leonhard,
+for in your country a war after my own heart was going on, and my future
+fortune was to be based upon my sword.  In Cologne I enlisted under the
+banner of Louis of Nassau, and fought with him at Mook Heath till every
+one retreated.  My horse had fallen, my doublet was torn, there was
+little left save good spirits and the hope of better days.  These were
+soon found, for Captain Gensfort asked me to join the English troops.  I
+became his ensign, and at Alfen held out beside him till the last grain
+of powder was exhausted.  What happened there, you know."
+
+"And Captain Van der Laen told us," said Peter, "that he owes his life to
+you.  You fought like a lion."
+
+"It was wild work enough at the fortifications, yet neither I nor my
+horse had a hair ruffled, and this time I even saved my knapsack and a
+full purse.  Fate, like mothers, loves troublesome children best, and
+therefore led me to you and your family, Herr Burgomaster."
+
+"And I beg you to consider yourself one of them," replied Peter.  "We
+have two pleasant rooms looking out upon the court-yard; they shall be
+put in order for you, if you would like to occupy them."
+
+"With pleasure," replied the Junker, and Peter, offering him his hand,
+said:
+
+"The duties of my office call me away, but you can tell the ladies what
+you need, and when you mean to move in.  The sooner, the better we shall
+be pleased.  Shall we not, Maria?"
+
+"You will be welcome, Junker Georg.  Now I must look after the invalid we
+are nursing here.  Barbara will ascertain your wishes."
+
+The young wife took her husband's hand and left the room with him.
+
+The widow was left alone with the young nobleman and tried to learn
+everything he desired.  Then she followed her sister-in-law, and finding
+her in Henrica's room, clapped her hands, exclaiming:
+
+"That is a man!  Fraulein,  I  assure you that, though I'm an old woman,
+I never met so fine a young fellow in all my life.  So much heart, and so
+handsome too!  'To whom fortune gives once, it gives by bushels, and unto
+him that hath, shall be given!'  Those are precious words!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+Peter had promised Henrica, to request the council to give her permission
+to leave the city.
+
+It was hard for her to part from the burgomaster's household.  Maria's
+frank nature exerted a beneficial influence; it seemed as if her respect
+for her own sex increased in her society.  The day before she had heard
+her sing.  The young wife's voice was like her character.  Every note
+flawless and clear as a bell, and Henrica grieved that she should be
+forbidden to mingle her own voice with her hostess's.  She was very sorry
+to leave the children too.  Yet she was obliged to go, on Anna's account,
+for her father could not be persuaded by letters to do anything.  Had she
+appealed to him in writing to forgive his rejected child, he would hardly
+have read the epistle to the end.  Something might more easily be won
+from him through words, by taking advantage of a favorable moment.  She
+must have speech with him, yet she dreaded the life in his castle,
+especially as she was forced to acknowledge, that she too was by no means
+necessary to her father.  To secure the inheritance, he had sent her to a
+terrible existence with her aunt; while she lay dangerously ill, he had
+gone to a tournament, and the letter received from him the day before,
+contained nothing but the information that he was refused admittance to
+the city, and a summons for her to go to Junker de Heuter's house at the
+Hague.  Enclosed was a pass from Valdez, enjoining all King Philip's
+soldiers to provide for her safety.
+
+The burgomaster had intended to have her conveyed in a litter,
+accompanied by a flag of truce, as far as the Spanish lines, and the
+doctor no longer opposed her wish to travel.  She hoped to leave that
+day.
+
+Lost in thought, she stationed herself in the baywindow and gazed out
+into the court-yard.  Several windows in the building on the eastern side
+stood open.  Trautchen must have risen early, for she came out of the
+rooms arranged for Georg's occupation, followed by a young assistant
+carrying various scrubbing utensils.  Next Jan appeared with a large arm-
+chair on his head.  Bessie ran after the Frieselander, calling:
+
+"Aunt Barbel's grandfather's chair; where will she take her afternoon
+nap?"
+
+Henrica had heard the words, and thought first of good old "Babetta," who
+could also feel tenderly, then of Maria and the man who was to lodge in
+the rooms opposite.  Were there not some loose threads still remaining of
+the old tie, that had united the burgomaster's wife to the handsome
+nobleman?  A feeling of dread overpowered her.  Poor Meister Peter, poor
+Maria!
+
+Was it right to abandon the young wife, who had held out a saving hand
+in her distress?  Yet how much nearer was her own sister than this
+stranger!  Each day that she allowed herself to linger in this peaceful
+asylum, seemed like a theft from Anna--since she had read in a letter
+from her to her husband, the only one the dead man's pouch contained,
+that she was ill and sunk in poverty with her child.
+
+Help was needed here, and no one save herself could offer it.
+
+With aid from Barbara and Maria, she packed her clothes.  At noon
+everything was ready for her departure, and she would not be withheld
+from eating in the dining-room with the family.  Peter was prevented from
+coming to dinner, Henrica took his seat and, under the mask of loud,
+forced mirth, concealed the grief and anxieties that filled her heart.
+At twilight Maria and the children followed her into her room, and she
+now had the harp brought and sang.  At first her voice failed to reach
+many a note, but as the snow falling from the mountain peaks to the
+plains at first slides slowly, then rapidly increases in bulk and power,
+her tones gradually gained fulness and irresistible might and, when at
+last she rested the harp against the wall and walked to the chair
+exhausted, Maria clasped her hand and said with deep emotion:
+
+"Stay with us, Henrica."
+
+"I ought not," replied the girl.
+
+"You are enough for each other.  Shall I take you with me, children?"
+Adrian lowered his eyes in embarrassment, but Bessie jumped into her lap,
+exclaiming.
+
+"Where are you going?  Stay with us."
+
+Just at that moment some one knocked at the door, and Peter entered.
+It was evident that he brought no good tidings.  His request had been
+refused.  The council had almost unanimously voted an assent to Van
+Bronkhorst's proposition, that the young lady, as a relation of prominent
+friends of Spain among the Netherland nobility, should be kept in the
+city.  Peter's representations were unheeded; he now frankly told Henrica
+what a conflict he had had, and entreated her to have patience and be
+content to remain in his house as a welcome guest.
+
+The young girl interrupted him with many a passionate exclamation of
+indignation, and when she grew calmer, cried:
+
+"Oh, you men, you men!  I would gladly stay with you, but you know from
+what this base deed of violence detains me.  And then: to be a prisoner,
+to live weeks, months, without mass and without confession.  Yet first
+and last-merciful Heavens, what will become of my unfortunate sister?"
