The Begum's Daughter
V.
IT is still market-day ; the fort bell has not yet rung its curfew peal. Before the door of a small shop in Winckel Street sits a middle-aged burgher. The man is not comely, he is not agreeable looking, but he fixes attention. It would be hard to account for the instant and strong impression his personality creates,— an impression which provokes while it baffles analysis. One point soon becomes clear : the result of the whole outgiving of the man, so far as the physical may reveal the moral, is presently recognized in an atmosphere of power. Details here may not be neglected : a burly, robust figure, a head bristling with energy, harsh features, a severe aspect, are points each and all necessary to a clear realization of his person. Significant, too, is his evident contempt for small decencies : his chin is rough with a two days’ beard, his long hair is uncombed, his nails are black, his linen is soiled, his coarse hose are ill-gartered, his breeches show divers rents, and his threadbare doublet is splashed with grease; for all that, he has an air of entire respectability.
A certain strong odor from the shop proclaims the man’s calling: he is a liquor-dealer. In fact, he is at this very minute awaiting the arrival of an invoice of foreign wine now unloading in the dock.
As he sits waiting and smoking, there comes along the street a tall figure with shambling gait, and stops before him. “ Well ? ” grunts the sitter, with a sharp interrogative accent.
“ I am h-here — ye see.”
“ Ye come with the rent ? ”
“ Look at this ! ” shaking a pouch.
“ Ye are late.”
“ 'T is mar-market day.”
“ Ye found time to go to Vrouw Litschoe’s.”
“ Ei ? ”
“ Ye ’re drunk again ” —
“ Not I! ”
— “ and no wonder, with the damned dregs and lees ye get yonder.”
“I had but a drop passing the door; 't is all — ’t is ” —
“ Give me the money.”
“ Here — here’t is, all safe for ye ! ” producing it from his pouch.
“ T is not enough.”
“ Ei?”
“ Here is wanting four strings of seawant yet.”
“ So ? ” with a blank stare.
“ The old story, — ye spent it at the pot-house, ye drunken dog ! But ye shall make up the lack, mark ye, — every stuyver of it! ”
Mumbling and fumbling in his pocket, the tenant affected a tipsy astonishment.
“ What gave ye to your vrouw of your gains at the market?”
“ Ei ? ”
“ What had the vrouw from ye, I say, to keep soul and body together ? ”
“Tryntie? N-never ye fear for her ! She — hie — gets ever all that’s left.”
“ So ! They ’ll not grow fat, she and the brat, this time. Get home with ye, and mark my words: keep clear of Vrouw Litschoe, or I’ll have ye put into the stocks ! ”
Calling a bareheaded apprentice from the shop, as his crestfallen tenant staggered away, the landlord growled, —
“Go get ye after yonder fool and see him safe home to the bouwerie ; and, Claes — stay ! Come here ! ” He paused, and regarded with calculating eye the treasure in his lap, from which he picked up presently two strings of seawant, and added, “ Hand you this to the little vrouw yonder, on the sly. and whisper there is no need to pay it back.”
As the apprentice hastens after the tipsy Rip, Mynheer sees on the other side his expected load of wine approaching. A heavy ox-cart tugs up the muddy street, and after much shouting on the part of the driver and some brutal clubbing of the patient oxen, it is at last duly backed up before the shop-door. A gang-plank is then adjusted, and the huge butts and casks are rolled down and disposed so as completely to fill the narrow space between the street and the building, except that part occupied by Mynheer and his wooden bench.
Mynheer looks on in silence, save for bawling out now and then some direction to the slaves who are handling the casks, or grunting assent to the idle comments of his neighbors, who have gathered to witness the unloading.
The cart being driven away the diversion is ended, and these worthy tradesfolk fall back upon the staple topics of the day for gossip.
“ What think you, neighbor Leisler, of these stories from over the water ? ” asked the bareheaded haberdasher from next door, taking a seat on the bench.
“ Stories ? ” echoed the grocer, chewing a piece of African ginger, and scraping his bedaubed leather apron with a cheese-knife.
“ That the Prince of Orange has invaded England and King James is thrust off the throne,” explained the haberdasher, before Mynheer could empty his mouth of smoke.
“ Poh! ’T is an old granny’s tale,” put in a Scotch tobacconist, whose shop was close at hand.
“ As Christ lives, it is the truth! ” cried Leisler, bringing his heavy fist down upon the bench.
“ Fudge ! I say the English are not a folk to be put down by a handful of Dutchmen.” " Who talks of putting down ? ’T is the British themselves ; they were sick of the Stuart’s Popish plots.”
“ Have a care, Mynheer Leisler ! ”
“ Bah ! I stand by my words. They called in Prince William because the old Romish serpent was winding them in his coils.”
“ What avails knocking down the father to set up the daughter?”
“ They are as different as light from dark. Mary is no Papist; the prince would as soon take a viper to his bed.”
“ But 't is a revolution you talk of,” continued the Scotchman.
“ What then ? ’T is time, God knows, for a revolution when the king begins to plot with the Pope and the French against his own.”
