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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5582.txt b/5582.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8e6e97 --- /dev/null +++ b/5582.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2569 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Burgomaster's Wife, by Georg Ebers, v5 +#143 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Burgomaster's Wife, Volume 5. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5582] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 12, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURGOMASTER'S WIFE, BY EBERS, V5 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +THE BURGOMASTER'S WIFE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 5. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +Days and weeks had passed, July was followed by sultry August, and that, +too, was drawing to a close. The Spaniards still surrounded Leyden, and +the city now completely resembled a prison. The soldiers and armed +citizens did their duty wearily and sullenly, there was business enough +at the town-hall, but the magistrates' work was sad and disagreeable; for +no message of hope came from the Prince or the Estates, and everything to +be considered referred to the increasing distress and the terrible +follower of war, the plague, which had made its entry into Leyden with +the famine. Moreover the number of malcontents weekly increased. The +friends of the old order of affairs now raised their voices more and more +loudly, and many a friend of liberty, who saw his family sickening, +joined the Spanish sympathizers and demanded the surrender of the city. +The children went to school and met in the playrounds as before, but +there was rarely a flash of the merry pertness of former days, and what +had become of the boys' red cheeks and the round arms of the little +girls? The poor drew their belts tighter, and the morsel of bread, +distributed by the city to each individual, was no longer enough to quiet +hunger and support life. + +Junker Georg had long been living in Burgomaster Van der Werff's house. + +On the morning of August 29th he returned home from an expedition, +carrying a cross-bow in his hand, while a pouch hung over his shoulder. +This time he did not go up-stairs, but sought Barbara in the kitchen. +The widow received him with a friendly nod; her grey eyes sparkled as +brightly as ever, but her round face had grown narrower and there was a +sorrowful quiver about the sunken mouth. + +"What do you bring to-day?" she asked the Junker. Georg thrust his hand +into his game-bag and answered, smiling: "A fat snipe and four larks; you +know." + +"Poor sparrows! But what sort of a creature can this be? Headless, +legless, and carefully plucked! Junker, Junker, that's suspicious." + +"It will do for the pan, and the name is of no consequence." + +"Yet, yet; true, nobody knows on what he fattens, but the Lord didn't +create every animal for the human stomach." + +"That's just what I said. It's a short-billed snipe, a corvus, a real +corvus." + +"Corvus! Nonsense, I'm afraid of the thing--the little feathers under +the wings. Good heavens! surely it isn't a raven?" + +"It's a corvus, as I said. Put the bird in vinegar, roast it with +seasoning and it will taste like a real snipe. Wild ducks are not to be +found every day, as they were a short time ago, and sparrows are getting +as scarce as roses in winter. Every boy is standing about with a cross- +bow, and in the court-yards people are trying to catch them under sieves +and with lime-twigs. They are going to be exterminated, but one or +another is still spared. How is the little elf?" + +"Don't call her that!" exclaimed the widow. "Give her her Christian +name. She looks like this cloth, and since yesterday has refused to take +the milk we daily procure for her at a heavy cost. Heaven knows what +the end will be. Look at that cabbage-stalk. Half a stiver! and that +miserable piece of bone! Once I should have thought it too poor for the +dogs--and now! The whole household must be satisfied with it. For +supper I shall boil ham-rind with wine and add a little porridge to it. +And this for a giant like Peter! God only knows where he gets his +strength; but he looks like his own shadow. Maria doesn't need anything +more than a bird, but Adrian, poor fellow, often leaves the table with +tears in his eyes, yet I know he has broken many a bit of bread from his +thin slice for Bessie. It is pitiable. Yet the proverb says: 'Stretch +yourself towards the ceiling, or your feet will freeze--'Necessity knows +no law,' and 'Reserve to preserve.' Day before yesterday, like the rest, +we again gave of the little we still possessed. To-morrow, everything +beyond what is needed for the next fortnight, must be delivered up, and +Peter won't allow us to keep even a bag of flour, but what will come +then--merciful Heaven!--" + +The widow sobbed aloud as she uttered the last words and continued, +weeping: "Where do you get your strength? At your age this miserable +scrap of meat is a mere drop of water on a red-hot stone." + +"Herr Van Aken gives me what he can, in addition to my ration. I shall +get through; but I witnessed a terrible sight to-day at the tailor's, who +mends my clothes." + +"Well?" + +"Two of his children have starved to death." + +"And the weaver's family opposite," added Barbara, weeping. "Such nice +people! The young wife was confined four days ago, and this morning +mother and child expired of weakness, expired, I tell you, like a lamp +that has consumed its oil and must go out. At the cloth-maker +Peterssohn's, the father and all five children have died of the plague. +If that isn't pitiful!" + +"Stop, stop!" said Georg, shuddering. "I must go to the court-yard to +drill." + +"What's the use of that! The Spaniards don't attack; they leave the work +to the skeleton death. Your fencing gives an appetite, and the poor +hollow herrings can scarcely stir their own limbs." + +"Wrong, Frau Barbara, wrong," replied the young man. "The exercise and +motion sustains them. Herr von Nordwyk knew what he was doing, when he +asked me to drill them in the dead fencing-master's place." + +"You're thinking of the ploughshare that doesn't rust. Perhaps you are +right; but before you go to work, take a sip of this. Our wine is still +the best. When people have something to do, at least they don't mutiny, +like those poor fellows among the volunteers day before yesterday. Thank +God, they are gone!" + +While the widow was filling a glass, Wilhelm's mother came into the +kitchen and greeted Barbara and the young nobleman. She carried under +her shawl a small package clasped tightly to her bosom. Her breadth was +still considerable, but the flesh, with which she had moved about so +briskly a few months ago, now seemed to have become an oppressive burden. + +She took the little bundle in her right hand, saying "I have something +for your Bessie. My Wilhelm, good fellow--" + +Here she paused and restored her gift to its old place. She had seen the +Junker's plucked present, and continued in an altered tone: "So you +already have a pigeon--so much the better! The city clerk's little girl +is beginning to droop too. I'll see you to-morrow, if God wills." + +She was about to go, but Georg stopped her, saying: "You are mistaken, my +good lady. I shot that bird to-day, I'll confess now, Frau Barbara; my +corvus is a wretched crow." + +"I thought so," cried the widow. "Such an abomination!" + +Yet she thrust her finger into the bird's breast, saying: "But there's +meat on the creature." + +"A crow!" cried Wilhelm's mother, clasping her hands. "True, dogs and +cats are already hanging on many a spit and have wandered into many a +pan. There is the pigeon." + +Barbara unwrapped the bird as carefully, as if it might crumble under her +fingers, gazing tenderly at it as she weighed it carefully in her hand; +but the musician's mother said: + +"It's the fourth one Wilhelm has killed, and he said it would have been a +good flier. He intended it specially for your Bessie. Stuff it nicely +with yellow paste, not too solid and a little sweetened. That is what +children like, and it will agree with her, for it is cheerfully given. +Put the little thing away. When we have known any creature, we feel +sorry to see it dead." + +"May God reward you!" cried Barbara, pressing the kind old hand. +"Oh! these terrible times!" + +"Yet there is still something to be thankful for." + +"Of course, for it will be even worse in hell," replied the widow. + +"Don't fall into sin," said the aged matron: "You have only one sick +person in the house. Can I see Frau Maria?" + +"She is in the workshops, taking the people a little meat from our store. +Are you too so short of flour? Cows are still to be seen in the +pastures, but the grain seems to have been actually swept away; there +wasn't a peck in the market. Will you take a sip of wine too? Shall I +call my sister-in-law?" + +"I will seek her myself. The usury in the market is no longer to be +endured. We can do nothing more there, but she is already bringing +people to reason." + +"The traders in the market?" asked Georg. + +"Yes, Herr von Dornburg, yes. One wouldn't believe how much that +delicate woman can accomplish. Day before yesterday, when we went about +to learn how large a stock of provisions every house contains, people +treated me and the others very rudely, many even turned us out of doors. +But she went to the roughest, and the cellars and store-rooms opened +before her, as the waves of the sea divided before the people of Israel. +How she does it, Heaven knows, but the people can't refuse her." + +Georg drew a long breath and left the kitchen. In the court-yard he +found several city soldiers, volunteers and militia-men, with whom be +went through exercises in fencing. Van der Werff placed it at his +disposal for this purpose, and there certainly was no man in Leyden more +capable than the German of supplying worthy Allertssohn's place. + +Barbara was not wrong. His pupils looked emaciated and miserable enough, +but many of them had learned, in the dead man's school, to wield the +sword well, and were heartily devoted to the profession. + +In the centre of the court-yard stood a human figure, stuffed with tow +and covered with leather, which bore on the left breast a bit of red +paper in the shape of a heart. The more unskilful were obliged to thrust +at this figure to train the hand and eye; the others stood face to face +in pairs and fought under Georg's direction with blunt foils. + +The Junker had felt very weak when he entered the kitchen, for the larger +half of his ration of bread had been left at the unfortunate tailor's; +but Barbara's wine had revived him and, rousing himself, he stepped +briskly forth to meet his fencers. His doublet was quickly flung on a +bench, his belt drawn tighter, and he soon stood in his white shirt- +sleeves before the soldiers. + +As soon as his first word of command was heard, Henrica's window closed +with a bang. Formerly it had often been opened when the fencing drill +began, and she had not even shrunk from occasionally clapping her hands +and calling "bravo." This time had long since passed, it was weeks since +she had bestowed a word or glance on the young noble. She had never +made such advances to any man, would not have striven so hard to win a +prince's favor! And he? At first he had been distant, then more and +more assiduously avoided her. Her pride was deeply wounded. Her purpose +of diverting his attention from Maria had long been forgotten, and +moreover something--she knew not what had come between her and the young +wife. Not a day elapsed in which he did not meet her, and this was a +source of pleasure to Henrica, because she could show him that his +presence was a matter of indifference, nay even unpleasant. Her +imprisonment greatly depressed her, and she longed unutterably for the +open country, the fields and the forest. Yet she never expressed a wish +to leave the city, for--Georg was in Leyden, and every waking and +dreaming thought was associated with him. She loved him to-day, loathed +him tomorrow, and did both with all the ardor of her passionate heart. +She often thought of her sister too, and uttered many prayers for her. +To win the favor of Heaven by good works and escape ennui, she helped +the Grey Sisters, who lived in a little old convent next to Herr Van der +Werff's house, nurse the sick whole they had lovingly received, and even +went with Sister Gonzaga to the houses of the Catholic citizens, to +collect alms for the little hospital. But all this was done without +joyous self-devotion, sometimes with extravagant zeal, sometimes lazily, +and for days not at all. She had become excessively irritable, but after +being unbearably arrogant one day, would seem sorrowful and ill at ease +the next, though without asking the offended person's pardon. + +The young girl now stood behind the closed window, watching Georg, who +with a bold spring dashed at the leathern figure and ran the sword in his +right hand through the phantom's red heart. + +The soldiers loudly expressed their admiration. Henrica's eye, also +sparkled approvingly, but suddenly they lost their light, and she stepped +farther back into the room, for Maria came out of the workshops in the +court-yard and, with her gaze fixed on the ground, walked past the +fencers. + +The young wife had grown paler, but her clear blue eyes had gained a more +confident, resolute expression. She had learned to go her own way, and +sought and found arduous duties in the service of the city and the poor. +She had remained conqueror in many a severe conflict of the heart, but +the struggle was not yet over; she felt this whenever Georg's path +crossed hers. As far as possible she avoided him, for she did not +conceal from herself, that the attempt to live with him on the footing +of a friend and brother, would mean nothing but the first step on the +road to ruin for him and herself. That