+
+Maria gazed beseechingly at Peter, and the latter said:
+
+"If you desire the consolations of your religion, I will send Father
+Damianus to you, and you can hear mass with the Grey Sisters, who live
+beside us, as often as you desire.  We are not fighting against your
+religion, but for the free exercise of every faith, and the whole city
+stands open to you.  My wife will help you bear your anxiety about your
+sister far better than I could do, but let me say this: wherever and
+however I can help you, it shall be done, and not merely in words."
+
+So saying, he held out his hand to Henrica.  She gave him hers,
+exclaiming:
+
+"I have cause to thank you, I know, but please leave me now and give me
+time to think until tomorrow."
+
+"Is there no way of changing the decision of the council?"  Maria asked
+her husband.
+
+"No, certainly not."
+
+"Well, then," said the young wife earnestly, "you must remain our guest.
+Anxiety for your sister does not cloud your pleasure alone, but saddens
+me too.  Let us first of all provide for her.  How are the roads to
+Delft?"
+
+"They are cut, and no one will be able to pass after to-morrow or the day
+after."
+
+"Then calm yourself, Henrica, and let us consider what is to be done."
+
+The questions and counter-questions began, and Henrica gazed in
+astonishment at the delicate young wife, for with unerring resolution and
+keenness, she held the first voice in the consultation.  The surest means
+of gaining information was to seek that very day a reliable messenger,
+by whom to send Anna d'Avila money, and if possible bring her to Holland.
+The burgomaster declared himself ready to advance from his own property,
+a portion of the legacy bequeathed Henrica's sister by Fraulein Van
+Hoogstraten, and accepted his guest's thanks without constraint.
+
+"But whom could they send?"
+
+Henrica thought of Wilhelm; he was her sister's friend.
+
+"But he is in the military service," replied the burgomaster.  "I know
+him.  He will not desert the city in these times of trouble, not even for
+his mother."
+
+"But I know the right messenger," said Maria.  "We'll send Junker Georg."
+
+"That's a good suggestion," said Peter.  "We shall find him in his
+lodgings.  I must go to Van Hout, who lives close by, and will send the
+German to you.  But my time is limited, and with such gentlemen, fair
+women can accomplish more than bearded men.  Farewell, dear Fraulein,
+once more--we rejoice to have you for our guest."
+
+When the burgomaster had left the room, Henrica said:
+
+"How quickly, and how differently from what I expected, all this has
+happened.  I love you.  I am under obligations to you, but to be
+imprisoned, imprisoned.  The walls will press upon me, the ceiling will
+seem like a weight.  I don't know whether I ought to rejoice or despair.
+You have great influence with the Junker.  Tell him about Anna, touch his
+heart, and if he would go, it would really be best for us both."
+
+"You mean for you and your sister," replied Maria with a repellent
+gesture of the hand.  "There is the lamp.  When the Junker comes, we
+shall see each other again."
+
+Maria went to her room and threw herself on the couch, but soon rose and
+paced restlessly to and fro.  Then stretching out her clasped hands, she
+exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, if he would only go, if he would only go!  Merciful God!  Kind,
+gracious Father in Heaven, grant him every happiness, every blessing, but
+save my peace of mind; let him go, and lead him far, far away from here."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+The tavern where Georg von Dornburg lodged stood on the "broad street,"
+and was a fine building with a large court-yard, in which were numerous
+vehicles.  On the left of the entrance was a large open room entered
+through a lofty archway.  Here the drivers and other folk sat over their
+beer and wine, suffering the innkeeper's hens to fly on the benches and
+even sometimes on the table, here vegetables were cleaned, boiled and
+fried, here the stout landlady was frequently obliged to call her sturdy
+maid and men servants to her aid, when her guests came to actual
+fighting, or some one drank more than was good for him.  Here the new
+custom of tobacco-smoking was practised, though only by a few sailors who
+had served on Spanish ships--but Frau Van Aken could not endure the acrid
+smoke and opened the windows, which were filled with blooming pinks,
+slender stalks of balsam, and cages containing bright-plumaged
+goldfinches.  On the side opposite to the entrance were two closed rooms.
+Above the door of one, neatly carved in wood, were the lines from Horace:
+
+              "Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes.
+               Angulus ridet."
+
+               [Of all the corners of the world,
+               There is none that so charms me.]
+
+Only a few chosen guests found admittance into this long, narrow
+apartment.  It was completely wainscoted with wood, and from the centre
+of the richly-carved ceiling a strange picture gleamed in brilliant hues.
+This represented the landlord.  The worthy man with the smooth face,
+firmly-closed lips, and long nose, which offered an excellent straight
+line to its owner's burin, sat on a throne in the costume of a Roman
+general, while Vulcan and Bacchus, Minerva and Poinona, offered him
+gifts.  Klaus Van Aken, or as he preferred to be called, Nicolaus
+Aquanus, was a singular man, who had received good gifts from more than
+one of the Olympians; for besides his business he zealously devoted
+himself to science and several of the arts.  He was an excellent silver-
+smith, a die-cutter and engraver of great skill, had a remarkable
+knowledge of coins, was an industrious student and collector of
+antiquities.  His little tap-room was also a museum; for on the shelves,
+that surrounded it, stood rare objects of every description, in rich
+abundance and regular order; old jugs and tankards, large and small
+coins, gems in carefully-sealed glass-cases, antique lamps of clay and
+bronze, stones with ancient Roman inscriptions, Roman and Greek terra-
+cotta, polished fragments of marble which he had found in Italy among the
+ruins, the head of a faun, an arm, a foot and other bits of Pagan works
+of art, a beautifully-enamelled casket of Byzantine work, and another
+with enamelled ornamentation from Limoges.  Even half a Roman coat of
+mail and a bit of mosaic from a Roman bath were to be seen here.  Amid
+these antiquities, stood beautiful Venetian glasses, pine-cones and
+ostrich-eggs.  Such another tap-room could scarcely be found in Holland,
+and even the liquor, which a neatly-dressed maid poured for the guests
+from oddly-shaped tankards into exquisitely-wrought goblets, was
+exceptionally fine.  In this room Herr Aquanus himself was in the habit
+of appearing among his guests; in the other, opposite to the entrance,
+his wife held sway.