“ Trim your tongue, Master Leisler ! 'T is rank treason you ’re talking.”
Leisler knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and gave a snort of defiance.
“ If this tale prove false,” persisted the Scotchman, “ as many another has, you may answer for it with your head.”
“ I ’ll answer it with sword and arquebuse, come who will to the reckon-
“And what ground is there for all this pother ? Tell me that.”
“ Was not an honest man cast into jail in Boston t’ other day by yonder beast, Andros ”—
“ Sh-h ! ”
“ Fie!”
“ Hush, man ! are you mad ? ” There was a sibilant chorus of protestation.
— “ for showing a copy of the prince’s own declaration ? ” persisted Leisler.
“ Whence had he it? ”
“Fetched by himself from England, and he that moment landed from the ship.”
“ And because some idle fellow shows a paper, call you that proof the throne of England is overturned? ”
“ How if it be stamped with the great seal? ”
“Eh?” “ What say you ? ”
The suggestion caused a sensation: the little group gathered closer about the bold speaker; others, passing, attracted by the loud voice, joined the circle, which soon swelled to a dozen or more interested listeners.
“ What is more,” went on Leisler, “ the great Dr. Mather himself sent over an account of the whole matter. But I waste my time talking to blind men who cannot see, to deaf men who will not hear, and to fools who cannot understand what goes on. I tell you,” he concluded sternly, “ when the air has been so long time full of thunder, ’t is time for the lightning.”
“ But we are safe, at any rate,” chimed in the official inviterto - funerals, who had just joined the crowd ; “’t will hardly reach over here.”
“ Will it not ? Ugh ! ” cried Leisler, with an ominous snort.
“ Eh? ”
“What?”
“ There will be violence here, think you ? ”
“ But we are good Protestants.”
“ Tell us your mind, Captain Leisler ! ”
“ Are there not Papists holding office here ? ” roared Leisler in a thundering voice, — “ boldly and shamelessly keeping themselves in high places when their master is thrown down ? ”
“ Sh-h! ”
“ Speak softly, captain ! ”
“ Have a care ! ”
“ Who are those in authority, and what are they doing ? ” pursued Leisler, ignoring the cautions whispered in his ear. “ Why is not William proclaimed, since he is king ? ”
A feeble murmur ran through the crowd, and the listeners looked at one another in doubt.
“ Why, indeed ? ” cried a bold-looking man, elbowing his way towards the bench. " How will the new king take such backwardness ? ” “ Think not that is all,” went on Leisler. “ Those rascally Papists are plotting to seize the government and make us into a Catholic province; then they will invite the old king over, and set up a Catholic kingdom here in the New World.”
The Scotchman alone dared sneer at this suggestion, but he was speedily silenced by the growing applause.
“ The French devils in Canada are stirring up the savages this very minute to help on the plot, and as soon as James lands on these shores they will swoop down and burn our houses and butcher our children, if we go not over to the Papists.”
“ Right, captain, right! You have hit it. Some say the savages are already on the march.”
“ What measures are taken here against them? What are they doing,
— the governor, the mayor, and the worshipful councilors yonder at the Stadthuys ? ”
“ Ay, ay ! Tell us that! ” echoed the bold-faced man.
“ Hatching treason,” answered Leisler bluntly.
“ Fie ! they are no more Papists than you ! ” cried the Scotchman.
“ Is not Nicholson a ’Piscopal ? ”
“ And if he be ? ”
“ I would rather be an out-and-out Papist than a make-believe,” said Leisler’s adherent.
“ Where is the treason in that ? ” put in the Scotchman again. “ Look out, my masters, how you play with gunpowder! A fire is easier set going than put out.”
“ Have they not seized upon the public money and locked it up in the fort? ” went on Leisler, with increasing vehemence. “ ‘T is seized for King James !
'T is the people’s money, — 't is our money ; will ye have it given to a Papist ? ”
A loud cry of protestation arose from excited bystanders. “ ’T is ours, I say: it came from the sweat of our faces, and we will have it back ! ” pursued Leisler, clenching his fist and glancing ominously towards the fort.
At this moment a hurried footstep was heard coming down the street. The new-comer was recognized and hailed by many of the group.
“ Hola, Stoll! ”
“ What now, Joost? ”
“ One might think his father had died and left him an heir.”
“ Make way ! Make way ! Where’s the captain ? ”
“ Here ! Here ! ”
“ The devil breaks loose — ugh ! ugh ! Everything goes to pieces — ugh ! ugh ! All the country is up in arms.”
“ Have done with your grunting, and tell your story like a Christian.”
“ My—my wind is gone ” —
“ Damn your wind ! What is your news ? ”
“ The Bostoneers have uprisen and — and laid the governor by the heels and ” —
“ Andros ? ”
“ The old Turk yonder that kept the people down.”
“ God ! ” exclaimed Leisler, springing to his feet in uncontrollable excitement.