he was honestly aiding her by a +strong effort at self-control, she gratefully felt, for she stood heart +to heart with her husband on the ship of life. She wished no other +guide; nay the thought of going to destruction with Peter had no terror +to her. And yet, yet! Georg was like the magnetic mountain, that +attracted her, and which she must avoid to save the vessel from sinking. + +To-day she had been asking the different workmen how they fared, and +witnessed scenes of the deepest misery. + +The brave men knew that the surrender of the city might put an end to +their distress, but wished to hold out for the sake of liberty and their +religion, and endured their suffering as an inevitable misfortune. + +In the entry of the house Maria met Wilhelm's mother, and promised her +she would consult with Frau Van Hout that very day, concerning the +extortion practised by the market-men. Then she went to poor Bessie, who +sat, pale and weak, in a little chair. Her prettiest doll had been lying +an hour in the same position on her lap. The child's little hands and +will were too feeble to move the toy. Trautchen brought in a cup of new +milk. The citizens were not yet wholly destitute of this, for a goodly +number of cows still grazed outside the city walls under the protection +of the cannon, but the child refused to drink and could only be induced, +amid tears, to swallow a few drops. + +While Maria was affectionately coaxing the little one, Peter entered the +room. The tall man, the very model of a stately burgher, who paid +careful heed to his outward appearance, now looked careless of his +person. His brown hair hung over his forehead, his thick, closely- +trimmed moustache straggled in thin lines over his cheeks, his doublet +had grown too large, and his stockings did not fit snugly as usual, but +hung in wrinkles on his powerful legs. + +Greeting his wife with a careless wave of the hand, he approached the +child and gazed silently at it a long time with tender affection. Bessie +turned her pretty little face towards him and tried to welcome him, but +the smile died on her lips, and she again gazed listlessly at her doll, +Peter stooped, raised her in his arms, called her by name and pressed his +lips to her pale cheeks. The child gently stroked his beard and then +said feebly: + +"Put me down, dear father, I feel dizzy up here." The burgomaster, with +tears in his eyes, put his darling carefully back in her little chair, +then left the room and went to his study. Maria followed him and asked +"Is there no message yet from the Prince or the estates?" + +He silently shrugged his shoulders. + +"But they will not, dare not forget us?" cried the young wife eagerly. + +"We are perishing and they leave us to die," he answered in a hollow +tone. + +"No, no, they have pierced the dykes; I know they will help us." + +"When it is too late. One thing follows another, misfortune is heaped on +misfortune, and on whom do the curses of the starving people fall? On +me, me, me alone." + +"You are acting with the Prince's commissioner." + +Peter smiled bitterly, saying: "He took to his bed yesterday. Bontius +says it is the plague. I, I alone bear everything." + +"We bear it with you," cried Maria. "First poverty, then hunger, as we +promised." + +"Better than that. The last grain was baked today. The bread is +exhausted." + +"We still have oxen and horses." + +"We shall come to them day after to-morrow. It was determined: Two +pounds with the bones to every four persons. Bread gone, cows gone, milk +gone. And what will happen then? Mothers, infants, sick people! And +our Bessie!" + +The burgomaster pressed his hands on his temples and groaned aloud. But +Maria said: "Courage, Peter, courage. Hold fast to one thing, don't let +one thing go--hope." + +"Hope, hope," he answered scornfully. + +"To hope no longer," cried Maria, "means to despair. To despair means in +our case to open the gates, to open the gates means--" + +"Who is thinking of opening the gates? Who talks of surrender?" he +vehemently interrupted. "We will still hold firm, still, still---- +There is the portfolio, take it to the messenger." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +Bessie had eaten a piece of roast pigeon, the first morsel for several +days, and there was as much rejoicing over it in the Van der Werff +household, as if some great piece of good fortune had befallen the +family. Adrian ran to the workshops and told the men, Peter went to the +town-hall with a more upright bearing, and Maria, who was obliged to go +out, undertook to tell Wilhelm's mother of the good results produced by +her son's gift. + +Tears ran down the old lady's flabby cheeks at the story and, kissing the +burgomaster's wife, she exclaimed: + +"Yes, Wilhelm, Wilhelm! If he were only at home now. But I'll call his +father. Dear me, he is probably at the town-hall too. Hark, Frau Maria, +hark--what's that?" + +The ringing of bells and firing of cannon had interrupted her words; she +hastily threw open the window, crying: + +"From the Tower of Pancratius! No alarm-bell, firing and merry-ringing. +Some joyful tidings have come. We need them! Ulrich, Ulrich! Come back +at once and bring us the news. Dear Father in Heaven! + +"Merciful God! Send the relief. If it were only that!" + +The two women waited in great suspense. At last Wilhelm's brother Ulrich +returned, saying that the messengers sent to Delft had succeeded in +passing the enemy's ranks and brought with them a letter from the +estates, which the city-clerk had read from the window of the town-hall. +The representatives of the country praised the conduct and endurance of +the citizens, and informed them that, in spite of the damage done to +thousands of people, the dykes would be cut. + +In fact, the water was already pouring over the land, and the messengers +had seen the vessels appointed to bring relief. The country surrounding +Leyden must soon be inundated, and the rising flood would force the +Spanish army to retreat, "Better a drowned land than a lost land," was a +saying that had been decisive in the execution of the violent measure +proposed, and those who had risked so much might be expected to shrink +from no sacrifice to save Leyden. + +The two women joyously shook hands with each other; the bells continued +to ring merrily, and report after report of cannon made the window-panes +rattle. + +As twilight approached, Maria turned her steps towards home. It was long +since her heart had been so light. The black tablets on the houses +containing cases of plague did not look so sorrowful to-day, the +emaciated faces seemed less pitiful than usual, for to them also help was +approaching. The faithful endurance was to be rewarded, the cause of +freedom would conquer. + +She entered the "broad street" with winged steps. Thousands of citizens +had flocked into it to see, hear, and learn what might be hoped, or what +still gave cause for fear. Musicians had been stationed at the corners +to play lively airs; the Beggars' song mingled with the pipes and +trumpets and the cheers of enthusiastic men. But there were also throngs +of well-dressed citizens and women, who loudly and fearlessly mocked at +the gay music and exulting simpletons, who allowed themselves to be +cajoled by empty promises. Where was the relief? What could the handful +of Beggars--which at the utmost were all the troops the Prince could +bring--do against King Philip's terrible military power, that surrounded +Leyden? And the inundation of the country? The ground on which the city +stood was too high for the water ever to reach it. The peasants had been +injured, without benefitting the citizens. There was only one means of +escape--to trust to the King's mercy. + +"What is liberty to us?" shouted a brewer, who, like all his companions +in business, had long since been deprived of his grain and forbidden to +manufacture any fresh beer. "What will liberty be to us, when we're cold +in death? Let whoever means well go the town-hall, and demand a +surrender before it is too late." + +"Surrender! The mercy of the King!" shouted the citizens. + +"Life comes first, and then the question whether it shall be free or +under Spanish rule, Calvanistical or Popish!" screamed a master-weaver. +"I'll march to the town-hall with you." + +"You are right, good people," said Burgomaster Baersdorp, who, clad in +his costly fur-bordered cloak, was coming from the town-hall and had +heard the last speaker's words. "But let me set you right. To-day the +credulous are beginning to hope again, and the time for pressing your +just desire is ill-chosen. Wait a few days and then, if the relief does +not appear, urge your views. I'll speak for you, and with me many a +good man in the magistracy. We have nothing to expect from Valdez, but +gentleness and kindness. To rise against the King was from the first a +wicked deed--to fight against famine, the plague and death is sin and +madness. May God be with you, men!" + +"The burgomaster is sensible," cried a cloth-dyer. + +"Van Swieten and Norden think as he does, but Meister Peter rules through +the Prince's favor. If the Spaniards rescue us, his neck will be in +danger, when they make their entrance into the city So no matter who +dies; he and his are living on the fat of the land and have plenty." + +"There goes his wife," said a master-weaver, pointing to Maria. "How +happy she looks! The leather business must be doing well. Holloa--Frau +Van der Werff! Holloa! Remember me to your husband and tell him, his +life may be valuable; but ours are not wisps of straw." + +"Tell him, too," cried a cattle-dealer, who did not yet seem to have been +specially injured by the general distress, "tell him oxen can be +slaughtered, the more the better; but Leyden citizens--" + +The cattle-dealer did not finish his sentence, for Herr Aquanus had seen +from the Angulus what was happening to the burgomaster's wife, came out +of the tavern into the street, and stepped into the midst of the +malcontents. + +"For shame!" he cried. "To assail a respectable lady in the street! +Are these Leyden manners? Give me your hand, Frau Maria, and if I hear a +single reviling word, I'll call the constables. I know you. The gallows +Herr Van Bronkhorst had erected for men like you, is still standing by +the Blue Stone. Which of you wants to inaugurate them?" + +The men, to whom these words were addressed, were not the bravest of +mortals, and not a syllable was heard, as Aquanus led the young wife into +the tavern. The landlord's wife and daughter received her in their own +rooms, which were separated from those occupied by guests of the inn, +and begged her to make herself comfortable there until the crowd had +dispersed. But Maria longed to reach home, and when she said she must +go, Aquanus offered his company. + +Georg von Dornburg was standing in the entry and stepped back with a +respectful bow, but the innkeeper called to him, saying: + +"There is much to be done to-day, for many a man will doubtless indulge +himself in a glass of liquor after the good news. No offence, Frau Van +der Werft; but the Junker will escort you home as safely as I--and you, +Herr von Dornburg--" + +"I am at your service," replied Georg, and went out into the street with +the young wife. + +For a time both walked side by side in silence, each fancying he or she +could hear the beating of the other's heart. At last Georg, drawing a +long breath, said: + +"Three long, long months have passed since my arrival here. Have I been +brave, Maria?" + +"Yes, Georg." + +"But you cannot imagine what it has cost me to fetter this poor heart, +stifle my words, and blind my eyes. Maria, it must once be said--" + +"Never, never," she interrupted in a tone of earnest entreaty. "I know +that you have struggled honestly, do not rob yourself of the victory +now." + +"Oh! hear me, Maria, this once hear me." + +"What will it avail, if you oppress my soul with ardent words? I must +not hear from any man that he loves me, and what I must not hear, you +must not speak." + +"Must not?" he asked in a tone of gentle reproach, then in a gloomy, +bitter mood, continued: "You are right, perfectly right. Even speech is +denied me. So life may run on like a leaden stream, and everything that +grows and blossoms on its banks remain scentless and grey. The golden +sunshine has hidden itself behind a mist, joy lies fainting in my heart, +and all that once pleased me has grown stale and charmless. Do you +recognize the happy youth of former days?" + +"Seek cheerfulness again, seek it for my sake." + +"Gone, gone," he murmured sadly. "You saw me in Delft, but you did not +know me thoroughly. These eyes were like two mirrors of fortune in which +every object was charmingly transfigured, and they were rewarded; for +wherever they looked they met only friendly glances. This heart then +embraced the whole world, and beat so quickly and joyously! I often did +not know what to do with myself from sheer mirth and vivacity, and it +seemed as if I must burst into a thousand pieces like an over-loaded +firelock, only instead of scattering far and wide, mount straight up to +Heaven. Those days were so happy, and yet so sad--I felt it ten times +as much in Delft, when you were kind to me. And now, now? I still have +wings, I still might fly, but here I creep like a snail--because it is +your will." + +"It is not my wish," replied Maria. "You are dear to me, that I may be +permitted to confess--and to see you thus fills me with grief. But now-- +if I am dear to you, and I know you care for me--cease to torture me so +cruelly. You are dear to me. I have said it, and it must be spoken, +that everything may be clearly understood between us. You are dear to +me, like the beautiful by-gone days of my youth, like pleasant dreams, +like a noble song, in which we take delight, and which refreshes our +souls, whenever we hear or remember it--but more you are not, more you +can never be. You are dear to me, and I wish you to remain so, but that +you can only do by not breaking the oath you