+
+On this day, the "Angulus," as the beautiful taproom was called, was but
+thinly occupied, for the sun had just set, though the lamps were already
+lighted.  These rested in three-branched iron chandeliers, every portion
+of which, from the slender central shaft to the intricately-carved and
+twisted ornaments, had been carefully wrought by Aquanus with his own
+hand.
+
+Several elderly gentlemen were at one table enjoying their wine, while at
+another were Captain Van der Laen, a brave Hollander, who was receiving
+English pay and had come to the city with the other defenders of Alfen,
+the Musician Wilhelm, Junker Georg, and the landlord.
+
+"It's a pleasure to meet people like you, Junker," said Aquanus.  "You've
+travelled with your eyes open, and what you tell me about Brescia excites
+my curiosity.  I Should have liked to see the inscription."
+
+"I'll get it for you," replied the young man; "for if the Spaniards don't
+send me into another world, I shall certainly cross the Alps again.  Did
+you find any of these Roman antiquities in your own country?"
+
+"Yes.  At the Roomburg Canal, perhaps the site of the old Praetorium, and
+at Katwyk.  The forum Hadriani was probably located near Voorburg.  The
+coat of mail, I showed you, came from there."
+
+"An old, green, half-corroded thing," cried Georg.  And yet!  What
+memories the sight of it awakens!  Did not some Roman armorer forge it
+for the wandering emperor?  When I look at this coat of mail, Rome and
+her legions appear before my eyes.  Who would not, like you, Herr
+Wilhelna, go to the Tiber to increase the short span of the present by
+the long centuries of the past!"
+
+"I should be glad to go to Italy once more with you," replied Wilhelm.
+
+"And I with you."
+
+"Let us first secure our liberty," said the musician.  "When that is
+accomplished, each individual will belong to himself, and then: why
+should I conceal it, nothing will keep me in Leyden."
+
+"And the organ?  Your father?"  asked Aquanus.
+
+"My brothers will remain here, snug in their own nest," answered Wilhelm.
+"But something urges, impels me--"
+
+"There are still waters and rivers on earth," interrupted Georg, "and in
+the sky the fixed stars remain quiet and the planets cannot cease from
+wandering.  So among human beings, there are contented persons, who like
+their own places, and birds of passage like us.  To be sure, you needn't
+go to Italy to hear fine singing.  I just heard a voice, a voice--"
+
+"Where?  You make me eager."
+
+"In the court-yard of Herr Van der Werff's house."
+
+"That was his wife."
+
+"Oh, no!  Her voice sounds differently."
+
+During this conversation, Captain Van der Laen had risen and examined the
+landlord's singular treasures.  He was now standing before a board, on
+which the head of an ox was sketched in charcoal, freely, boldly and with
+perfect fidelity to nature.
+
+"What magnificent piece of beef is this?"  he asked the landlord.
+
+"No less a personage than Frank Floris sketched it," replied Aquanus.
+"He once came here from Brussels and called on Meister Artjen.  The old
+man had gone out, so Floris took a bit of charcoal and drew these lines
+with it.  When Artjen came home and found the ox's head, he stood before
+it a long time and finally exclaimed: 'Frank Floris, or the devil!'  This
+story--But there comes the burgomaster.  Welcome, Meister Peter.  A rare
+honor."
+
+All the guests rose and respectfully greated Van der Werff; Georg started
+up to offer him his chair.  Peter sat down for a short time and drank a
+glass of wine, but soon beckoned to the Junker and went out with him into
+the street.
+
+There he briefly requested him to go to his house, for they had an
+important communication to make, and then went to Van Hout's residence,
+which was close beside the inn.
+
+Georg walked thoughtfully towards the burgomaster's.
+
+The "they" could scarcely have referred to any one except Maria.  What
+could she want of him at so late an hour?  Had his friend regretted
+having offered him lodgings in her own house?  He was to move into his
+new quarters early next morning; perhaps she wished to inform him of this
+change of mind, before it was too late.  Maria treated him differently
+from before, there was no doubt of that, but surely this was natural!
+He had dreamed of a different, far different meeting!  He had come to
+Holland to support the good cause of Orange, yet he would certainly have
+turned his steed towards his beloved Italy, where a good sword was always
+in demand, instead of to the north, had he not hoped to find in Holland
+her, whom he had never forgotten, for whom he had never ceased to long--
+Now she was the wife of another, a man who had shown him kindness, given
+him his confidence.  To tear his love from his heart was impossible; but
+he owed it to her husband and his own honor to be strong, to resolutely
+repress every thought of possessing her, and only rejoice in seeing her;
+and this he must try to accomplish.
+
+He had told himself all these things more than once, but realized that he
+was walking with unsteady steps, upon a narrow pathway, when she met him
+outside the dining-room and he felt how cold and tremulous was the hand
+she laid in his.
+
+Maria led the way, and he silently followed her into Henrica's room.  The
+latter greeted him with a friendly gesture, but both ladies hesitated to
+utter the first word.  The young man turned hastily, noticed that he was
+in the room overlooking the court-yard, and said, eagerly: I was down
+below just before twilight, to look at my new quarters, and heard singing
+from this room, and such singing!  At first I didn't know what was
+coming, for the tones were husky, weak, and broken, but afterwards--
+afterwards the melody burst forth like a stream of lava through the
+ashes.  We ought to wish many sorrows to one, who can lament thus."
+
+"You shall make the singer's acquaintance," said Maria, motioning towards
+the young girl.  "Fraulein Henrica Van Hoogstraten, a beloved guest in
+our house."
+
+"Were you the songstress?"  asked Georg.
+
+"Does that surprise you?"  replied Henrica.  "My voice has certainly
+retained its strength better than my body, wasted by long continued
+suffering.  I feel how deeply my eyes are sunken and how pale I must be.
+Singing certainly lightens pain, and I have been deprived of the
+comforter long enough.  Not a note has passed my lips for weeks, and
+now my heart aches so, that I would far rather weep than sing.  'What
+troubles me?' you will ask, and yet Maria gives me courage to request
+a chivalrous service, almost without parallel, at your hands."
+
+"Speak, speak," Georg eagerly exclaimed.  "If Frau Maria summons me and
+I can serve you, dear lady: here I am, dispose of me."
+
+Henrica did not avoid his frank glance, as she replied:
+
+"First hear what a great service we ask of you.  You must prepare
+yourself to hear a short story.  I am still weak and have put my strength
+to a severe test to-day, Maria must speak for me."
+
+The young wife fulfilled this task quietly and clearly, closing with the
+words:
+
+"The messenger we need, I have found myself.  You must be he, Junker
+Georg."