“ The people — ugh ! — have cast him into prison — and — and ” —
“ Go on ! ” cried Leisler fiercely. “ Go on, I say ! ”
— “ and set up the old governor ” — “ Yes — and then ” —
“ They choose a committee to carry on the business.”
“ Who told you this ? ”
“ An express is just come to the Stadthuys, most dead with haste : he says the whole country follows after Boston, — Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, all; they have all cast down the Papists and up with King William.”
Leisler glared at the man for a moment, and said no more. He sat down upon the bench, with elbows on his knees, and deeply pondered this startling news, while the others gabbled and chattered about the panting Stoll.
In the midst of the confusion a striking-looking person quietly turned the corner of the street from the direction of the fort, and slowly approached the spot: a small, slender woman, with a complexion as dark as a mulatto’s, but with features of the most delicate type, and a very marked air of high-breeding and dignity. Her dress was as extraordinary as her person. Both in fashion and in fabric it was notably different from that in vogue among the Dutch women of the period. Over her head was draped a scarf of rich embroidery wrought in colors, beneath which gleamed another head-covering of the finest lawn. Across her low forehead hung a thin plate of beaten gold set in gems. Wrapped about her shoulders was a rare Indian shawl which fell almost to her feet, displaying as she walked a white skirt of the softest cashmere. She was accompanied by two negro slaves, one following, and the other going before to secure a passage and inspire respect.
As she approached the noisy group before Leisler’s door, some of those in the outer circle made a movement to afford her passage.
“ Make way! ”
“ Stand aside!
“ Make room! Do you hear, junkers? ”
“ ’T is her mightiness ! ”
“ The begum ! ”
The lady, brought to a standstill, hastily drew a veil across her face as she noted the gaze of the group fixed upon her. All stepped aside to make room for her, — all save a group of three or four directly about Leisler.
“ Do you hear, there ? ” bawled out the Scotchman. Are your ears stuffed with wool ? Make room for the lady.”
“ Who is it calls ? ” “ Bestir yourselves, I say, and let the worshipful lady pass ! ”
With much grumbling, the others climbed the casks or stepped into the shop, but the doughty captain kept his seat.
“ Damn the worshipful lady, and all other worshipfuls ! There ’ll be no more worshipfuls here! I’ll give way to no one before my own shop ! ”
Turning his eyes as the others moved aside, and recognizing the person for whom so imperative a demand had been made, he went on with a fresh access of rage: —
“ What, Staats’ huysvrouw? Make way for Staats’ blackamoor? Not I! Let her take the street! There’ll be no more worshipful masters and highmightinesses in this land, thank God ! Let her take the street, I say! I have better-looking wenches in my kitchen.”
The woman started; she lifted her veil, and gazed steadily at Leisler, as if to identify the man and realize his meaning. More impressive than any contortion of feature or outburst of passion was the suppressed look of profound outrage in the woman’s face, and the parting glance she cast at her aggressor was sinister in its deep resentment.
Motioning to her slaves, she turned without a word, and disappeared in the direction whence she had come.
VI.
Returning from their visit to Tryntie, Steenie and Hester entered the town by way of the Landpoort, and sauntered down Broadway. Coming near the fort, they found the green filled with an excited crowd.
“ What is it ? ” asked Hester, reluctantly admitting any distraction in her new happiness.
“ Wait, and I will bring you word.”
“ Never mind. What matters it ? ” But, leaving her on the corner of Petticoat Lane, Steenie had already darted across to mingle with the throng.
Hester gazed after him with wistful eyes, sitting down meanwhile on a wayside boulder to beguile the time. It was not long. He came back almost directly with an explanation.
“’T is nothing. Those noisy trainbands are discontent. You know, since this late news came from abroad, they have been set to guard the town.”
“ Yes; my father is one of the captains, and he has to take his turn.”
“ Well and good. But last night, Lieutenant Cuyler, one of De Peyster’s men, took upon him to set a guard at the sally-port without leave of the lieutenant-governor, who, when he heard of it, called the rascal up and had like to have broken his head with a pistol ; and served him right, too.”
“ To be sure, he was very bold,” said Hester absently, as she fastened a knot of flowers in her lover’s button-hole.
“ And now these grimy fellows would make a stir about it. ‘ Let them stick to their shops, and leave the guidance of public matters to their betters,’ says my father, and he should know. I will go tell him of this uproar, and beg him send a file of soldiers to drive these greasy fellows back to their work.”
At this moment the bell in the fort sounded. Trained to the clockwork regularity of a Dutch household, the junker dropped the subject in mid-air, and involuntarily turned his face homeward.
“ Let us mend our pace, or we shall be late.”
But Hester, defiant even of discipline in her present bliss, loitered on the way, lengthening out every remaining inch of the distance.
Arrived at the corner of the Strand, they stopped and gazed at each other ; it was their first parting. Unhappily it was broad daylight and there were passers in the street. “ Must you go ? ” he asked, holding both her hands.
She answered by a look which acknowledged no compulsion.
“ Think what a sweet day ’t will be to-morrow at Staaten Island! ” he said, by way of lessening the pang.