have sworn." + +"Sworn?" asked Georg. "Sworn?" + +"Yes, sworn," interrupted Maria, checking her steps. "On Peter's breast, +on the morning of his birthday--after the singing. You remember it well. +At the time you took a solemn vow; I know it, know it no less surely, +than that I myself swore faith to my husband at the altar. If you can +give me the lie, do so." + +Georg shook his head, and answered with increasing warmth: + +"You read my soul. Our hearts know each other like two faithful friends, +as the earth knows her moon, the moon her earth. What is one without the +other? Why must they be separated? Did you ever walk along a forest +path? The tracks of two wheels run side by side and never touch. The +axle holds them asunder, as our oath parts us." + +"Say rather--our honor." + +"As our honor parts us. But often in the woods we find a place where the +road ends in a field or hill, and there the tracks cross and intersect +each other, and in this hour I feel that my path has come to an end. I +can go no farther, I cannot, or the horses will plunge into the thicket +and the vehicle be shattered on the roots and stones." + +"And honor with it. Not a word more. Let us walk faster. See the +lights in the windows. Everyone wants to show that he rejoices in the +good news. Our house mustn't remain dark either." + +"Don't hurry so. Barbara will attend to it, and how soon we must part! +Yet you said that I was dear to you." + +"Don't torture me," cried the young wife, with pathetic entreaty. + +"I will not torture you, Maria, but you must hear me. I was in earnest, +terrible earnest in the mute vow I swore, and have sought to release +myself from it by death. You have heard how I rushed like a madman among +the Spaniards, at the storming of the Boschhuizen fortification in July. +Your bow, the blue bow from Delft, the knot of ribbons the color of the +sky, fluttered on my left shoulder as I dashed upon swords and lances. +I was not to die, and came out of the confusion uninjured. Oh! Maria, +for the sake of this oath I have suffered unequalled torments. Release +me from it, Maria, let me once, only once, freely confess--" + +"Stop, Georg, stop," pleaded the young wife. "I will not, must not hear +you-neither to-day, nor tomorrow, never, never, to all eternity!" + +"Once, only once, I will, I must say to you, that I love you, that life +and happiness, peace and honor--" + +"Not one word more, Junker von Dornburg. There is our house. You are +our guest, and if you address a single word like the last ones to your +friend's wife--" + +"Maria, Maria--oh, don't touch the knocker. How can you so unfeelingly +destroy the whole happiness of a human being--" + +The door had opened, and the burgomaster's wife crossed the threshold. +Georg stood opposite to her, held out his hand as if beseeching aid, and +murmured in a hollow tone: + +"Cast forth to death and despair! Maria, Maria, why do you treat me +thus?" + +She laid her right hand in his, saying: + +"That we may remain worthy of each other, Georg." + +She forcibly withdrew her icy hand and entered the house; but he wandered +for hours through the lighted streets like a drunken man, and at last +threw himself, with a burning brain, upon his couch. A small volume, +lightly stitched together, lay on a little table beside the bed. He +seized it, and with trembling fingers wrote on its pages. The pencil +often paused, and he frequently drew a long breath and gazed with dilated +eyes into vacancy. At last he threw the book aside and watched anxiously +for the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +Just before sunrise Georg sprang from his couch, drew out his knapsack, +and filled it with his few possessions; but this time the little book +found no place with the other articles. + +The musician Wilhelm also entered the court-yard at a very early-hour, +just as the first workmen were going to the shops. The Junker saw him +coming, and met him at the door. + +The artist's face revealed few traces of the want he had endured, but +his whole frame was trembling with excitement and his face changed color +every moment, as he instantly, and in the utmost haste, told Georg the +purpose of his early visit. + +Shortly after the arrival of the city messengers, a Spanish envoy had +brought Burgomaster Van der Werff a letter written by Junker Nicolas +Matanesse, containing nothing but the tidings, that Henrica's sister had +reached Leyderdorp with Belotti and found shelter in the elder Baron +Matanesse's farm-house. She was very ill, and longed to see her sister. +The burgomaster had given this letter to the young lady, and Henrica +hastened to the musician without delay, to entreat him to help her escape +from the city and guide her to the Spanish lines. Wilhelm was undergoing +a severe struggle. No sacrifice seemed too great to see Anna again, and +what the messenger had accomplished, he too might succeed in doing. But +ought he to aid the flight of the young girl detained as hostage by the +council, deceive the sentinels at the gate, desert his post? + +Since Henrica's request that Georg would escort her sister from Lugano +to Holland, the young man had known everything that concerned the latter, +and was also aware of the state of the musician's heart. + +"I must, and yet I ought not," cried Wilhelm. "I have passed a terrible +night; imagine yourself in my place, in the young lady's." + +"Get a leave of absence until to-morrow," said Georg resolutely. "When +it grows dark, I'll accompany Henrica with you. She must swear to return +to the city in case of a surrender. As for me, I am no longer bound by +any oath to serve the English flag. A month ago we received permission +to enter the service of the Netherlands. It will only cost me a word +with Captain Van der Laen, to be my own master." + +"Thanks, thanks; but the young lady forbade me to ask your assistance." + +"Folly, I shall go with you, and when our goal is reached, fight my way +through to the Beggars. Our departure will not trouble the council, for, +when Henrica and I are outside, there will be two eaters less in Leyden. +The sky is grey; I hope we shall have a dark night. Captain Van +Duivenvoorde commands the guard at the Hohenort Gate. He knows us both, +and will let us pass. I'll speak to him. Is the farm-house far inside +the village?" + +"No, outside on the road to Leyden." + +"Well then, we'll meet at Aquanus's tavern at four o'clock." + +"But the young lady--" + +"It will be time enough, if she learns at the gate who is to accompany +her." + +When Georg came to the tavern at the appointed hour, he learned that +Henrica had received another letter from Nicolas. It had been given to +the outposts by the Junker himself, and contained only the words "Until +midnight, the Spanish watch-word is 'Lepanto.' Your father shall know to- +day, that Anna is here." + +After the departure from the Hohenort Gate had been fixed for nine +o'clock in the evening, Georg went to Captain Van der Laen and the +commandant Van der Does, received from the former the discharge he +requested, and from Janus a letter to his friend, Admiral Boisot. When +he informed his men, that he intended to leave the city and make his way +to the Beggars, they declared they would follow, and live or die with +him. It was with difficulty that he succeeded in restraining them. +Before the town-hall he slackened his pace. The burgomaster was always +to be found there at this hour. Should he quit the city without taking +leave of him? No, no! And yet--since yesterday he had forfeited the +right to look frankly into his eyes. He was afraid to meet him, it +seemed as if he were completely estranged from him. So Georg rushed past +the town-hall, and said defiantly: "Even if I leave him without a +farewell, I owe him nothing; for I must pay for his kindness with cruel +suffering, perhaps death. Maria loved me first, and what she is, and +was, and ever will be to me, she shall know before I go." + +He returned to his room at twilight, asked the manservant to carry his +knapsack to Captain Van Duivenvoorde at the Hohenort Gate, and then went, +with his little book in his doublet, to the main building to take leave +of Maria. He ascended the staircase slowly and paused in the upper +entry. + +The beating of his heart almost stopped his breath. He did not know at +which door to knock, and a torturing dread overpowered him, so that he +stood for several minutes as if paralyzed. Then he summoned up his +courage, shook himself, and muttered: "Have I become a coward!" With +these words he opened the door leading into the dining-room and entered. +Adrian was sitting at the empty table, beside a burning torch, with some +books. Georg asked for his mother. + +"She is probably spinning in her room," replied the boy. + +"Call her, I have something important to tell her." Adrian went away, +returning with the answer that the Junker might wait in his father's +study. + +"Where is Barbara?" asked Georg. + +"With Bessie." + +The German nodded, and while pacing up and down beside the dining-room, +thought, "I can't go so. It must come from the heart; once, once more +I will hear her say, that she loves me, I will--I will--Let it be +dishonorable, let it be worthy of execration, I will atone for it; +I will atone for it with my life!" + +While Georg was pacing up and down the room, Adrian gathered his books +together, saying: "B-r-r-r, Junker, how you look to-day! One might be +afraid of you. Mother is in there already. The tinder-box is rattling; +she is probably lighting the lamp." + +"Are you busy?" asked Georg. "I've finished." + +"Then run over to Wilhelm Corneliussohn and tell him it is settled: we'll +meet at nine, punctually at nine." + +"At Aquarius's tavern?" asked the boy. + +"No, no, he knows; make haste, my lad." + +Adrian was going, but Georg beckoned to him, and said in a low tone: +"Can you be silent?" + +"As a fried sole." + +"I shall slip out of the city to-day, and perhaps may never return." + +"You, Junker? To-day?" asked the boy. + +"Yes, dear lad. Come here, give me a farewell kiss. You must keep this +little ring to remember me." The boy submitted to the kiss, put the ring +on his finger, and said with tearful eyes: "Are you in earnest? Yes, +the famine! God knows I'd run after you, if it were not for Bessie and +mother. When will you come back again?" + +"Who knows, my lad! Remember me kindly, do you hear? Kindly! And now +run." + +Adrian rushed down the stairs, and a few minutes after the Junker was +standing in Peter's study, face to face with Maria. The shutters were +closed, and the sconce on the table had two lighted candles. + +"Thanks, a thousand thanks for coming," said Georg. "You pronounced my +sentence yesterday, and to-day--" + +"I know what brings you to me," she answered gently. "Henrica has bidden +me farewell, and I must not keep her. She doesn't wish to have you +accompany her, but Meister Wilhelm betrayed the secret to me. You have +come to say farewell." + +"Yes, Maria, farewell forever." + +"If it is God's will, we shall see each other again. I know what is +driving you away from here. You are good and noble, Georg, and if there +is one thing that lightens the parting, it is this: We can now think of +each other without sorrow and anger. You will not forget us, and--you +know that the remembrance of you will be cherished here by old and young +--in the hearts of all--" + +"And in yours also, Maria?" + +"In mine also." + +"Hold it firmly. And when the storm has blown out of your path the poor +dust, which to-day lives and breathes, loves and despairs, grant it a +place in your memory." + +Maria shuddered, for deep despair looked forth with a sullen glow from +the eyes that met hers. Seized with an anxious foreboding, she +exclaimed: "What are you thinking of, Georg? for Christ's sake! tell me +what is in your mind." + +"Nothing wrong, Maria, nothing wrong. We birds now sing differently. +Whoever can saunter, with lukewarm blood and lukewarm pleasures, from one +decade to another in peace and honor, is fortunate. My blood flows in a +swifter course, and what my eager soul has once clasped with its polyp +arms, it will never release until the death-hour comes. I am going, +never to return; but I shall take you and my love with me to battle, to +the grave.