+
+Henrica had not interrupted the burgomaster's wife; but now said warmly
+
+"I have only made your acquaintance to-day, but I trust you entirely.
+A few hours ago, black would have been my color, but if you will be my
+knight, I'll choose cheerful green, for I now begin to hope again.  Will
+you venture to take the ride for me?"
+
+Hitherto Georg had gazed silently at the floor.  Now he raised his head,
+saying:
+
+"If I can obtain leave of absence, I will place myself at your disposal;
+--but my lady's color is blue, and I am permitted to wear no other."
+
+Henrica's lips quivered slightly, but the young nobleman continued:
+
+"Captain Van der Laen is my superior officer.  I'll speak to him at
+once."
+
+"And if he says no?" asked Maria.
+
+Henrica interrupted her and answered haughtily: "Then I beg you to send
+me Herr Wilhelm, the musician."
+
+Georg bowed and went to the tavern.
+
+As soon as the ladies were alone, the young girl asked:
+
+"Do you know Herr von Dornburg's lady?"
+
+"How should I?"  replied Maria.  "Give yourself a little rest, Fraulein.
+As soon as the Junker comes back, I'll bring him to you."
+
+The young wife left the room and seated herself at the spinning-wheel
+with Barbara.  Georg kept them waiting a long time, but at midnight again
+appeared, accompanied by two companions.  It was not within the limits of
+the captain's authority to grant him a leave of absence for several
+weeks--the journey to Italy would have required that length of time--but
+the Junker had consulted the musician, and the latter had found the right
+man, with whom Wilhelm speedily made the necessary arrangements, and
+brought him without delay: it was the old steward, Belotti.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+On the morning of the following day the spacious shooting-grounds,
+situated not far from the White Gate, between the Rapenburg and the city-
+wall, presented a busy scene, for by a decree of the council the citizens
+and inhabitants, without exception, no matter whether they were poor or
+rich, of noble or plebeian birth, were to take a solemn oath to be loyal
+to the Prince and the good cause.
+
+Commissioner Van Bronkhorst, Burgomaster Van der Werff, and two other
+magistrates, clad in festal attire, stood under a group of beautiful
+linden-trees to receive the oaths of the men and youths, who flocked to
+the spot.  The solemn ceremonial had not yet commenced.  Janus Dousa, in
+full uniform, a coat of mail over his doublet and a helmet on his head,
+arm-in-arm with Van Hout, approached Meister Peter and the commissioner,
+saying: "Here it is again!  Not one of the humbler citizens and workmen
+is absent, but the gentlemen in velvet and fur are but thinly
+represented."
+
+"They shall come yet!"  cried the city clerk menacingly.
+
+"What will formal vows avail?"  replied the burgomaster.  "Whoever
+desires liberty, must grant it.  Besides, this hour will teach us on whom
+we can depend."
+
+"Not a single man of the militia is absent," said the commissioner.
+
+"There is comfort in that.  What is stirring yonder in the linden?"
+
+The men looked up and perceived Adrian, who was swaying in the top of the
+tree, as a concealed listener.  "The boy must be everywhere," exclaimed
+Peter.  "Come down, saucy lad.  You appear at a convenient time."
+
+The boy clung to a limb with his hands, let himself drop to the ground
+and stood before his father with a penitent face, which he knew how to
+assume when occasion required.  The burgomaster uttered no further words
+of reproof, but bade him go home and tell his mother, that he saw no
+possibility of getting Belotti through the Spanish lines in safety, and
+also that Father Damianus had promised to call on the young lady in the
+course of the day.
+
+"Hurry, Adrian, and you, constables, keep all unbidden persons away from
+these trees, for any place where an oath is taken becomes sacred ground--
+The clergymen have seated themselves yonder near the target.  They have
+the precedence.  Have the kindness to summon them, Herr Van Hout.
+Dominie Verstroot wishes to make an address, and then I would like to
+utter a few words of admonition to the citizens myself."
+
+Van Hout withdrew, but before he had reached the preachers Junker von
+Warmond appeared, and reported that a messenger, a handsome young lad,
+had come as an envoy.  He was standing before the White Gate and had a
+letter.
+
+"From Valdez?"
+
+"I don't know; but the young fellow is a Hollander and his face is
+familiar to me."
+
+"Conduct him here; but don't interrupt us until the ceremony of taking
+the oath is over.  The messenger can tell Valdez what he has seen and
+heard here.  It will do the Castilian good, to know in advance what we
+intend."
+
+The Junker withdrew, and when he returned with Nicolas Van Wibisma, who
+was the messenger, Dominie Verstroot had finished his stirring speech.
+Van der Werff was still speaking.  The sacred fire of enthusiasm sparkled
+in his eyes, and though the few words he addressed to his fellow-
+combatants in the deepest chest tones of his powerful voice were plain
+and unadorned, they found their way to the souls of his auditors.
+
+Nicolas also followed the speech with a throbbing heart; it seemed as if
+the tall, earnest man under the linden were speaking directly to him and
+to him alone, when at the close he raised his voice once more and
+exclaimed enthusiastically:
+
+"And now let what will, come!  A brave man from your midst has said
+to-day: 'We will not yield, so long as an arm is left on our bodies, to
+raise food to our lips and wield a sword!' If we all think thus, twenty
+Spanish armies will find their graves before these walls.  On Leyden
+depends the liberty of Holland.  If we waver and fall, to escape the
+misery that only threatens us to-day, but will pitilessly oppress and
+torture us later, our children will say: 'The men of Leyden were blind
+cowards; it is their fault, that the name of Hollander is held in no
+higher esteem, than that of a useless slave.'  But if we faithfully hold
+out and resist the gloomy foreigner to the last man and the last mouthful
+of bread, they will remember us with tears and joyfully exclaim: 'We owe
+it to them, that our noble, industrious, happy people is permitted to
+place itself proudly beside the other nations, and need no longer
+tolerate the miserable cuckoo in its own nest.  Let whoever loves honor,
+whoever is no degenerate wretch, that betrays his parents' house, whoever
+would rather be a free man than a slave, ere raising his hand before God
+to take the oath, exclaim with me: 'Long live our shield, Orange, and a
+free Holland!'"
+
+"They shall live!"  shouted hundreds of powerful voices, five, ten,
+twenty times.  The gunner discharged the cannon planted near the target,
+drums beat, one flourish of trumpets after another filled the air, the
+ringing of bells from all the towers of the city echoed over the heads of
+the enthusiastic crowd, and the cheering continued until the commissioner
+waved his hand and the swearing fealty began.