“ But — till then ? ”
“ I must overhaul my ketch this evening, while the light holds.”
The excuse was plainly not accepted as sufficient.
“ If we are to go — it must needs be repaired ” —
Still with swaying hands clasped tightly in his, Hester would not, by word or look, make herself an accomplice in the impending separation. What mortal man could resist such sweet stubbornness ? The enraptured junker, catching her in his arms, kissed her again and again, careless of consequences.
Overwhelmed with shamefacedness, she broke from him and ran away.
“ Stay ! Hester — Hester, I will go with you! ”
“ But if we are seen — No, you must not.”
Realizing the wisdom of this caution, he watched her out of sight along the winding street, and, heaving a big sigh, turned to go home, when plump upon him, around a neighboring corner, came his young acquaintance of Smiet’s Vly. Filled at the moment with thoughts of peace and good-will to all mankind, and wishing perhaps to make amends for his mischievous prank of the morning, he nodded and smiled, and in further testimony of his friendliness held out a flower which he carried in his hand.
Incensed by such effrontery, she snatched the flower and contemptuously flung it to the ground as she swept along, leaving the junker to hide in his sleeve the laugh he dared not show.
Hester, meanwhile, on reaching home was rudely awakened from her sweet meditations by finding a crowd of rough men gathered before the door, and her father, bareheaded, upon the stoop, haranguing them. Unable to make her way into the house, she perforce stood still and listened. What could her father be saying that these men hung on his words with such breathless interest?
Her curiosity was awakened.
“ Cuyler was right, I say. Will he fall upon an honest man for doing his duty ? He ’ll pistol us all next. Will ye stand and wait to be shot down like dogs ? ”
Loud cries of “ No ! No ! ” arose from the crowd.
“ What right has he yonder in the governor’s chair ? He is no governor ; he is but the underling of that old rat Andros the Bostoneers have trapped.”
“ Out with him ! ”
“ What is he doing there ? Plotting, — plotting to steal away your liberties. He is a Papist; his hand is against us. He would burn the town ; he is getting his torches ready day and night. And why ? Because we are Protestants, because we are Dutchmen, because we will not bow down to idols and yield ourselves slaves to Rome.”
A hoarse cry like a muttering of thunder arose with ominous effect from the increasing mob.
“ What would they do ? They would bring over the Stuart, him the English have kicked out, and set him up here for a king.”
“ Never ! Never ! ”
“ That is not all. The worst is to come. There is a plot to destroy us; do ye hear? — a hellish plot. Next Lord’s Day morning, on God’s own blessed Sabbath, while we are at worship in his holy tabernacle, the devils are to fall upon us. They will cut us down, kill, slay, murder us, one and all, and hand over the town to the Papists.”
“ Down with them all ! ” roared the crowd.
“ Where are our city rulers ? What are they doing ? The worshipful mayor and council, — why do they not protect us ? Why ? Because they are hand in glove with these bloodhounds ! ”
This was a touch too much ; a murmur of consternation and protest arose from the crowd. For one moment there was a feeble movement of reaction, but with the instinct of a demagogue Leisler saw, and furiously stamped it out.
“ Hand in glove, I say,” he repeated, coming down the steps into the very midst of the throng, in his ardor. “ They are all one brood, — cursed aristocrats. They look down upon the poor man. They would make lords of themselves ! Years ago they cheated the poor savage out of his home. They seized upon all the fat lands in the province. Now they’re grown rich they forget their Dutch blood. Damn their traitorous souls! They would betray us ! ”
The momentary compunction of the mob was swept away by this blast of invective, and with the blind impulse of sheep they followed on where their bold leader showed the way.
“ They sell body and soul to the English, and arc paid by riches and titles,— a pack of rogues and knaves and Papist cut-throats ! Will ye have men like these to rule the country ? ”
“ No ! No ! ”
“ Will ye suffer them to stay yonder in the Stadthuys s another hour?”
“ No ! We will fling them out! Lead us on ! ”
“ Mark ye what the people did in Boston ? ”
“ Ay, ay ! Lead us on ! Huzza ! Leisler ! Leisler ! To the fort ! ”
Turning suddenly about, bearing the bold orator in their midst, the infuriated rabble started to carry out their threat. Unprepared for the movement, Hester was thrown down and trampled upon. Happily her father saw it all. Beating back the crowd, he sprang to her aid, natural affection overriding even the fierce excitement of the moment. “ You are hurt, child ? Hetty, my little Hetty, they have not killed you? Speak, child ! No ! Well, then, stupid jade ! what do you in the street Get you in, and serve you fight! ” kissing her tenderly as he placed her in safety upon the stoop. " Get you in,
I say, and let me not catch you in the street again.”
Unhurt save for a few scratches, Hester stood gazing, dumfounded, after the howling mob until they disappeared along the winding street. With no suspicion of any serious cause of discord among her fellow-townsmen, she naturally regarded their action in breaking the peace of the sweet twilight hour, filling with clamor the quiet little town, and setting up for enemies their own neighbors and brother churchfolk as simple madness.