--I go, I go--" + +"Not so, Georg, you must not part from me thus." Then cry: 'Stay!' Then +say: 'I am here and pity you!' But don't expect the miserable wretch, +whom you have blinded, to open his eyes, behold and enjoy the beauties of +the world. "Here you stand, trembling and shaking, without a word for +him who loves you, for him--him--" + +The youth's voice faltered with emotion and sighing heavily, he pressed +his hand to his brow. Then he seemed to recollect himself and continued +in a low, sad tone: "Here I stand, to tell you for the last time the +state of my heart. You should hear sweet words, but grief and pain will +pour bitter drops into everything I say. I have uttered in the language +of poetry, when my heart impelled me, that for which dry prose possesses +no power of expression. Read these pages, Maria, and if they wake an +echo in your soul, oh! treasure it. The honeysuckle in your garden needs +a support, that it may grow and put forth flowers; let these poor songs +be the espalier around which your memory of the absent one can twine its +tendrils and cling lovingly. Read, oh! read, and then say once more: +'You are dear to me,' or send me from you." + +"Give it to me," said Maria, opening the volume with a throbbing heart. + +He stepped back from her, but his breath came quickly and his eyes +followed hers while she was reading. She began with the last poem but +one. It had been written just after Georg's return the day before, and +ran as follows: + + "Joyously they march along, + Lights are flashing through the panes, + In the streets a busy throng + Curiosity enchains. + Oh! the merry festal night; + Would that it might last for aye! + For aye! Alas! Love, splendor, light, + All, all have passed away." + +The last lines Georg had written with a rapid pen the night before. In +them he bewailed his hard fate. She must hear him once, then he would +sing her a peerless song. Maria had followed the first verses silently +with her eyes, but now her lips began to move and in a low, rapid tone, +but audibly she read: + + "Sometimes it echoes like the thunder's peal, + Then soft and low through the May night doth steal; + Sometimes, on joyous wing, to Heaven it soars, + Sometimes, like Philomel, its woes deplores. + For, oh! this a song that ne'er can die, + It seeks the heart of all humanity. + In the deep cavern and the darksome lair, + The sea of ether o'er the realm of air, + In every nook my song shall still be heard, + And all creation, with sad yearning stirred, + United in a full, exultant choir, + Pray thee to grant the singer's fond desire. + E'en when the ivy o'er my grave hath grown, + Still will ring on each sweet, enchanting tone, + Through the whole world and every earthly zone, + Resounding on in aeons yet to come." + +Maria read on, her heart beating more and more violently, her breath +coming quicker and quicker, and when she had reached the last verse, +tears burst from her eyes, and she raised the book with both hands to +hurl it from her and throw her arms around the writer's neck. + +He had been standing opposite to her, as if spellbound, listening +blissfully to the lofty flight of his own words. Trembling with +passionate emotion, he yet restrained himself until she had raised her +eyes from his lines and lifted the book, then his power of resistance +flew to the winds and, fairly beside himself, he exclaimed: "Maria, my +sweet wife!" + +"Wife?" echoed in her breast like a cry of warning, and it seemed as if +an icy hand clutched her heart. The intoxication passed away, and as she +saw him standing before her with out-stretched arms and sparkling eyes, +she shrank back, a feeling of intense loathing of him and her own +weakness seized upon her and, instead of throwing the book aside and +rushing to meet him, she tore it in halves, saying proudly: "Here are +your verses, Junker von Dornburg; take them with you." Then, maintaining +her dignity by a strong effort, she continued in a lower, more gentle +tone, "I shall remember you without this book. We have both dreamed; +let us now wake. Farewell! I will pray that God may guard you. Give me +your hand, Georg, and when you return, we will bid you welcome to our +house as a friend." + +With these words Maria turned away from the Junker and only nodded +silently, when he exclaimed: "Past! All past!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +Georg descended the stairs in a state of bewilderment. Both halves of +the book, in which ever since the wedding at Delft he had written a +succession of verses to Maria, lay in his hand. + +The light of the kitchen-fire streamed into the entry. He followed it, +and before answering Barbara's kind greeting, went to the hearth and +flung into the fire the sheets, which contained the pure, sweet fragrance +of a beautiful flower of youth. + +"Oho! Junker!" cried the widow. "A quick fire doesn't suit every kind of +food. What is burning there?" + +"Foolish paper!" he answered. "Have no fear. At the utmost it might +weep and put out the flames. It will be ashes directly. There go the +sparks, flying in regular rows through the black, charred pages. How +pretty it looks! They appear, leap forth and vanish--like a funeral +procession with torches in a pitch-dark night. Good-night, poor +children--good-night, dear songs! Look, Frau Barbara! They are rolling +themselves up tightly, convulsively, as if it hurt them to burn." + +"What sort of talk is that?" replied Barbara, thrusting the charred book +deeper into the fire with the tongs. Then pointing to her own forehead, +she continued: "One often feels anxious about you. High-sounding words, +such as we find in the Psalms, are not meant for every-day life and our +kitchen. If you were my own son, you'd often have something to listen +to. People who travel at a steady pace reach their goal soonest." + +"That's good advice for a journey," replied Georg, holding out his hand +to the widow. "Farewell, dear mother. I can't bear it here any longer. +In half an hour I shall turn my back on this good city." + +"Go then--just as you choose--Or is the young lady taking you in tow? +Nobleman's son and nobleman's daughter! Like to like--Yet, no; there has +been nothing between you. Her heart is good, but I should wish you +another wife than that Popish Everyday-different." + +"So Henrica has told you--" + +"She has just gone. Dear me-she has her relatives outside; and we--it's +hard to divide a plum into twelve pieces. I said farewell to her +cheerfully; but you, Georg, you--" + +"I shall take her out of the city, and then--you won't blame me for it-- +then I shall make my way through to the Beggars." + +"The Beggars! That's a different matter, that's right. You'll be in +your proper place there! Cheer up, Junker, and go forth boldly? Give me +your hand, and if you meet my boy--he commands a ship of his own.--Dear +me, I remember something. You can wait a moment longer. Come here, +Trautchen. The woollen stockings I knit for him are up in the painted +chest. Make haste and fetch them. He may need them on the water in the +damp autumn weather. You'll take them with you?" + +"Willingly, most willingly; and now let me thank you for all your +kindness. You have been like an own mother to me." Georg clasped the +widow's hand, and neither attempted to conceal how dear each had become +to the other and how hard it was to part. Trautchen had given Barbara +the stockings, and many tears fell upon them, while the widow was bidding +the Junker farewell. When she noticed they were actually wet, she waved +them in the air and handed them to the young man. + +The night was dark but still, even sultry. The travellers were received +at the Hohenort Gate by Captain Van Duivenvoorde, preceded by an old +sergeant, carrying a lantern, who opened the gate. The captain embraced +his brave, beloved comrade, Dornburg; a few farewell words and god-speeds +echoed softly from the fortification walls, and the trio stepped forth +into the open country. + +For a time they walked silently through the darkness. Wilhelm knew the +way and strode in front of Henrica; the Junker kept close at her side. + +All was still, except from time to time they heard a word of command from +the walls, the striking of a clock, or the barking of a dog. + +Henrica had recognized Georg by the light of the lantern, and when +Wilhelm stopped to ascertain whether there was any water in the ditch +over which he intended to guide his companions, she said, under her +breath: + +"I did not expect your escort, Junker." + +"I know it, but I, too, desired to leave the city." + +"And wish to avail yourself of our knowledge of the watchword. Then stay +with us." + +"Until I know you are safe, Fraulein." + +"The walls of Leyden already lie between you and the peril from which you +fly." + +"I don't understand you." + +"So much the better." + +Wilhelm turned and, in a muffled voice, requested his companions to keep +silence. They now walked noiselessly on, until just outside the camp +they reached the broad road around which they had made a circuit. A +Spanish sentinel challenged them. + +"Lepanto!" was the answer, and they passed on through the camp +unmolested. A coach drawn by four horses, a mere box hung between two +tiny fore-wheels and a pair of gigantic hind-wheels, drove slowly past +them. It was conveying Magdalena Moons, the daughter of an aristocratic +Holland family, distinguished among the magistracy, back to the Hague +from a visit to her lover and future husband, Valdez. No one noticed +Henrica, for there were plenty of women in the camp. Several poorly-clad +ones sat before the tents, mending the soldiers' clothes. Some gaily- +bedizened wenches were drinking wine and throwing dice with their male +companions in front of an officer's tent. A brighter light glowed from +behind the general's quarters, where, under a sort of shed, several +confessionals and an altar had been erected. Upon this altar candles +were burning, and over it hung a silver lamp; a dark, motionless stream +pressed towards it; Castilian soldiers, among whom individuals could be +recognized only when the candle-light flashed upon a helmet or coat of +mail. + +The loud singing of carousing German mercenaries, the neighing and +stamping of the horses, and the laughter of the officers and girls, +drowned the low chanting of the priests and the murmur of the penitents, +but the shrill sounding of the bell calling to mass from time to time +pierced, with its swift vibrations, through the noise of the camp. Just +outside the village the watch-word was again used, and they reached the +first house unmolested. + +"Here we are," said Wilhelm, with a sigh of relief. "Profit by the +darkness, Junker, and keep on till you have the Spaniards behind you." + +"No, my friend; you will remain here. I wish to share your danger. +I shall return with you to Leyden and from thence try to reach Delft; +meantime I'll keep watch and give you warning, if necessary." + +"Let us bid each other farewell now, Georg; hours may pass before I +return." + +"I have time, a horrible amount of time. I'll wait. There goes the +door." + +The Junker grasped his sword, but soon removed his hand from the hilt, +for it was Belotti, who came out and greeted the signorina. + +Henrica followed him into the house and there talked with him in a low +tone, until Georg called her, saying: + +"Fraulein Van Hoogstraten, may I ask for a word of farewell?" + +"Farewell, Herr von Dornburg!" she answered distantly, but advanced a +step towards him. + +Georg had also approached, and now held out his hand. She hesitated a +moment, then placed hers in it, and said so softly, that only he could +hear: + +"Do you love Maria?" + +"So I am to confess?" + +"Don't refuse my last request, as you did the first. If you can be +generous, answer me fearlessly. I'll not betray your secret to any one. +Do you love Frau Van der Werff?" + +"Yes, Fraulein." + +Henrica drew a long breath, then continued: "And now you are rushing out +into the world to forget her?" + +"No, Fraulein." + +"Then tell me why you have fled from Leyden?" + +"To find an end that becomes a soldier." + +Henrica advanced close to his side, exclaiming so scornfully, that it cut +Georg to the heart: + +"So it has grasped you too! It seizes all: Knights, maidens, wives and +widows; not one is spared. Never ending sorrow! Farewell, Georg! We +can laugh at or pity each other, just as we choose. A heart pierced with +seven swords: what an exquisite picture! Let us wear blood-red knots of +ribbon, instead of green and blue ones. Give me your hand once more, now +farewell." + +Henrica beckoned to the musician and both followed Belotti up the steep, +narrow stairs. Wilhelm remained behind in a little room, adjoining a +second one, where a beautiful boy, about three years old, was being +tended by an Italian woman. In a third chamber, which like all the other +rooms in the farm-house, was so low that a tall man could scarcely stand +erect, Henrica's sister lay on a wide bedstead, over which a screen, +supported by four columns, spread like a canopy. Links dimly lighted the +long narrow room. The reddish-yellow rays of their broad flames were +darkened by the canopy, and scarcely revealed the invalid's face. + +Henrica had given the Italian woman and the child in the second room but +a hasty greeting, and now impetuously pressed forward into the third, +rushed to the bed, threw herself on her knees, clasped her arms +passionately around her sister, and covered her face with owing kisses. + +She said nothing but "Anna," and the sick woman and no other word than +"Henrica." Minutes elapsed, then the young girl started up, seized one +of the torches A cast its light on her regained sister's face. How pale, +how emaciated it looked! But it was still beautiful, still the same as +before. Strangely-blended emotions of joy and grief took possession of +Henrica's soul. Her cold hard feelings grew warm and melted, and in this +hour the comfort of tears, of which she had been so long deprived, once +more became hers. + +Gradually the flood tide of emotion began to ebb, and the confusion of +loving exclamations and incoherent words gained some order and separated +into question and answer. When Anna learned that the musician had +accompanied her sister, she wished to see him, and when he entered, held +out both hands, exclaiming: + +"Meister, Meister, in what a condition you find me again! Henrica, this +is the best of men; the only unselfish friend I have found on earth." + +The succeeding hours were full of sorrowful agitation. + +Belotti and the old Italian woman often undertook to speak for the +invalid, and gradually the image of a basely-destroyed life, that had +been worthy of a better fate, appeared before Henrica and Wilhelm. Fear, +anxiety and torturing doubt had from the first saddened Anna's existence +with the unprincipled adventurer and gambler, who had succeeded in +beguiling her young, experienced heart. A short period of intoxication +was followed by an unexampled awakening. She was clasping her first +child to her breast, when the unprecedented outrage occurred--Don Luis +demanded that she should move with him into the house of a notorious +Marchesa, in whose ill-famed gambling-rooms he had spent his evenings and +nights for months. She indignantly refused, but he coldly and +threateningly persisted in having his will. Then the Hoogstraten blood +asserted itself, and without a word of farewell she fled with her child +to Lugano. There the boy was received by his mother's former waiting- +maid, while she herself went to Rome, not as an adventuress, but with a +fixed, praiseworthy object in view. She intended to fully perfect her +musical talents in the new schools of Palestrina and Nanini, and thus +obtain the ability, by means of her