+
+The guilds and the armed defenders of the city pressed forward in bands
+under the linden.  Now impetuously, now with dignified calmness, now with
+devout exaltation, hands were raised to take the oath, and whoever
+clasped hands did so with fervent warmth.  Two hours elapsed before all
+had sworn loyalty, and many a group that had passed under the linden
+together, warmly grasped each other's hands on the grounds in pledge of a
+second silent vow.
+
+Nicolas Van Wibisma sat silently, with his letter in his lap, beside a
+target opposite the spot where the oath was taken, but sorrowful, bitter
+emotions were seething in his breast.  How gladly he would have wept
+aloud and torn his father's letter!  How gladly, when he saw the
+venerable Herr Van Montfort come hand in hand with the grey-haired Van
+der Does to be sworn, he would have rushed to their side to take the
+oath, and call to the earnest man beneath the linden:
+
+"I am no  degenerate wretch, who betrays his parents' house; I desire to
+be no slave, no Spaniard; I am a Netherlander, like yourself."
+
+But he did not go, did not speak, he remained sitting motionless till the
+ceremony was over and Junker von Warmond conducted him under the linden.
+Van Hout and both the Van der Does had joined the magistrates who had
+administered the oath.  Bowing silently, Nicolas delivered his father's
+letter to the burgomaster.
+
+Van der Werff broke the seal, and after reading it, handed it to the
+other gentlemen, then turning to Nicolas, said:
+
+"Wait here, Junker.  Your father counsels us to yield the city to the
+Spaniards, and promises a pardon from the King.  You cannot doubt the
+answer, after what you have heard in this place."
+
+"There is but one," cried Van Hout, in the midst of reading the letter.
+"Tear the thing up and make no reply."
+
+"Ride home, in God's name," added Janus Dousa.  "But wait, I'll give you
+something more for Valdez."
+
+"Then you will vouchsafe no reply to my father's letter?"  asked Nicolas.
+
+"No, Junker.  We wish to hold no intercourse with Baron Matanesse,"
+replied the commissioner.  "As for you, you can return home or wait here;
+just as you choose."
+
+"Go to your cousin, Junker," said Janus Dousa kindly; "it will probably
+be an hour before I can find paper, pen and sealing wax.  Fraulein Van
+Hoogstraten will be glad to hear, through you, from her father."
+
+"If agreeable to you, young sir," added the burgomaster; "my house stands
+open to you."
+
+Nicolas hesitated a moment, then said quickly: "Yes, take me to her."
+
+When the youth had reached the north end of the city with Herr von
+Warmond, who had undertaken to accompany him, he asked the latter:
+
+"Are you Junker Van Duivenvoorde, Herr von Warmond?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"And you captured Brill, with the Beggars, from the Spaniards?"
+
+"I had that good fortune."
+
+"And yet, you are of a good old family.  And were there not other
+noblemen with the Beggars also?"
+
+"Certainly.  Do you suppose it ill-beseems us, to have a heart for our
+ancestors' home?  My forefathers, as well as yours, were noble before a
+Spaniard ever entered the land."
+
+But King Philip rules us as the lawful sovereign."
+
+"Unhappily.  And therefore we obey his Stadtholder, the Prince, who
+reigns in his name.  The perjured hangman needs a guardian.  Ask on; I'll
+answer willingly."
+
+Nicolas did not heed the request, but walked silently beside his
+companion until they reached the Achtergracht.  There he stood still,
+seized the captain's arm in great excitement, and said hastily in low,
+broken sentences:
+
+"It weighs on my heart.  I must tell some one.  I want to be Dutch.
+I hate the Castilians.  I have learned to know them in Leyderdorp and
+at the Hague.  They don't heed me, because I am young, and they are not
+aware that I understand their language.  So my eyes were opened.  When
+they speak of us, it is with contempt and scorn.  I know all that has
+been done by Alva and Vargas.  I have heard from the Spaniards' own lips,
+that they would like to root us out, exterminate us.  If I could only do
+as I pleased, and were it not for my father, I know what I would do.  My
+head is so confused.  The burgomaster's speech is driving me out of my
+wits.  Tell him, junket, I beseech you, tell him I hate the Spaniards and
+it would be my pride to be a Netherlander."
+
+Both had continued their walk, and as they approached the burgomaster's
+house, the captain, who had listened to the youth with joyful surprise,
+said:
+
+"You're cut from good timber, Junker, and on the way to the right goal.
+Only keep Herr Peter's speech in your mind, and remember what you have
+learned in history.  To whom belong the shining purple pages in the great
+book of national history?  To the tyrants, their slaves and eye-servants,
+or the men who lived and died for liberty?  Hold up your head.  This
+conflict will perhaps outlast both our lives, and you still have a long
+time to put yourself on the right side.  The nobleman must serve his
+Prince, but he need be no slave of a ruler, least of all a foreigner,
+an enemy of his nation.  Here we are; I'll come for you again in an hour.
+Give me your hand.  I should like to call you by your Christian name in
+future, my brave Nico."
+
+"Call me so," exclaimed the youth, "and--you'll send no one else?  I
+should like to talk with you again."
+
+The Junker was received in the burgomaster's house by Barbara.  Henrica
+could not see him immediately, Father Damianus was with her, so he was
+obliged to wait in the dining-room until the priest appeared.  Nicolas
+knew him well, and had even confessed to him once the year before.  After
+greeting the estimable man and answering his inquiry how he had come
+there, he said frankly and hastily:
+
+"Forgive me, Father, but something weighs upon my heart.  You are a holy
+man, and must know.  Is it a crime, if a Hollander fights against the
+Spaniards, is it a sin, if a Hollander wishes to be and remain what God
+made him?  I can't believe it."
+
+"Nor do I," replied Damianus in his simple manner.  "Whoever clings
+firmly to our holy church, whoever loves his neighbor and strives to do
+right, may confidently favor the Dutch, and pray and fight for the
+freedom of his native land."
+
+"Ah!"  exclaimed Nicolas, with sparkling eyes.