In her bewilderment only one impression remained clear: somehow, somewhere, there was a grievance against Mayor Van Cortlandt. Instinct took alarm; the secret she locked in her bosom had already become a dangerous one.
In this doubtful mood she went into the house. Her mother, seated at the supper-table, surrounded by the family, chid her perfunctorily for tardiness.
Vrouw Leisler, an easy-going, motherly Dutch housewife, with a mind given wholly to the management of her family, could throw no light on the state of public, affairs, but dismissed the question Hester addressed to her upon the subject, as usual, with, “ I know nothing of all that; go ask your father, child.” When told of the projected sail, however, and that Tryntie was to be of the party, the indulgent mother readily gave her consent. There was now nothing wanting but to secure Catalina.
Dr. Samuel Staats lived in a comfortable mansion on a quiet street not far from the fort, whither, directly after supper, Hester took her way, skirting without notice the excited groups that thronged the streets, nor troubling herself to ask the cause of the disturbance.
Hardly had she entered the garden gate when she was greeted by a cry of joy from an upper window, and before she had time to ply the knocker the door was thrown open and Catalina flew into her arms.
The two friends presented an interesting contrast. Notwithstanding the slight difference in their ages, one was as unmistakably a child as the other was a woman. For the rest, they were as unlike as possible, and all the better friends in consequence.
“ Hola, I heard you! I knew ’t was you. There — there — there! " cried the breathless Catalina, showering her friend with kisses. " Bad, bad girl! — there, again ! — 't is two whole days since I saw you.”
“ I sent Quimbo for you this morning to go for flowers in the Magde Paetje, but ” —
“ I was out. I am enraged at it. Come in here! Sit you down — so! and the imperious young hostess pushed her visitor into a big chair in a corner of the living-room, and nestled down by her side with arms tightly clasped about her waist. " Yes. what a pity for me to he out! Where was Quimbo loitering on the way ? Why sent you not sooner ? I went to Smiet’s Vly with the rest to see Wouter Olfert set up his new water-wheel.”
“ But you are here now,” put in Hester at the first chance, " and I am come to bespeak you for a sail in a ketch to-morrow, to Staaten Island, which is full of flowers.”
“ Dearest Hester! ”
“ Go ask your mother.”
“ No, come you and ask her. She thinks you so wise.”
“ But let her know, besides, that Tryntie is to go and have care of us.”
“ Oh, then is there no doubt; mother thinks me always safe with Tryntie. But come, you shall ask for me.”Hester arose, and followed across the hall and into the opposite room, Catalina announcing her entrance,
“ Mother, it is Hester ; she has come to speak with you.”
The room they entered answered to the parlor in an ordinary Dutch house, where it would have been shut up in sacred disuse save on ceremonial occasions. This room was flooded with light, richly and curiously appointed, and had withal a characteristic air, notwithstanding the bizarre jumble of Dutch furniture, Eastern rugs and draperies, Indian pottery, and Oriental curios with which it was crowded.
The mistress of the house sat near one of the windows, busied with some embroidery. A shadow, like a passing cloud, swept across her face at sight of Hester. She rose, however, with great ceremony, and made her visitor a courtesy.
“ Mother — I — we have come — You tell her, Hester.”
“ I come to beg you will let Catalina go with us for a sail to Staaten Island, to-morrow,” began Hester with directness.
The begum regarded her visitor with an inscrutable look. The pupils of her eyes dilated and contracted, the action of her heart visibly quickened, but she did not speak.
“ It is to gather flowers,” pursued Hester, insensible to small barometric indications. “ We are to go in a ketch.”
Madam, wearing the same baffling expression, silently shook her head.
“ It is but a few miles over and back.”
The argument produced no effect. Hester was naturally puzzled by this demeanor, for the begum had hitherto received her with the cordiality due to her daughter’s dearest friend. Catalina, too, was evidently quite as much perplexed, for she stole around to her mother’s side in a caressing way. “ We count upon being gone but a short time,” continued Hester with perseverance.
Still the lady made no answer.
“ Tryntie is to go with us. My mother gave me leave to ask Catalina.”
Quite unimpressed by these additional reasons, the begum sat quietly opposing a bulwark of silence to Hester’s strengthening attack.
“ Catalina, I am sure, is very urgent for going.”
“ Yes, mother, that I am.”
“ I should count it a great favor if you would let her go.”
A dawning look of impatience at this untiring persistence began to show in the lady’s face.
“ If the day be not fair we shall not go. We may, with good luck, be home for dinner. From your chamber window above you may watch us all the way yonder and hither again.”
The petitioner stopped to take breath. Without a word, the begum suddenly arose and courtesied in a very significant manner.
Hester flushed, but kept her seat. Catalina, with keener apprehension, after a respectful salute, drew her friend from the room.
Hardly was the door shut behind them, however, when the disappointed girl burst into tears.
“ What means she by treating you in such a fashion, — you that have given no offense ? ’T is the first time you had such a greeting from her.”