art, to support her child +independently of his father and hers. She risked much, but very definite +hopes hovered before her eyes, for a distinguished prelate and lover of +music, to whom she had letters of introduction from Brussels, and who +knew her voice, had promised that after her return from her musical +studies he would give her the place of singing-mistress to a young girl +of noble birth, who had been educated in a convent at Milan. She was +under his guardianship, and the worthy man took care to provide Anna, +before her departure, with letters to his friends in the eternal city. + +Her hasty flight from Rome had been caused by the news, that Don Luis had +found and abducted his son. She could not lose her child, and when she +did not find the boy in Milan, followed and at last discovered him in +Naples. There d'Avila restored the child, after she had declared her +willingness to make over to him the income she still received from her +aunt. The long journey, so full of excitement and fatigue, exhausted her +strength, and she returned to Milan feeble and broken in health. + +Her patron had been anxious to keep the place of singing-mistress open +for her, but she could only fulfil for a short time the duties to which +the superior of the convent kindly summoned her, for her sickness was +increasing and a terrible cough spoiled her voice. She now returned to +Lugano, and there sought to compensate her poor honest friend by the sale +of her ornaments, but the time soon came when the generous artist was +forced to submit to be supported by the charity of a servant. Until the +last six months she had not suffered actual want, but when her maid's +husband died, anxiety about the means of procuring daily bread arose, and +now maternal love broke down Anna's pride: she wrote to her father as a +repentant daughter, bowed down by misfortune, but received no reply. At +last, reduced to starvation with her child, she undertook the hardest +possible task, and besought the man, of whom she could only think with +contempt and loathing, not to let his son grow up like a beggar's child. +The letter, which contained this cry of distress, had reached Don Luis +just before his death. No help was to come to her from him. But Belotti +appeared, and now she was once more at home, her friend and sister were +standing beside her bed, and Henrica encouraged her to hope for her +father's forgiveness. + +It was past midnight, yet Georg still awaited his friend's return. The +noise and bustle of the camp began to die away and the lantern, which at +first had but feebly lighted the spacious lower-room of the farmhouse, +burned still more dimly. The German shared this apartment with +agricultural implements, harnesses, and many kinds of grain and +vegetables heaped in piles against the walls, but he lacked inclination +to cast even a glance at his motley surroundings. There was nothing +pleasant to him in the present or future. He felt humiliated, guilty, +weary of life. His self-respect was trampled under foot, love and +happiness were forfeited, there was naught before him save a colorless, +charmless future, full of bitterness and mental anguish. Nothing seemed +desirable save a speedy death. At times the fair image of his home rose +before his memory--but it vanished as soon as he recalled the +burgomaster's dignified figure, his own miserable weakness and the +repulse he had experienced. He was full of fierce indignation against +himself, and longed with passionate impatience for the clash of swords +and roar of cannon, the savage struggle man to man. + +Time passed without his perceiving it, but a torturing desire for food +began to torment the starving man. There were plenty of turnips piled +against the wall, and he eat one after another, until he experienced the +feeling of satiety he had so long lacked. Then he sat down on a +kneading-trough and considered how he could best get to the Beggars. He +did not know his way, but woe betide those who ventured to oppose him. +His arm and sword were good, and there were Spaniards enough at hand whom +he could make feel the weight of both. His impatience began to rise, and +it seemed like a welcome diversion, when he heard steps approaching and a +man's figure entered the house. He had stationed himself by the wall +with his sword between his folded arms, and now shouted a loud "halt" to +the new-comer. + +The latter instantly drew his sword, and when Georg imperiously demanded +what he wanted, replied in a boyish voice, but a proud, resolute tone: + +"I ask you that question! I am in my father's house." + +"Indeed!" replied the German smiling, for he had now recognized the +speaker's figure by the dim light. I Put up your sword. If you are +young Matanesse Van Wibisma, you have nothing to fear from me." + +"I am. But what are you doing on our premises at night, sword in hand?" + +"I'm warming the wall to my own satisfaction, or, if you want to know the +truth, mounting guard." + +"In our house?" + +"Yes, Junker. There is some one up-stairs with your cousins, who +wouldn't like to be surprised by the Spaniards. Go up. I know from +Captain Van Duivenvoorde what a gallant young fellow you are." + +"From Herr von Warmond?" asked Nicolas eagerly. "Tell me! what brings +you here, and who are you?" + +"One who is fighting for your liberty, a German, Georg von Dornburg." + +"Oh, wait here, I entreat you. I'll come back directly. Do you know +whether Fraulein Van Hoogstraten--" + +"Up there," replied Georg, pointing towards the ceiling. + +Nicolas sprang up the stairs in two or three bounds, called his cousin, +and hastily told her that her father had had a severe fall from his horse +while hunting, and was lying dangerously ill. When Nicolas spoke of Anna +he had at first burst into a furious passion, but afterwards voluntarily +requested him to tell him about her, and attempted to leave his bed to +accompany him. He succeeded in doing so, but fell back fainting. When +his father came early the next morning, she might tell him that he, +Nicolas, begged his forgiveness; he was about to do what he believed to +be his duty. + +He evaded Henrica's questions, and merely hastily enquired about Anna's +health and the Leyden citizen, whom Georg had mentioned. + +When he heard the name of the musician Wilhelm, he begged her to warn him +to depart in good time, and if possible in his company, then bade her a +hurried farewell and ran down-stairs. + +Wilhelm soon followed. Henrica accompanied him to the stairs to see +Georg once more, but as soon as she heard his voice, turned defiantly +away and went back to her sister. + +The musician found Junker von Dornburg engaged in an eager conversation +with Nicolas. + +"No, no, my boy," said the German cordially, "my way cannot be yours." + +"I am seventeen years old." + +"That's not it; you've just confronted me bravely, and you have a man's +strength of will--but life ought still to bear flowers for you, if such +is God's will--you are going forth to fight sword-in-hand to win a worthy +destiny of peace and prosperity, for yourself and your native land, in +freedom--but I, I--give me your hand and promise--" + +"My hand? There it is; but I must refuse the promise. With or without +you--I shall go to the Beggars!" + +Georg gazed at the brave boy in delight, and asked gently: + +"Is your mother living?" + +"No." + +"Then come. We shall probably both find what we seek with the Beggars." + +Nicolas clasped the hand Georg offered, but Wilhelm approached the +Junker, saying: + +"I expected this from you, after what I saw at St. Peter's church and +Quatgelat's tavern." + +"You first opened my eyes," replied Nicolas. "Now come, we'll go +directly through the camp; they all know me." + +In the road the boy pressed close to Georg, and in answer to his remark +that he would be in a hard position towards his father, replied: + +"I know it, and it causes me such pain--such pain.--But I can't help it. +I won't suffer the word 'traitor' to cling to our name." + +"Your cousin Matanesse, Herr von Riviere, is also devoted to the good +cause." + +"But my father thinks differently. He has the courage to expect good +deeds from the Spaniards. From the Spaniards! I've learned to know them +during the last few months. A brave lad from Leyden, you knew him +probably by his nickname, Lowing, which he really deserved, was captured +by them in fair fight, and then--it makes me shudder even now when I +think of it--they hung him up head downward, and tortured him to death. +I was present, and not one word of theirs escaped my ears. Such ought to +be the fate of all Holland, country and people, that was what they +wanted. And remarks like these can be heard every day. No abuse of us +is too bad for them, and the King thinks like his soldiers. Let some one +else endure to be the slave of a master, who tortures and despises us! +My holy religion is eternal and indestructible. Even if it is hateful +to many of the Beggars, that shall not trouble me--if only they will help +break the Spanish chains." Amid such conversation they walked through +the Castilian camp, where all lay buried in sleep. Then they reached +that of the German troops, and here gay carousing was going on under many +a tent. At the end of the encampment a sutler and his wife were +collecting together the wares that remained unsold. + +Wilhelm had walked silently behind the other two, for his heart was +deeply stirred, joy and sorrow were striving for the mastery. He felt +intoxicated with lofty, pure emotions, but suddenly checked his steps +before the sutler's stand and pointed to the pastry gradually +disappearing in a chest. + +Hunger had become a serious, nay only too serious and mighty power, in +the city beyond, and it was not at all surprising that Wilhelm approached +the venders, and with sparkling eyes bought their last ham and as much +bread as they had left. + +Nicolas laughed at the bundle he carried under his arm, but Georg said: + +"You haven't yet looked want in the face, Junker. This bread is a remedy +for the most terrible disease." At the Hohenort Gate Georg ordered +Captain von Warmond to be waked, and introduced Nicolas to him as a +future Beggar. The captain congratulated the boy and offered him money +to supply himself in Delft with whatever he needed, and defray his +expenses during the first few weeks; but Nicolas rejected his wealthy +friend's offer, for a purse filled with gold coins hung at his girdle. +A jeweller in the Hague had given them to him yesterday in payment for +Fraulein Van Hoogstraten's emerald ring. + +Nicolas showed the captain his treasure, and then exclaimed: + +"Now forward, Junker von Dornburg, I know where we shall find them; and +you, Captain Van Duivenvoorde, tell the burgomaster and Janus Dousa what +has become of me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +A week had elapsed since Henrica's flight, and with it a series of days +of severe privation. Maria knew from the musician, that young Matanesse +had accompanied Georg, and that the latter was on his way to the Beggars. +This was the right plan. The bubbling brook belonged to the wild, +rushing, mighty river. She wished him happiness, life and pleasure; but +--strange--since the hour that she tore his verses, the remembrance of +him had receded as far as in the day: before the approach of the +Spaniards. Nay, after her hard-won conquest of herself and his +departure, a rare sense of happiness, amid all her cares and troubles, +had taken possession of the young wife's heart. She had been cruel to +herself, and the inner light of the clear diamond first gleams forth with +the right brilliancy, after it has endured the torture of polishing. She +now felt with joyous gratitude, that she could look Peter frankly in the +eye, grant him love, and ask love in return. He scarcely seemed to +notice her and her management under the burden of his cares, but she +felt, that many things she said and could do for him pleased him. The +young wife did not suffer specially from the long famine, while it caused +Barbara pain and unstrung her vigorous frame. Amid so much suffering, +she often sunk into despair before the cold hearth and empty pots, and no +longer thought it worth while to plait her large cap and ruffs. It was +now Maria's turn to speak words of comfort, and remind her of her son, +the Beggar captain, who would soon enter Leyden. + +On the sixth of September the burgomaster's wife was returning home from +an early walk. Autumn mists darkened the air, and the sea-breeze drove a +fine, drizzling spray through the streets. The dripping trees had long +since been robbed of their leaves, not by wind and storm, but by children +and adults, who had carried the caterpillars' food to their kitchens as +precious vegetables. + +At the Schagensteg Maria saw Adrian, and overtook him. The boy was +sauntering idly along, counting aloud. The burgomaster's wife called to +him, and asked why he was not at school and what he was doing there. + +"I'm counting," was the reply. "Now there are nine." + +"Nine?" + +"I've met nine dead bodies so far; the rector sent us home. Master Dirks +is dead, and there were only thirteen of us to-day. There are some +people bringing another one." + +Maria drew her kerchief tighter and walked on. At her left hand stood a +tall, narrow house, in which lived a cobbler, a jovial man, over whose +door were two inscriptions. One ran as follows: + + "Here are shoes for sale, + Round above and flat below; + If David's foot they will not fit, + Goliath's sure they'll suit, I know." + +The other was: + + "When through the desert roved the Jews, + Their shoes for forty years they wore, + Were the same custom now in use, + 'Prentice would ne'er seek cobbler's door." + +On the ridge of the lofty house was the stork's nest, now empty. The +red-billed guests did not usually set out on their journey to the south +so early, and some were still in Leyden, standing on the roofs as if lost +in thought. What could have become of the cobbler's beloved lodgers? At +noon the day