+
+"For," continued Damianus more eagerly, "for you see, before the
+Spaniards came into the country, they were good Catholics here and led
+devout lives, pleasing in the sight of God.  Why should it not be so
+again?  The most High has separated men into nations, because He wills,
+that they should lead their own lives and shape them for their salvation
+and His honor; but not to give the stronger nation the right to torture
+and oppress another.  Suppose your father went out to walk and a Spanish
+grandee should jump on his shoulders and make him taste whip and spur, as
+if he were a horse.  It would be bad for the Castilian.  Now substitute
+Holland for Herr Matanesse, and Spain for the grandee, and you will know
+what I mean.  There is nothing left for us to do, except cast off the
+oppressor.  Our holy church will sustain no loss.  God appointed it, and
+it will stand whether King Philip or another rules.  Now you know my
+opinion.  Do I err or not, in thinking that the name of Glipper no longer
+pleases you, dear Junker?"
+
+"No, Father Damianus!--You are right, a thousand times right.  It is no
+sin, to desire a free Holland."
+
+"Who told you it was one?"
+
+"Canon Bermont and our chaplain."
+
+"Then we are of a different opinion concerning this temporal matter.
+Give to God the things that are God's, and remain where the Lord placed
+you.  When your beard grows, if you wish to fight for the liberty of
+Holland, do so confidently.  That is a sin for which I will gladly grant
+you absolution."
+
+Henrica was greatly delighted to see the fresh, happy-looking youth
+again.  Nicolas was obliged to tell her about her father and his, and
+inform her how he had come to Leyden.  When she heard that he intended to
+return in an hour, a bright idea entered her mind, which was wholly
+engrossed by Belotti's mission.  She told Nicolas what she meant to do,
+and begged him to take the steward through the Spanish army to the Hague.
+The Junker was not only ready to fulfil her request, but promised that,
+if the old man wanted to return, he would apprize her of it in some way.
+
+At the end of an hour she bade the boy farewell, and when again walking
+towards the Achtergracht with Herr von Warmond, he asked joyously:
+
+"How shall I get to the Beggars?"
+
+"You?"  asked the captain in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, I!"  replied the Junker eagerly.  "I shall soon be seventeen, and
+when I am--Wait, just wait--you'll hear of me yet."
+
+"Right, Nicolas, right," replied the other.  "Let us be Holland nobles
+and noble Hollanders."
+
+Three hours later, Junker Matanesse Van Wibisma rode into the Hague with
+Belotti, whom he had loved from childhood.  He brought his father nothing
+but a carefully-folded and sealed letter, which Janus Dousa, with a
+mischievous smile, had given him on behalf of the citizens of Leyden for
+General Valdez, and which contained, daintily inscribed on a large sheet,
+the following lines from Dionysius Cato:
+
+          "Fistula dulce canit volucrem dum decipit auceps."
+
+     ["Sweet are the notes of the flute, when the fowler lures the bird
+     to his nest."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+The first week in June and half the second had passed, the beautiful
+sunny days had drawn to a close, and numerous guests sought the "Angulus"
+in Aquarius's tavern during the evening hours.  It was so cosy there when
+the sea-breeze whistled, the rain poured, and the water fell plashing on
+the pavements.  The Spanish besieging army encompassed the city like an
+iron wall.  Each individual felt that he was a fellow-prisoner of his
+neighbor, and drew closer to companions of his own rank and opinions.
+Business was stagnant, idleness and anxiety weighed like lead on the
+minds of all, and whoever wished to make time pass rapidly and relieve
+his oppressed soul, went to the tavern to give utterance to his own hopes
+and fears, and hear what others were thinking and feeling in the common
+distress.
+
+All the tables in the Angulus were occupied, and whoever wanted to be
+understood by a distant neighbor was forced to raise his voice very loud,
+for special conversations were being carried on at every table.  Here,
+there, and everywhere, people were shouting to the busy bar-maid, glasses
+clinked together, and pewter lids fell on the tops of hard stone-ware
+jugs.
+
+The talk at a round table in the end of the long room was louder than
+anywhere else.  Six officers had seated themselves at it, among them
+Georg von Dornburg.  Captain Van der Laen, his superior officer, whose
+past career had been a truly heroic one, was loudly relating in his deep
+voice, strange and amusing tales of his travels by sea and land, Colonel
+Mulder often interrupted him, and at every somewhat incredible story,
+smilingly told a similar, but perfectly impossible adventure of his own.
+Captain Van Duivenvoorde soothingly interposed, when Van der Laen, who
+was conscious of never deviating far from the truth, angrily repelled the
+old man's jesting insinuations.  Captain Cromwell, a grave man with a
+round head and smooth long hair, who had come to Holland to fight for the
+faith, rarely mingled in the conversation, and then only with a few words
+of scarcely intelligible Dutch.  Georg, leaning far back in his chair,
+stretched his feet out before him and stared silently into vacancy.
+
+Herr Aquanus, the host, walked from one table to another, and when he
+at last reached the one where the officers sat, paused opposite to the
+Thuringian, saying:
+
+"Where are your thoughts, Junker?  One would scarcely know you during the
+last few days.  What has come over you?"
+
+Georg hastily sat erect, stretched himself like a person roused from
+sleep, and answered pleasantly:
+
+"Dreams come in idleness."
+
+"The cage is getting too narrow for him," said Captain Van der Laen.
+"If this state of things lasts long, we shall all get dizzy like the
+sheep."
+
+"And as stiff as the brazen Pagan god on the shelf yonder," added Colonel
+Mulder.
+
+"There was the same complaint during the first siege," replied the host,
+"but Herr von Noyelles drowned his discontent and emptied many a cask of
+my best liquor."
+
+"Tell the gentlemen how he paid you," cried Colonel Mulder.
+
+"There hangs the paper framed," laughed Aquarius.  "Instead of sending
+money, he wrote this:
+
+         'Full many a favor, dear friend, hast thou done me,
+          For which good hard coin glad wouldst thou be to see
+          There's none in my pockets; so for the debt
+               In place of dirty coin,
+               This written sheet so fine;
+          Paper money in Leyden is easy to get.'"
+
+"Excellent!" cried Junker von Warmond, "and besides you made the die for
+the pasteboard coins yourself."
+
+"Of course!  Herr von Noyelles' sitting still, cost me dear.  You have
+already made two expeditions."
+
+"Hush, hush, for God's sake say nothing about the first sally!" cried the
+captain.  "A well-planned enterprise, which was shamefully frustrated,
+because the leader lay down like a mole to sleep!  Where has such a thing
+happened a second time?"
+
+"But the other ended more fortunately," said the host.  "Three hundred
+hams, one hundred casks of beer, butter, ammunition, and the most
+worthless of all spies into the bargain; always an excellent prize."