Between her outbursts of tears and indignation, she asked for more news of the expedition.
“ And in what ketch are you to go? ”
“ The best in the harbor.”
“ And which call you the best?”
“ Mynheer Van Cortlandt’s.”
The visitor’s bewilderment was completed on beholding Catalina spring to her feet, and cry with flashing eyes, —
“ Never ! Never would I set foot in it! ”
VII.
A score of miles, more or less, northward from the town stood the manorhouse of Councilor Frederick Philipse, the richest man in the New World. His estate, comprising vast tracts of land bought for a song from the Indians, stretched for miles along the eastern bank of the Hudson. Intact in its virgin beauty, it formed a natural garden unspoiled by human hand, where thick-wooded hills, wild ravines, bold cliffs, and wide-sweeping meadows exhausted the resources of variety. Close at hand, gleaming through every clearing in the forest, flowed the broad and tranquil river, shut in on its western shore by pinnacled heights, which rose palled in purple splendor against the sunset sky, or withdrawn to mysterious distance in the morning mists, as, fold on fold, the fleecy vapor floated up from the surface of the water.
The house which stood upon this demesne was as worthy its surroundings as man’s handiwork can well be in the midst of God’s. It was simple, ample, unpretentious, and thus not without dignity. In answering the claims of convenience, comfort, and an enlarged hospitality, the builder had incidentally achieved a certain homely grace and unsought impressiveness.
It chanced that Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson was visiting the councilor at the time of the outbreak in town, and he very gladly accepted his host’s invitation to remain. Clearly he saw — as who could fail to see ? — the significance of the Boston news. He felt the spirit of change in the thickening air. Directly all interest in his administration fled; he thought only of retreat with a saving of dignity. Daily, therefore, after his routine work at the Stadthuys was dispatched, he made haste to shake off the dust of the caviling little town, and gallop up to this lovely retreat, radiant now in all the beauty of early spring.
The London bachelor, with his fashionable habits, would never have been permitted to upset the sober regulations of the household in Madam Margaret’s time, — she who used to. go as supercargo on her own ships to Holland without relaxing for a moment her regulating grip on things at home. As it was, the widower-host allowed his visitor the largest freedom, and each went his separate way without interfering with the other.
It chanced, one morning, that the two were seated very late at breakfast; for although Mynheer had long since broken his fast, he returned to the table to keep his guest in countenance; moreover, the two had business of moment in hand.
“ Whatever their new Majesties may conclude to do with the provinces,” said Nicholson, chipping an egg, “’t is clearly my part to stand by the helm for the time being.”
Philipse, with his heavy neutral face void of expression, did not commit himself by assenting.
“ There can be no two minds about that as a matter of right and propriety,” went on his Excellency rather nervously. “ Somebody must govern ; there is nobody with a better right, or for the matter of that any right at all.”
He paused as if expecting an answer, but his host simply bowed.
“ I was appointed by the Crown,” he continued, salting his egg quite unconsciously for the third time, “ and, whatever may be the state of things now, nobody will pretend to deny that King James had the power, at the time, to appoint me, or that he proceeded in a regular manner. Then 't is plain, until somebody is sent over with a new commission, I am in of right, eh ? ”
“ It would seem so,” said Philipse, driven at last from cover.
“ But we are standing on the verge of a volcano. Since those rebellious Bostoneers opened the ball by laying hands on Sir Edmund the leaven of discontent has been working through the whole country.”
“ Sir Edmund carried it with too high a hand yonder in Boston. There is no cause for the like discontent here.”
“ They ’ll not stick at causes; they ’ll find a cause fast enough, never fear. But the question is what to do. My authority is boldly defied. Heard you what Bayard said ? Why, when I sent him last night to call these train-bands to order, as their superior officer, an impudent clown comes blustering forth and lectures him. ' Go back to them that sent ye ' Go back/ says he, ' and tell them to go about their business ; we ’ll none o’ them ! ’ ”
“The fellow was in liquor.”
“ Not he. ’Twas a well-known creature of this Leisler.”
“ Stoll! Yes, 1 know him. A rough dog.”
“ But for this Leisler himself, — how came he so suddenly to the fore ? Who is the man ? ”
“ A liquor-seller in the dock. He married a rich widow, and straightway thrust himself in among honest folks. He is grown of much consequence with the rabble, and he is, moreover, a deacon of the church.”
“ ”1’ is a lesson for you dissenters. A low-bred, scurvy fellow like that could never come to office in the Established Church.”
“ 'T is his money gives him consequence ; but for all he has grown so rich he can scarce write his own name, and goes about as ragged and greasy as when he was a varlet in a leather apron.”
At this moment a servant entered hastily, and paused at the threshold with an air of some excitement.
“ Pardon, Mynheer ” —
“ What is it ? ”
“ There be great doings down at the fort. All the train-bands are gathered, and there is talk of the city being stormed by the Papists. ’T is said Staaten Island is alive with them.”
“ Bring me no more such idle tales,” said Philipse sternly. “ Go, and see you spread not this silly report among the people! ”
“You see the fever grows,” said Nicholson significantly, as the man withdrew.