before, their host, who in March usually fastened the luck- +bringing nest firmly with his own hands, had stolen up to the roof, and +with his cross-bow shot first the little wife and then the husband. It +was a hard task, and his wife sat weeping in the kitchen while the evil +deed was done, but whoever is tormented by the fierce pangs of hunger and +sees his clear ones dying of want, doesn't think of old affection and +future good fortune, but seeks deliverance at the present time. + +The storks had been sacrificed too late, for the cobbler's son, his +growing apprentice, had closed his eyes the night before for his eternal +sleep. Loud lamentations reached Maria's ear from the open door of the +shop, and Adrian said: "Jacob is dead, and Mabel is very sick. This +morning their father cursed me on father's account, saying it was his +fault that everything was going to destruction. Will there be no bread +again to-day, mother? Barbara has some biscuit, and I feel so sick. I +can't swallow the everlasting meal any longer." + +"Perhaps there will be a slice. We must save the baked food, child." + +In the entry of her house Maria found a man-servant, clad in black. He +had come to announce the death of Commissioner Dietrich Van Bronkhorst. +The plague had ended the strong man's life on the evening of the day +before, Sunday. + +Maria already knew of this heavy loss, which threw the whole +responsibility of everything, that now happened, upon her husband's +shoulders. She had also learned that a letter had been received from +Valdez, in which he had pledged his word of honor as a nobleman, to +spare the city, if it would surrender itself to the king's "mercy," and +especially to grant Burgomaster Van der Werff, Herr Van der Does, and the +other supporters of the rebellion, free passage through the Spanish +lines. The Castilians would retire and Leyden should be garrisoned only +by a few German troops. He invited Van der Werff and Herr von Nordwyk to +come to Leyderdorp as ambassadors, and in any case, even if the +negotiations failed, agreed to send them home uninjured under a safe +escort. Maria knew that her husband had appointed that day for a great +assembly of the council, the magistrates, and all the principal men in +the city, as well as the captains of the city-guard--but not a word of +all this had reached her ears from Peter. She had heard the news from +Frail Van Hout and the wives of other citizens. + +During the last few days a great change had taken place in her husband. +He went out and returned with a pallid, gloomy face. Taciturn and +wasting away with anxiety, he withdrew from the members of his family +even when at home, repelling his wife curtly and impatiently when, +yielding to the impulse of her heart, she approached him with encouraging +words. Night brought him no sleep, and he left his couch before morning +dawned, to pace restlessly to and fro, or gaze at Bessie, who to him +alone still tried to show recognition by a faint smile. + +When Maria returned home, she instantly went to the child and found +Doctor Bontius with her. The physician shook his head at her appearance, +and said the delicate little creature's life would soon be over. Her +stomach had been injured during the first months of want; now it refused +to do its office, and to hope for recovery would be folly. + +"She must live, she must not die!" cried Maria, frantic with grief and +yet fall of hope, like a true mother, who cannot grasp the thought that +she is condemned to lose her child, even when the little heart is already +ceasing to beat and the bright eyes are growing dim and closing. +"Bessie, Bessie, look at me! Bessie, take this nice milk. Only a few +drops! Bessie, Bessie, you must not die." + +Peter had entered the room unobserved and heard the last words. Holding +his breath, he gazed down at his darling, his broad shoulders shook, and +in a stifled, faltering voice he asked the physician: "Must she die?" + +"Yes, old friend; I think so! Hold up your head! You have much still +left you. All five of Van Loo's children have died of the plague." + +Peter shuddered, and without taking any notice of Maria, passed from the +room with drooping head. Bontius followed him into his study, laid his +hand on his arm, and said: + +"Our little remnant of life is made bitter to us, Peter. Barbara says a +corpse was laid before your door early this morning." + +"Yes. When I went out, the livid face offered me a morning greeting. +It was a young person. All whom death mows down, the people lay to my +charge. Wherever one looks--corpses! Whatever one hears--curses! Have +I authority over so many lives? Day and night nothing but sorrow and +death before my eyes;--and yet, yet, yet--oh God! save me from madness!" + +Peter clasped both hands over his brow; but Bontius found no word of +comfort, and merely exclaimed: "And I, and I? My wife and child ill with +a fever, day and night on my feet, not to cure, but to see people die. +What has been learned by hard study becomes childish folly in these days, +and yet the poor creatures utter a sigh of hope when I feel their pulses. +But this can't go on, this can't go on. Day before yesterday seventy, +yesterday eighty-six deaths, and among them two of my colleagues." + +"And no prospect of improvement?" + +"To-morrow the ninety will become a hundred--the one hundred will become +two, three, four, five, until at last one individual will be left, for +whom there will be no grave-digger." + +"The pest-houses are closed, and we still have cattle and horses." + +"But the pestilence creeps through the joints, and since the last loaf of +bread and the last malt-cake have been divided, and there is nothing for +the people to eat except meat, meat, and nothing else--one tiny piece +for the whole day--disease is piled on disease in forms utterly +unprecedented, of which no book speaks, for which no remedy has yet been +discovered. This drawing water with a bottomless pitcher is beginning to +be too much for me. My brain is no stronger than yours. Farewell until +to-morrow." + +"To-day, to-day! You are coming to the meeting at the town-hall?" + +"Certainly not! Do what you can justify; I shall practise my profession, +which now means the same thing as saying: 'I shall continue to close eyes +and hold coroner's inquests.' If things go on so, there will soon be an +end to practice." + +"Once for all: if you were in my place, you would treat with Valdez?" + +"In your place? I am not you; I am a physician, one who has nothing to +do except to take the field against suffering and death. You, since +Bronkhorst's death, are the providence of the city. Supply a bit of +bread, if only as large as my hand, in addition to the meat, or--I love +my native land and liberty as well as any one--or--" + +"Or?" + +"Or--leave Death to reap his harvest, you are no physician." + +Bontius bade his friend farewell and left him, but Peter thrust his hand +through his hair and stood gazing out of the window, until Barbara +entered, laid his official costume on a chair and asked with feigned +carelessness: + +"May I give Adrian some of the last biscuit? Meat is repulsive to him. +He's lying on the bed, writhing in pain." + +Peter turned pale, and said in a hollow tone: "Give it to him and call +the doctor. Maria and Bontius are already with him." The burgomaster +changed his clothing, feeling a thrill of fierce indignation against +every article he put on. To-day the superb costume was as hateful to him +as the office, which gave him the right to wear it, and which, until a +few weeks ago, he had occupied with a joyous sense of confidence in +himself. + +Before leaving the house, he sought Adrian. The boy was lying in +Barbara's room, complaining of violent pains, and asking if he must +die too. + +Peter shook his head, but Maria kissed him, exclaiming: + +"No, certainly not." + +The burgomaster's time was limited. His wife stopped him in the entry, +but he hurried down-stairs without hearing what she called after him. + +The young wife returned to Adrian's bedside, thinking anxiously of the +speedy death of many comrades of the dear boy, whose damp hand rested in +hers. She thought of Bessie, followed Peter in imagination to the town- +hall, and heard his powerful voice contending for resistance to the last +man and the last pound of meat; nay, she could place herself by his side, +for she knew what was to come: To stand fast, stand fast for liberty, and +if God so willed, die a martyr's death for it like Jacoba, Leonhard, and +Peter's noble father. + +One anxious hour followed another. + +When Adrian began to feel better, she went to Bessie, who pale and +inanimate, seemed to be gently fading away, and only now and then raised +her little finger to play with her dry lips. + +Oh, the pretty, withering human flower! How closely the little girl had +grown into her heart, how impossible it seemed to give her up! With +tearful eyes, she pressed her forehead on her clasped hands, which rested +on the head-board of the little bed, and fervently implored God to spare +and save this child. Again and again she repeated the prayer, but when +Bessie's dim eyes no longer met hers and her hands fell into her lap, she +could not help thinking of Peter, the assembly, the fate of the city, and +the words: "Leyden saved, Holland saved! Leyden lost, all is lost!" + +So the hours passed until the gloomy day were away into twilight, and +twilight was followed by evening. Trautchen brought in the lamp, and at +last Peter's step was heard on the stairs. + +It must be he, and yet it was not, for he never came up with such slow +and dragging feet. + +Then the study door opened. + +It was he! + +What could have happened, what had the citizens determined? + +With an anxious heart, she told Trautchen to stay with the child, and +then went to her husband. + +Peter sat at the writing-table in full official uniform, with his hat +still on his head. His face lay buried on his folded arms, beside the +sconce. + +He saw nothing, heard nothing, and when she at last called him, started, +sprang up and flung his hat violently on the table. His hair was +dishevelled, his glance restless, and in the faint light of the +glimmering candles his cheeks looked deadly pale. + +"What do you want?" he asked curtly, in a harsh voice; but for a time +Maria made no reply, fear paralyzed her tongue. + +At last she found words, and deep anxiety was apparent in her question: + +"What has happened?" + +"The beginning of the end," he answered in a hollow tone. + +"They have out-voted you?" cried the young wife. "Baersdorp and the +other cowards want to negotiate?" + +Peter drew himself up to his full height, and exclaimed in a loud, +threatening tone: + +"Guard your tongue! He who remains steadfast until his children die +and corpses bar the way in front of his own house, he who bears the +responsibility of a thousand deaths, endures curses and imprecations +through long weeks, and has vainly hoped for deliverance during more +than a third of a year--he who, wherever he looks, sees nothing save +unprecedented, constantly increasing misery and then no longer repels the +saving hand of the foe--" + +"Is a coward, a traitor, who breaks the sacred oath he has sworn." + +"Maria," cried Peter angrily, approaching with a threatening gesture. + +She drew her slender figure up to its full height and with quickened +breath awaited him, pointing her finger at him, as she exclaimed with a +sharp tone perceptible through the slight tremor in her voice: + +"You, you have voted with the Baersdorps, you, Peter Van der Werff! +You have done this thing, you, the friend of the Prince, the shield and +providence of this brave city, you, the man who received the oaths of the +citizens, the martyr's son, the servant of liberty--" + +"No more!" he interrupted, trembling with shame and rage. "Do you know +what it is to bear the guilt of this most terrible suffering before God +and men?" + +"Yes, yes, thrice yes; it is laying one's heart on the rack, to save +Holland and liberty. That is what it means! Oh, God, my God! You are +lost! You intend to negotiate with Valdez!" + +"And suppose I do?" asked the burgomaster, with an angry gesture. + +Maria looked him sternly in the eye, and exclaimed in a loud, resolute +tone: + +"Then it will be my turn to say: Go to Delft; we need different men +here." + +The burgomaster turned pale and bent his eyes on the floor, while she +fearlessly confronted him with a steady glance. + +The light fell full upon her glowing face, and when Peter again raised +his eyes, it seemed as if the same Maria stood before him, who as a bride +had vowed to share trouble and peril with him, remain steadfast in the +struggle for liberty to the end; he felt that his "child" Maria had grown +to his own height and above him, recognized for the first time in the +proud woman before him his companion in conflict, his high-hearted helper +in distress and danger. An overmastering yearning, mightier than any +emotion ever experienced before, surged through his soul, impelled him +towards her, and found utterance in the words: + +"Maria, Maria, my wife, my guardian angel! We have written to Valdez, +but there is still time,--nothing binds me yet, and with you, with you +I will stand firm to the end." + +Then, in the midst of these days of woe, she threw herself on his breast, +crying aloud in the abundance of this new, unexpected, unutterable +happiness: + +"With you, one with you--forever, unto death, in conflict and in love!