+
+"And yet a failure!"  cried Captain Van der Laen, "We ought to have
+captured and brought in all the provision ships on the Leyden Lake!  And
+the Kaag!  To think that this fort on the island should be in the hands
+of the enemy."
+
+"But the people have held out bravely," said von Warmond.
+
+"There are real devils among them," replied Van der Laen, laughing.
+"One struck a Spaniard down and, in the midst of the battle, took off
+his red breeches and pulled them on his own legs."
+
+"I know the man," added the landlord, "his name is Van Keulen; there he
+sits yonder over his beer, telling the people all sorts of queer stories.
+A fellow with a face like a satyr.  We have no lack of comfort yet!
+Remember Chevraux' defeat, and the Beggars' victory at Vlissingen on the
+Scheldt."
+
+"To brave Admiral Boisot and the gallant Beggar troops!"  cried Captain
+Van der Laen, touching glasses with Colonel Mulder.  The latter turned
+with upraised beaker towards the Thuringian and, as the Junker who had
+relapsed into his reverie, did not notice the movement, irritably
+exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Herr Dornburg, you require a long time to pledge a man."
+
+Georg started and answered hastily:
+
+"Pledge?  Oh! yes.  Pledge.  I pledge you, Colonel!"  With these words he
+raised the goblet, drained it at a single draught, made the nail test and
+replaced it on the table.
+
+"Well done!"  cried the old man; and Herr Aquanus said:
+
+"He learned that at the University; studying makes people thirsty."
+
+As he uttered the words, he cast a friendly glance of anxiety at the
+young German, and then looked towards the door, through which Wilhelm had
+just entered the Angulus.  The landlord went to meet him and whispered:
+
+"I don't like the German nobleman's appearance.  The singing lark has
+become a mousing night-bird.  What ails him?"
+
+"Home-sickness, no news from his family, and the snare into which the war
+has drawn him in his pursuit of glory and honor.  He'll soon be his old
+self again."
+
+"I hope so," replied the host.  "Such a succulent little tree will
+quickly rebound, when it is pressed to the earth; help the fine young
+fellow."
+
+A guest summoned the landlord, but the musician joined the officers and
+began a low conversation with Georg, which was drowned by the confused
+mingling of loud voices.
+
+Wilhelm came from the Van der Werff house, where he had learned that the
+next day but one, June fourteenth, would be the burgomaster's birthday.
+Adrian had told Henrica, and the latter informed him.  The master of the
+house was to be surprised with a song on the morning of his birthday
+festival.
+
+"Excellent," said Georg, interrupting his friend, "she will manage the
+matter admirably."
+
+"Not she alone; we can depend upon Fran Van der Werff too.  At first she
+wanted to decline, but when I proposed a pretty madrigal, yielded and
+took the soprano."
+
+"The soprano?"  asked the Junker excitedly.  "Of course I'm at your
+service.  Let us go; have you the notes at home?"
+
+"No, Herr von Dornburg, I have just taken them to the ladies; but early
+to-morrow morning--"
+
+"There will be a rehearsal early to-morrow morning!  The jug is for me,
+Jungfer Dortchen!  Your health, Colonel Mulder!  Captain Huivenvoorde,
+I drain this goblet to your new standard and hope to have many a jolly
+ride by your side."
+
+The German's eyes again sparkled with an eager light, and when Captain
+Van der Laen, continuing his conversation, cried enthusiastically: "The
+Beggars of the Sea will yet sink the Spanish power.  The sea, gentlemen.
+the sea!  To base one's cause on nothing, is the best way!  To exult,
+leap and grapple in the storm!  To fight and struggle man to man and
+breast to breast on the deck of the enemy's ship!  To fight and conquer,
+or perish with the foe!"
+
+"To your health, Junker!"  exclaimed the colonel.  "Zounds, we need such
+youths!"
+
+"Now you are your old self again," said Wilhelm, turning to his friend.
+"Touch glasses to your dear ones at home."
+
+"Two glasses for one," cried Georg.  "To the dear ones at home--to the
+joys and sorrows of the heart, to the fair woman we love!  War is
+rapture, love is life!  Let the wounds bleed, let the heart break into a
+thousand pieces.  Laurels grow green on the battle-field, love twines
+garlands of roses-roses with thorns, yet beautiful roses!  Go, beaker!
+No other lips shall drink from you."
+
+Georg's cheeks glowed as he flung the glass goblet into a corner of the
+room, where it shattered into fragments.  His comrades at the table
+cheered loudly, but Captain Cromwell rose quietly to leave the room,
+and the landlord shook his wise head doubtfully.
+
+It seemed as if fire had poured into Georg's soul and his spirit had
+gained wings.  The thick waving locks curled in dishevelled masses around
+his handsome head, as leaning far back in his chair with unfastened
+collar, he mingled clever sallies and brilliant similes with the quiet
+conversation of the others.  Wilhelm listened to his words sometimes with
+admiration, sometimes with anxiety.  It was long past midnight, when the
+musician left the tavern with his friend.  Colonel Mulder looked after
+him and exclaimed to those left behind:
+
+"The fellow is possessed with a devil."
+
+The next morning the madrigal was practised at the burgomaster's house,
+while its master was presiding over a meeting at the town-hall.  Georg
+stood between Henrica and Maria.  So long as the musician found it
+necessary to correct errors and order repetitions, a cheerful mood
+pervaded the little choir, and Barbara, in the adjoining room, often
+heard the sound of innocent laughter; but when each had mastered his or
+her part and the madrigal was faultlessly executed, the ladies grew more
+and more grave.  Maria gazed fixedly at the sheet of music, and rarely
+had her voice sounded so faultlessly pure, so full of feeling.  Georg
+adapted his singing to hers and his eyes, whenever they were raised from
+the notes, rested on her face.  Henrica sought to meet the Junker's
+glance, but always in vain, yet she wished to divert his attention from
+the young wife, and it tortured her to remain unnoticed.  Some impulse
+urged her to surpass Maria, and the whole passionate wealth of her nature
+rang out in her singing.  Her fervor swept the others along.  Maria's
+treble rose exultantly above the German's musical voice, and Henrica's
+tones blended angrily yet triumphantly in the strain.  The delighted and
+inspired musician beat the time and, borne away by the liquid melody of
+Henrica's voice, revelled in sweet recollections of her sister.
+
+When the serenade was finished, he eagerly cried:
+
+"Again!"  The rivalry between the singers commenced with fresh vigor,
+and this time the Junker's beaming gaze met the young wife's eyes.