Philipse nodded ominously.
“ What’s to he done? ”
“ If you were to go down to them yourself ” — began the councilor tentatively.
“ Not I! After Bayard’s experience last night the rascals would stone me. If they have reached the point of turning upon their own colonel, all discipline, you may be sure, is thrown to the winds.”
Philipse glared at the floor, barren of further suggestion, while his Excellency walked up and down.
“ IF we could but seize the ringleaders, this Leisler and his creatures, the contagion might be stayed for the moment.”
“ You have waited too long.”
“ Too long! ” repeated Nicholson irritably. “And by whose advice, prithee, did I wait?”
“ We — ahem — nobody could well foresee such a state of affairs as ” —
“ I will send off a runner forthwith to Albany and another to Connecticut,” interrupted Nicholson, with a sudden burst of energy. “ I will appeal to the country. These scurvy clowns shall find with whom they have to deal. Come, let us get to work.”
They were met on the threshold by another servant, with the breathless announcement, —
“ Here is Captain Ludowyck, with a troop behind him, demanding to see your Excellency ! ”
“How now?” cried Nicholson, with a startled glance at his host. The latter stood struggling with his dismay, and made no suggestion.
“ Go say I will see Ludowyck, but not his myrmidons.”
The servant stared.
“ Bring in the leader, but keep out the men,” explained Philipse, coming to himself.
The servant withdrew. The two turned back into the breakfast-room, and looked at each other in silence. Nicholson hurriedly poured and tossed off a glass of wine. He had not wiped his lips when the tread of heavy feet was heard in the hall, the door was flung open without ceremony, and a short, thick-set man, with a half score armed attendants, entered the room.
“ Mynheer Nicholson,” began the leader, without preamble, " I come to demand of ye the keys of the fort.”
“ What say you ? ” shouted Nicholson, starting to his feet, half choked with indignation. " Who dares send me this message?”
“ I come at the behest of Captain Jacob Leisler and the other captains of the train-bands, and it will be well for ye if ye presently obey.”
“ Get back to that rabble that sent you, and tell them they shall pay dearly for this insolence! Begone, I say!”
The lofty look and spirited tone of the governor took the doughty captain by surprise. His men, too, were plainly overawed by the magnificence of the house and the dignity of the two otticials.
Ludowyck, none too confident, as it seemed, of his position, wavered before the angry glare of the governor, and showed signs of withdrawing, when his lieutentant whispered encouragement in his ear.
He began again : —
“ Take good heed, Mynheer Governor, what consequences ye bring on yourself.”
“ Will you go ? ”
“ I am sent hither for the keys,” answered the captain, with a returning hesitancy of tone.
Disdaining to reply, Nicholson maintained his attitude of contemptuous dismissal.
“’T is none of my affair, — ’t is for them that sent me to judge. Ye ’ll hear from them again, — trust me, ye will,” muttered the daunted train-band captain, retiring with his followers slowly and reluctantly from the room.
Standing rigidly in his theatrical attitude until the sound of their footsteps died away in the hall, his Excellency then whirled about, crying, —
“ This is not to be borne. Let us away to the Stadthuys and call together the council! I will punish these rascals at the risk of my neck. The keys of the fort, forsooth ! This blow is struck at us all. It means deadly mischief. Come, let us be stirring.”
Even the stolid councilor was startled by this revolutionary incident. Acting upon Nicholson’s suggestions speedily and with vigor, he dispatched runners with appeals for aid to the other provinces, he posted off messengers to his fellow-councilors, and in an hour’s time the two were on the way to town.
Colonel Bayard and Mayor Van Cortlandt promptly obeyed the summons. Once closeted with his council, Nicholson laid the matter before them in a few words. Bayard heard it all without surprise, and coolly remarked, —
“ This is but the beginning.”
“ Let us make it the end ! ” retorted the governor sharply.
“ I am with you. What does your Excellency advise ? ”
“ Proclaim William and Mary,” suggested the mayor doubtfully.
“ Impossible! We have no official notice of their accession. 'T is unsafe to take action on such idle rumors as are blown across the water to us.
“ And who knows but next week the tables may be turned ? ” added Philipse. “ The French have taken up King James, and he has a great following in Ireland.”
“ None the less,” went on the governor impatiently, “something must be eoncluded here and now as to dealing with these rascals. They are stirring up the people against us with tales of plots and conspiracies and a thousand such lies.”
“ Why not gain time by affecting to make terms ? ” said the mayor again.
“ The terms I would make are the four walls of a dungeon! ” broke out his Excellency.
“ihe stocks and the whipping-post are better suited to that sort,” added Bayard contemptuously.
“ I fear me the disease has got beyond that stage,”interposed the mayor, with a wag of his head.
“ Poh! ” cried the governor, with an intermittent gust of resolution. “ Poh!
I say. A show of authority and the thing is done. These curs have been at somebody s beck and nod all their lives, and they 'll heed the crack of the whip like a dancing bear.”