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +Peter felt animated with new life. A fresh store of courage and +enthusiasm filled his breast, for he constantly received a new supply +from the stout-hearted woman by his side. + +Under the pressure of the terrible responsibility he endured, and urged +by his fellow-magistrates, he had consented, at the meeting of the +council, to write to Valdez and ask him to give free passage to +embassadors, who were to entreat the estates and the Prince of Orange +to release the tortured city from her oath. + +Valdez made every effort to induce the burgomaster to enter into farther +negotiations, but the latter remained firm, and no petition for release +from the sacred duty of resistance left the city. The two Van der Does, +Van Hout, Junker von Warmond, and other resolute men, who had already, in +the great assembly, denounced any intercourse with the enemy, now +valiantly supported him against his fellow-magistrates and the council, +that with the exception of seven of its members, persistently and +vehemently urged the commencement of negotiations. + +Adrian rapidly recovered, but Doctor Bontius's prediction was terribly +fulfilled, for famine and pestilence vied with each other in horrible +fury, and destroyed almost half of all the inhabitants of the flourishing +city. Intense was the gloom, dark the sky, yet even amidst the cruel woe +there was many an hour in which bright sunshine illumined souls, and hope +unfurled her green banner. The citizens of Leyden rose from their +couches more joyously, than a bride roused by the singing of her +companions on her wedding-day, when on the morning of September eleventh +loud and long-continued cannonading was heard from the distance, and the +sky became suffused with a crimson glow. The villages southwest of the +city were burning. Every house, every barn that sunk into ashes, burying +the property of honest men, was a bonfire to the despairing citizens. + +The Beggars were approaching! + +Yonder, where the cannon thundered and the horizon glowed, lay the Land- +scheiding, the bulwark which for centuries had guarded the plains +surrounding Leyden from the assaults of the waves, and now barred the way +of the fleet bringing assistance. + +"Fall, protecting walls, rise, tempest, swallow thy prey, raging sea, +destroy the property of the husbandman, ruin our fields and meadows, but +drown the foe or drive him hence." So sang Janus Dousa, so rang a voice +in Peter's soul, so prayed Maria, and with her thousands of men and +women. + +But the glow in the horizon died away, the firing ceased. A second day +elapsed, a third and fourth, but no messenger arrived, no Beggar ship +appeared, and the sea seemed to be calm; but another terrible power +increased, moving with mysterious, stealthy, irresistible might; Death, +with his pale companions, Despair and Famine. + +The dead were borne secretly to their graves under cover of the darkness +of night, to save their scanty ration for the survivors, in the division +of food. The angel of death flew from house to house, touched pretty +little Bessie's heart, and kissed her closed eyes while she slumbered +in the quiet night. + +The faint-hearted and the Spanish sympathizers raised their heads and +assembled in bands, one of which forced a passage into the council- +chamber and demanded bread. But not a crumb remained, and the +magistrates had nothing more to distribute except a small portion of cow +and horse-flesh, and boiled and salted hides. + +During this period of the sorest distress, Van der Werff was passing down +the "broad street." He did not notice that a throng of desperate men and +women were pursuing him with threats; but as he turned to enter Van +Hout's house, suddenly found himself surrounded. A pallid woman, with +her dying child in her arms, threw herself before him, held out the +expiring infant, and cried in hollow tones: "Let this be enough, let this +be enough--see here, see this; it is the third. Let this be enough!" + +"Enough, enough! Bread, bread! Give us bread!" was shrieked and +shouted around him, and threatening weapons and stones were raised; but a +carpenter, whom he knew, and who had hitherto faithfully upheld the good +cause, advanced saying in measured accents, in his deep voice: "This can +go on no longer. We have patiently borne hunger and distress in fighting +against the Spaniards and for our Bible, but to struggle against certain +death is madness." + +Peter, pale and agitated, gazed at the mother, the child, the sturdy +workman and the threatening, shrieking mob. The common distress, which +afflicted them and so many starving people, oppressed his soul with a +thousand-fold greater power. He would fain have drawn them all to his +heart, as brothers in misfortune, companions of a future, worthier +existence. With deep emotion, he looked from one to the other, then +pressed his hand upon his breast and called to the crowd, which thronged +around him: + +"Here I stand. I have sworn to faithfully endure to the end; and you did +so with me. I will not break my oath, but I can die. If my life will +serve you, here I am! I have no bread, but here, here is my body. Take +it, lay hands on me, tear me to pieces. Here I stand, here I stand. +I will keep my oath." + +The carpenter bent his head, and said in a hollow tone: "Come, people, +let God's will be done; we have sworn." + +The burgomaster quietly entered his friend's house. Fran Van Hout had +seen and heard all this, and on the very same day told the story to +Maria, her eyes sparkling brightly as she exclaimed: "Never did I see any +man so noble as he was in that hour! It is well for us, that he rules +within these walls. Never will our children and children's children +forget this deed." + +They have treasured it in their memories, and during the night succeeding +the day on which the burgomaster acted so manly a part, a letter arrived +from the Prince, full of joyous and encouraging news. The noble man had +recovered, and was striving with all his power to rescue brave Leyden. +The Beggars had cut the Landscheiding, their vessels were pressing +onward--help was approaching, and the faithful citizen who brought the +letter, had seen with his own eyes the fleet bringing relief and the +champions of freedom, glowing with martial ardor. The two Van der Does, +by the same letter, were appointed the Prince's commissioners in place of +the late Herr Van Bronkhorst. Van der Werff no longer stood alone, and +when the next morning "Father William's" letter was read aloud and the +messenger's news spread abroad, the courage and confidence of the +tortured citizens rose like withering grass after a refreshing rain. + +But they were still condemned to long weeks of anxiety and suffering. + +During the last days of September they were forced to slaughter the cows +hitherto spared for the infants and young mothers, and then, then? + +Help was close at hand, for the sky often reddened, and the air was +shaken by the roar of distant cannon; but the east wind continued to +prevail, driving back the water let in upon the land, and the vessels +needed a rising flood to approach the city. + +Not one of all the messengers, who had been sent out, returned; there was +nothing certain, save the cruelly increasing unendurable suffering. Even +Barbara had succumbed, and complained of weakness and loathing of the +ordinary food. + +Maria thought of the roast-pigeon, which had agreed with Bessie so well, +and went to the musician, to ask if he could sacrifice another of his +pets for her sister-in-law. + +Wilhelm's mother received the burgomaster's wife. The old lady was +sitting wearily in an arm-chair; she could still walk, but amid her +anxiety and distress a strange twitching had affected her hands. When +Maria made her request, she shook her head, saying: "Ask him yourself. +He's obliged to keep the little creatures shut up, for whenever they +appear, the poor starving people shoot at them. There are only three +left. The messengers took the others, and they haven't returned. + +"Thank God for it; the little food he still has, will do more good in +dishes, than in their crops. Would you believe it? A fortnight ago he +paid fifty florins out of his savings for half a sack of peas, and Heaven +knows where he found them. Ulrich, Ulrich! Take Frau Van der Werff up +to Wilhelm. I'd willingly spare you the climb, but he's watching for the +carrier-pigeons that have been sent out, and won't even come down to his +meals. To be sure, they would hardly be worth the trouble!" + +It was a clear, sunny day. Wilhelm was standing in his look-out, gazing +over the green, watery plain, that lay out-spread below him, towards the +south. Behind him sat Andreas, the fencing-master's fatherless boy; +writing notes, but his attention was not fixed on his work; for as soon +as he had finished a line he too gazed towards the horizon, watching for +the pigeon his teacher expected. He did not look particularly emaciated, +for many a grain of the doves' food had been secretly added to his scanty +ration of meat. + +Wilhelm showed that he felt both surprised and honored by Frau Van der +Werff's visit, and even promised to grant her request, though it was +evident that the "saying yes" was by no means easy for him. + +The young wife went out on the balcony with him, and he showed her in +the south, where usually nothing but a green plain met the eye, a wide +expanse over which a light mist was hovering. The noon sun seemed to +steep the white vapor with light, and lure it upward by its ardent rays. +This was the water streaming through the broken dyke, and the black +oblong specks moving along its edges were the Spanish troops and herds of +cattle, that had retreated before the advancing flood from the outer +fortifications, villages and hamlets. The Land-scheiding itself was not +visible, but the Beggars had already passed it. If the fleet succeeded +in reaching the Zoetermere Lake and from thence. + +Wilhelm suddenly interrupted his explanation, for Andreas had suddenly +started up, upsetting his stool, and exclaimed: + +"It's coming! The dove! Roland, my fore man, there it comes!" + +For the first time Wilhelm heard the boy's lips utter his father's +exclamation. Some great emotion must have stirred his heart, and in +truth he was not mistaken; the speck piercing the air, which his keen eye +had discovered, was no longer a mere spot, but an oblong something--a +bird, the pigeon! + +Wilhelm seized the flag on the balcony, and waved it as joyously as ever +conqueror unfurled his banner after a hard-won fight. The dove came +nearer--alighted, slipped into the cote, and a few minutes after the +musician appeared with a tiny letter. + +"To the magistrates!" cried Wilhelm. "Take it to your husband at once. +Oh! dear lady, dear lady, finish what the dove has begun. Thank God! +thank God! they are already at North-Aa. This will save the poor +people from despair! And now one thing more! You shall have the roasted +bird, but take this grain too; a barley-porridge is the best medicine for +Barbara's condition; I've tried it!" + +When evening came, and the musician had told his parents the joyful news, +he ordered the blue dove with the white breast to be caught. "Kill it +outside the house," said he, "I can't bear to see it." + +Andreas soon came back with the beheaded pigeon. + +His lips were bloody, Wilhelm knew from what, yet he did not reprove the +hungry boy, but merely said: + +"Fie, you pole-cat!" + +Early the next morning a second dove returned. The letters the winged +messengers had brought were read aloud from the windows of the town-hall, +and the courage of the populace, pressed to the extremest limits of +endurance, flickered up anew and helped them bear their misery. One of +the letters were addressed to the magistrates, the other to Janus Dousa; +they sounded confident and hopeful, and the Prince, the faithful shield +of liberty, the friend and guide of the people, had recovered from his +sickness and visited the vessels and troops intended for the relief of +Leyden. Rescue was so near, but the north-east wind would not change, +and the water did not rise. Great numbers of citizens, soldiers, +magistrates and women stood on the citadel and other elevated places, +gazing into the distance. + +A thousand hands were clasped in fervent prayer, and the eyes of all were +turned in feverish expectation and eager yearning towards the south, but +the boundary line of the waves did not move; and the sun, as if in +mockery, burst cheerily through the mists of the autumn morning, imparted +a pleasant warmth to the keen air, and in the evening sank towards the +west in the midst of radiant light, diffusing its golden rays far and +wide. The cloudless blue sky arched pitilessly over the city, and at +night glittered with thousands of twinkling stars. Early on the morning +of the twenty-ninth the mists grew denser, the grass remained dry, the +fogs lifted, the cool air changed to a sultry atmosphere, the grey clouds +piled in masses on each other, and grew black and threatening. A light +breeze rose, stirring the leafless branches of the trees, then a sudden +gust of wind swept over the heads of the throngs watching the distant +horizon. A second and third followed, then a howling tempest roared and +hissed without cessation through the city, wrenching tiles from the +roofs, twisting the fruit-trees in the gardens and the young elms and +lindens in many a street, tearing away the flags the boys had fastened on +the walls in defiance of the Spaniards, lashing the still waters of the +city moat and quiet canals, and--the Lord does not abandon His own--and +the vanes turned, the storm came from the north-west. No one saw the +result, but the sailors shouted the tidings, and each individual caught +up the words and bore them exultantly on--the hurricane drove the sea +into the mouth of the Meuse, forcing back the waves of the river by its +fierce assault, driving them over its banks through the gaps opened in +the dykes, and the gates of the sluices, and bearing forward on their +towering crests the vessels bringing deliverance. + +Roar, roar, thou storm, stream, stream, rushing rain, rage, waves, and +destroy the meadows, swallow up houses and villages! Thousands and +thousands of people on the walls and towers of Leyden hail your approach, +behold in you the terrible armies of the avenging God, exult and shout a +joyous welcome! + +For two successive days the burgomaster, Maria and Adrian, the Van der +Does and Van Houts stood with brief intervals