+She hastily lowered the notes, stepped out of the semicircle, and said:
+
+"We know the madrigal.  Early to-morrow morning, Meister Wilhelm; my time
+is limited."
+
+"Oh, oh!"  cried the musician regretfully.  "It was going on so
+splendidly, and there were only a few bars more."  But Maria was already
+standing at the door and made no reply, except:
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+The musician enthusiastically thanked Henrica for her singing; Georg
+courteously expressed his gratitude.  When both had taken leave, Henrica
+paced rapidly to and fro, passionately striking her clenched fist in the
+palm of her other hand.
+
+The singers were ready early on the birthday morning, but Peter had risen
+before sunrise, for there was a proposition to be arranged with the city
+clerk, which must be completed before the meeting of the council.
+Nothing was farther from his thoughts than his birthday, and when the
+singers in the dining-room commenced their madrigal, he rapped on the
+door, exclaiming:
+
+"We are busy; find another place for your singing."  The melody was
+interrupted for a moment, and Barbara said:
+
+"People picking apples don't think of fishing-nets.  He has no idea it is
+his birthday.  Let the children go in first."
+
+Maria now entered the study with Adrian and Bessie.  They carried
+bouquets in their hands, and the young wife had dressed the little girl
+so prettily that, in her white frock, she really looked like a dainty
+fairy.
+
+Peter now knew the meaning of the singing, warmly embraced the three
+well-wishers, and when the madrigal began again, stood opposite to the
+performers to listen.  True, the execution was not nearly so good as at
+the rehearsal, for Maria sang in a low and somewhat muffled voice, while,
+spite of Wilhelm's vehement beating of time, the warmth and verve of the
+day before would not return.
+
+"Admirable, admirable," cried  Peter, when  the singers ceased.  "Well
+planned and executed, a beautiful birthday surprise."  Then he shook
+hands with each, saying a few cordial words and, as he grasped the
+Junker's right hand, remarked warmly: "You have dropped down on us from
+the skies during these bad days, just at the right time.  It is always
+something to have a home in a foreign land, and you have found one with
+us."
+
+Georg had bent his eyes on the floor, but at the last words raised them
+and met the burgomaster's.  How honestly, how kindly and frankly they
+looked at him!  Deep emotion overpowered him, and without knowing what
+he was doing, he laid his hands on Peter's arms and hid his face on his
+shoulder.
+
+Van der Werff suffered him to do so, stroked the youth's hair, and said
+smiling:
+
+"Like Leonhard, wife, just like our Leonhard.  We will dine together
+to-day.  You, too, Van Hout; and don't forget your wife."
+
+Maria assigned the seats at the table, so that she was not obliged to
+look at Georg.  His place was beside Frau Van Hout and opposite Henrica
+and the musician.  At first he was silent and embarrassed, but Henrica
+gave him no rest, and when he had once begun to answer her questions he
+was soon carried away by her glowing vivacity, and gave free, joyous play
+to his wit.  Henrica did not remain in his debt, her eyes sparkled, and
+in the increasing pleasure of trying the power of her intellect against
+his, she sought to surpass every jest and repartee made by the Junker.
+She drank no wine, but was intoxicated by her own flow of language and so
+completely engrossed Georg's attention, that he found no time to address
+a word to the other guests.  If he attempted to do so, she quickly
+interrupted him and compelled him to turn to her again.  This constraint
+annoyed the young man; while struggling against it his spirit of
+wantonness awoke, and he began to irritate Henrica into making
+unprecedented assertions, which he opposed with equally unwarrantable
+ones of his own.
+
+Maria sometimes listened to the young lady in surprise, and there was
+something in Georg's manner that vexed her.  Peter took little notice of
+Henrica; he was talking with Van Hout about the letters from the Glippers
+asking a surrender, three of which had already been brought into the
+city, of the uncertain disposition of some members of the council and the
+execution of the captured spy.
+
+Wilhelm, who had scarcely vouchsafed his neighbor an answer, was now
+following the conversation of the older men and remarked, that he had
+known the traitor.  He was a tavern-keeper, in whose inn he had once met
+Herr Matanesse Van Wibisma.
+
+"There we have it," said Van Hout.  "A note was found in Quatgelat's
+pouch, and the writing bore a mysterious resemblance to the baron's hand.
+Quatgelat was to enquire about the quantity of provisions in Leyden."
+"All alike!"  exclaimed the burgomaster.  "Unhappily he could have
+brought tidings only too welcome to Valdez.  Little that is cheering has
+resulted from the investigation; though the exact amount has not yet been
+ascertained."
+
+"We must place it during the next few days in charge of the ladies."
+
+"Give it to the women?"  asked Peter in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, to us!"  cried Van Hout's wife.  "Why should we sit idle, when we
+might be of use."
+
+"Give us the  work!"  exclaimed Maria.  "We are as eager as you, to
+render the great cause some service."
+
+"And believe me," added Frau Van Hout, "we shall find admittance to
+store-rooms and cellars much more quickly than constables and guards,
+whom the housewives fear."
+
+"Women in the service of the city," said Peter thoughtfully.  "To be
+honest--but your proposal shall be considered.--The young lady is in good
+spirits today."
+
+Maria glanced indignantly at Henrica, who had leaned far across the
+table.  She was showing Georg a ring, and laughingly exclaimed:
+
+"Don't you wish to know what the device means?  Look, a serpent biting
+its own tail."
+
+"Aha!"  replied the Junker, "the symbol of self-torment."
+
+"Good, good!  But it has another meaning, which you would do well to
+notice, Sir Knight.  Do you know the signification of eternity and
+eternal faith?"
+
+"No, Fraulein, I wasn't taught to think so deeply at Jena."
+
+"Of course.  Your teachers were men.  Men and faith, eternal faith!"
+
+"Was Delilah, who betrayed Samson to the Philistines, a man or a woman?"
+asked Van Hout.
+
+"She was a woman.  The exception, that proves the rule.  Isn't that so,
+Maria?"
+
+The burgomaster's wife made no reply except a silent nod; then
+indignantly pushed back her chair, and the meal was over.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Drinking is also an art, and the Germans are masters of it
+Here the new custom of tobacco-smoking was practised
+Standing still is retrograding
+To whom fortune gives once, it gives by bushels
+Youth calls 'much,' what seems to older people 'little'
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURGOMASTER'S WIFE, BY EBERS, V4 ***
+
+*********** This file should be named 5581.txt or 5581.zip **********
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