of rest among the throng on +the citadel or the tower at the Cow-Gate; even Barbara, far more +strengthened by hope than by the barley-porridge or the lean carrier- +pigeon, would not stay at home, but dragged herself to the musician's +look-out, for every one wanted to see the rising water, the earth +softening, the moisture creeping between the blades of grass, then +spreading into pools and ponds, until at last there was a wide expanse of +water, on which bubbles rose, burst under the descending rain, and formed +ever-widening circles. Every one wanted to watch the Spaniards, hurrying +hither and thither like sheep pursued by a wolf. Every one wanted to +hear the thunder of the Beggars' cannon, the rattle of their arquebuses +and muskets; men and women thought the tempest that threatened to sweep +them away, pleasanter than the softest breeze, and the pouring rain, +which drenched them, preferable to spring dew-drops mirroring the +sunshine. + +Behind the strong fort of Lammen, defended by several hundred Spanish +soldiers, and the Castle of Cronenstein, a keen eye could distinguish the +Beggars' vessels. + +During Thursday and Friday Wilhelm watched in vain for a dove, but on +Saturday his best flier returned, bringing a letter from Admiral Boisot, +who called upon the armed forces of the city to sally out on Friday and +attack Lammen. + +The storm had blown the pigeon away. It had reached the city too late, +but on Saturday evening Janus Dousa and Captain Van der Laen were +actively engaged, summoning every one capable of bearing arms to appear +early Sunday morning. Poor, pale, emaciated troops were those who obeyed +the leaders' call, but not a man was absent and each stood ready to give +his life for the deliverance of the city and his family. + +The tempest had moderated, the firing had ceased, and the night was dark +and sultry. No eyes wished to sleep, and those whose slumber overpowered +for a short time, were startled and terrified by strange, mysterious +noises. Wilhelm sat in his look-out, gazing towards the south and +listening intently. Sometimes a light gust of wind whistled around the +lofty house, sometimes a shout, a scream, or the blast of a trumpet +echoed through the stillness of the night; then a crashing noise, as if +an earthquake had shaken part of the city to its foundations, arose near +the Cow-Gate. Not a star was visible in the sky, but bright spots, like +will-o'-the-wisps, moved through the dense gloom in regular order near +Lanimen. It was a horrible, anxious night. + +Early next morning the citizens saw that a part of the city-wall near the +Cow-Gate had fallen, and then unexampled rejoicing arose at the breach, +no longer dangerous; exultant cries echoed through every street and +alley, drawing from the houses men and women, grey-beards and children, +the sick and the well, one after another thronging to the Cow-Gate, where +the Beggars' fleet was seen approaching. The city-carpenter, Thomassohn, +and other men, tore out of the water the posts by which the Spaniards had +attempted to bar the vessels' advance, then the first ship, followed by a +second and third, arrived at the walls. Stern, bearded men, with fierce, +scarred, weather-beaten faces, whose cheeks for years had been touched by +no salt moisture, save the sea-spray, smiled kindly at the citizens, +flung them one loaf of bread after another, and many other good things of +which they had long been deprived, weeping and sobbing with emotion like +children, while the poor people eat and eat, unable to utter a word of +thanks. Then the leaders came, Admiral Boisot embraced the Van der Does +and Burgomaster Van der Werff, the Beggar captain Van Duijkenburg was +clasped in the arms of his mother, Barbara, and many a Leyden man hugged +a liberator, on whom his eyes now rested for the first time. Many, many +tears fell, thousands of hearts overflowed, and the Sunday bells, +sounding so much clearer and gayer than usual, summoned rescuers and +rescued to the churches to pray. The spacious sanctuary was too small +for the worshippers, and when the pastor, Corneliussohn, who filled the +place of the good Verstroot, now ill from caring for so many sufferers, +called upon the congregation to give thanks, his exhortation had long +since been anticipated; from the first notes of the organ, the thousands +who poured into the church had been filled with the same eager longing, +to utter thanks, thanks, fervent thanks. + +In the Grey Sisters' chapel Father Damianus also thanked the Lord, and +with him Nicolas Van Wibisma and other Catholics, who loved their native +land and liberty. + +After church Adrian, holding a piece of bread in one hand and his shoes +in the other, waded at the head of his school-mates through the higher +meadows to Leyderdorp, to see the Spaniards' deserted camp. There stood +the superb tent of General Valdez, in which, over the bed, hung a map of +the Rhine country, drawn by the Netherlander Beeldsnijder to injure his +own nation. The boys looked at it, and a Beggar, who had formerly been +in a writing-school and now looked like a sea-bear, said: + +"Look here, my lads. There is the Land-scheiding. + +"We first pierced that, but more was to be done. The green path had many +obstacles, and here at the third dyke--they call it the Front-way--there +were hard nuts to crack, and farther progress was impossible. We now 45 +returned, made a wide circuit across the Segwaertway, and through this +canal here, where there was hard fighting, to North-Aa. The Zoetermeer +Lake now lay behind us, but the water became too shallow and we could get +no farther. Have you seen the great Ark of Delft? It's a huge vessel, +moved by wheels, by which the water is thrust aside. You'll be delighted +with it. At last the Lord gave us the storm and the spring-tide. Then +the vessels had the right depth of water. There was warm work again at +the Kirk-way, but the day before yesterday we reached Lammen. Many a +brave man has fallen on both sides, but at Lammen every one expected the +worst struggle to take place. We were going to attack it early this +morning, but when day dawned everything was unnaturally quiet in the den, +and moreover, a strange stillness prevailed. Then we thought: Leyden has +surrendered; starvation conquered her. But it was nothing of the sort! +You are people of the right stamp, and soon after a lad about as large as +one of you, came to our vessel and told us he had seen a long procession +of lights move out of the fort during the night and march away. At first +we wouldn't believe him, but the boy was right. The water had grown too +hot for the crabs, and the lights the lad saw were the Spaniards' lunts. +Look, children, there is Lammen--" + +Adrian had gone close to the map with his companions and now interrupted +the Beggar by laughing loudly. + +"What is it, curly-head?" asked the latter. + +Look, look!" cried the boy, "the great General Valdez has immortalized +himself here, and there is his name too. Listen, listen! The rector +would hang a placard with the word donkey round his neck, for he has +written: "Castelli parvi! Vale civitas, valete castelli parvi; relicti +estis propter aquam et non per vim inimicorum!' Oh! the donkey 'Castelli +parvi!'" + +"What does it mean?" asked the Beggar. + +"Farewell, Leyden, farewell, ye little 'Castelli;' ye are abandoned +on account of the waves, and not of the power of the enemy. +'Parvi Castelli!' I must tell mother that!" + +On Monday, William of Orange entered Leyden, and went to Herr von +Montfort's house. The people received their Father William with joy, and +the unwearied champion of liberty, in the midst of the exultation and +rejoicing that surrounded him, labored for the future prosperity of the +city. At a later period he rewarded the faithful endurance of the people +with a peerless memorial: the University of Leyden. This awakened and +kept alive in the busy city and the country bleeding for years in severe +conflicts, that lofty aspiration and effort, which is its own reward, +and places eternal welfare far above mere temporal prosperity. The tree, +whose seed was planted amid the deepest misery, conflict and calamity, +has borne the noblest fruits for humanity, still bears them, and if it is +the will of God will continue to bear them for centuries. + + ....................... + +On the twenty-sixth of July, 1581, seven years after the rescue of +Leyden, Holland and Zealand, whose political independence had already +been established for six years, proclaimed themselves at the Hague free +from Spain. Hitherto, William of Orange had ruled as King Philip's +"stadtholder," and even the war against the monarch had been carried on +in his name. Nay, the document establishing the University, a paper, +which with all the earnestness that dictated it, deserves to be called +an unsurpassed masterpiece of the subtlest political irony, purported +to issue from King Philip's mouth, and it sounds amusing enough to read +in this paper, that the gloomy dunce in the Escurial, after mature +deliberation with his dear and faithful cousin, William of Orange, +has determined to found a freeschool and university, from motives, +which could not fail to seem abominable to the King. + +On the twenty-fourth of July this game ceased, allegiance to Philip was +renounced, and the Prince assumed sovereign authority. + +Three days after, these joyful events were celebrated by a splendid +banquet at Herr Van der Werff's house. The windows of the dining-room +were thrown wide open, and the fresh breeze of the summer night fanned +the brows of the guests, who had assembled around the burgomaster's +table. They were the most intimate friends of the family: Janus Dousa, +Van Hout, the learned Doctor Grotius of Delft, who to Maria's delight had +been invited to Leyden as a professor, and this very year filled the +office of President of the new University, the learned tavern-keeper +Aquarius, Doctor Bontius, now professor of medicine at the University, +and many others. + +The musician Wilhelm was also present, but no longer alone; beside him +sat his beautiful, delicate wife, Anna d'Avila, with whom he had recently +returned from Italy. He had borne for several years the name of Van +Duivenbode (messenger-dove), which the city had bestowed on him, together +with a coat of arms bearing three blue doves on a silver field and two +crossed keys. + +With the Prince's consent the legacies bequeathed by old Fraulein Van +Hoogstraten to her relatives and servants, had been paid, and Wilhelm now +occupied with his wife a beautiful new house, that did not lack a +dovecote, and where Maria, though her four children gave her little time, +took part in many a madrigal. The musician had much to say about Rome +and his beautiful sister-in-law Henrica, to Adrian, now a fine young man, +who had graduated at the University and was soon to be admitted to the +council. Belotti, after the death of the young girl's father, who had +seen and blessed Anna again, went to Italy with her, where she lived as +superior of a secular institution, where music was cultivated with +special devotion. + +Barbara did not appear among the guests. She had plenty to do in the +kitchen. Her white caps were now plaited with almost coquettish skill +and care, and the firm, contented manner in which she ruled Trautchen and +the two under maid-servants showed that everything was going on well in +Peter's house and business. It was worth while to do a great deal for +the guests upstairs. Junker von Warmond was among them, and had been +given the seat of honor between Doctor Grotius and Janus Dousa, the first +trustee of the University, for he had become a great nobleman and +influential statesman, who found much difficulty in getting time to leave +the Hague and attend the banquet with his young assistant, Nicolas Van +Wibisma. He drank to Meister Aquanus as eagerly and gaily as ever, +exclaiming: + +"To old times and our friend, Georg von Dornburg." + +"With all my heart," replied the landlord. "We haven't heard of his bold +deeds and expeditions for a long time." + +"Of course! The fermenting wine is now clear. Dornburg is in the +English service, and four weeks ago I met him as a member of her British +Majesty's navy in London. His squadron is now on the way to Venice. +He still cherishes an affectionate memory of Leyden, and sends kind +remembrances to you, but you would never recognize in the dignified +commander and quiet, cheerful man, our favorite in former days. How +often his enthusiastic temperament carried him far beyond us all, and how +it would make the heart ache to see him brooding mournfully over his +secret grief." + +"I met the Junker in Delft," said Doctor Grotius. "Such enthusiastic +natures easily soar too high and then get a fall, but when they yoke +themselves to the chariot of work and duty, their strength moves vast +burdens, and with cheerful superiority conquers the hardest obstacles." + +Meantime Adrian, at a sign from his father, had risen and filled the +glasses with the best wine. The "hurrah," led by the Burgomaster, was +given to the Prince, and Janus Dousa followed it by a toast to the +independence and liberty of their native land. + +Van Hout devoted a glass to the memory of the days of trouble, and the +city's marvellous deliverance. All joined in the toast, and after the +cheers had died away, Aquanus said: + +"Who would not gladly recall the exquisite Sunday of October third; but +when I think of the misery that preceded it, my heart contracts, even at +the present day." + +At these words Peter clasped Maria's hand, pressed it tenderly, and +whispered: + +"And yet, on the saddest day of my life, I found my best treasure." + +"So did I!" she replied, gazing gratefully into his faithful eyes. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURGOMASTER'S WIFE, BY EBERS, V5 *** + +*********** This file should be named 5582.txt or 5582.zip ********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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