“ There’s nothing, then, but for you to go down to them again, colonel, and bid them disperse under penalty of being held rebels,” ventured Van Cortlandt.
“ Not I,” growled Bayard, shrugging his shoulders. “ I took my turn yesterday, and was well-nigh tossed in a blanket.”
“ What then shall we do? Come, come, gentlemen, life and property are at stake. If the sun goes down with this question unsettled, ’t will settle itself in a way you won’t like.”
Philipse, who had been listening for some minutes in silence, now interposed : all turned to him with an air of expectancy.
“ Threats and bluster are waste of time ; we have no means of enforcing them ; we must try other measures.”
“ ‘ Other measures ’ is vague, Mynheer,” laughed the governor ironically.
“ Let your Excellency issue a proclamation,” calmly pursued Philipse, “ calling upon all good citizens to keep the peace ” —
Thu governor gave an impatient sniff.
— “ commanding these men to go back to their workshops on pain of being declared enemies to the welfare and peace of the community ” —
“Poh! Poh, sir!”
“ Let the mayor follow this up by calling a public meeting,” continued Philipse, with unruffled composure, “ and appeal to the citizens to uphold the present government and preserve the peace until orders arrive from England.”
“And pray what will all this avail?” asked the governor, with a sneer.
“'T’ is good advice,” said Colonel Bayard decisively; “ it will gain time, it will create a diversion, it will throw them off their guard meanwhile, mark you ! When night comes, we can seize this braying ass and thrust him into prison.”
“'T is something, at least,” commented the governor doubtfully; “’t is better than sitting still. Colonel, I am with you ; we will make the trial. They shall find in the end who is ruler here. Once let me lay hand on that knave Leisler, and — Hark ! ”
“ Eh?”
“ What was that ? ”
A scuffling of feet was heard outside. Directly the door was burst open, disclosing Ludowyck at the head of his entire band, wearing this time a very significant air of resolution.
“ Mynheer Nicholson,” he began in an uncompromising tone, “ I come again to demand of ye the keys of the fort! ”
Nicholson controlled himself by a visible effort.
“ On whose authority come you ? ”
“ Captain Leisler sent me, as I told ye, and he will very speedily satisfy ye of his authority if ye comply not with his request.”
Stung by this threat, his Excellency lost all command of himself, and roared, “ Go back to this braggart, and say I will have his saucy head struck off and his body given to the crows if" —
Before the incensed governor could complete his foolish threat the other councilors interfered, and proceeded to hold apart a whispered consultation, which Captain Ludowyck interrupted without ceremony: —
“ Will ye give me the keys or no? If ye yield them quietly, well and good. If not,” striking his halberd on the floor with a ringing blow, “ the consequences be upon your own heads. I leave not the room without the keys.”
Nicholson paced up and down, accompanied by Van Cortlandt and Philipse on either hand, talking to him in tones of expostulation and entreaty. At length, whirling about, he said with an outraged air, —
“ I yield only to violence.”
Ludowyck bowed grimly.
“ You shall answer for this, mind you, with life and estate.”
“ We fear not the threats of Papists and traitors.”
“ Never think to escape the penalty of your villainies by calling names ! The day of reckoning” —
“ Will ye give me the keys ? ”
“ There they lie! ” cried the governor in an outburst of exasperation, tossing the heavy keys upon the table. “ Take them at your peril! ”
Without further ado the sturdy trainband captain seized the ponderous iron symbols, and marched from the room without so much as a salute to the humbled officials.
Meantime, at the fort, the return of Ludowyck with the keys produced a profound moral effect. The little knot of captains were startled at their own victory. They had taken the first step of a career in which they could no more stop than a falling stone can stay in its course. They must needs go on; the revolution had begun. Realizing too late that they had called up a spirit beyond their control, the timid took alarm ; they began to count chances and to weigh consequences; several crept away by stealth to the Stadthuys to patch up a compromise with their offended commander, Bayard.
One bold spirit, however, there was who knew no dismay. Leisler was not wanting to the moment. He accepted the situation freely, fully, and defied its worst consequences. Mounting the rostrum, he straightway threw off all disguise, and frankly confessed there was no turning back.
“ At last, my friends, we are free. See, here is the pledge of it! ” shaking the keys. “ At last we have cast off the yoke. We ’ll have no more to do with yokes. We ’ll have no more to do with Papists and Popes and despots. Down with them all! Henceforth we stand for liberty ! William comes of a race of freemen, — he will leave us to rule ourselves! But the work is not done. Those vipers yonder in the Stadthuys, they thirst for our blood; they will not rest till they have done us a harm. Beware of them! Beware of next Lord’s Day ! They have planned to make it a new St. Bartholomew’s, more bloody than the old. Beware, I say! The torch is kindled under your roof-tree ; the knife is whetted that will drink your blood ! ”
Cries of “ Traitors ! Traitors! Bloody villains! Down with them! Drag them out! Down with them!" drowned the voice of the orator.
“Stand by one another, and look to me. I will care for ye. When the signal sounds for the murderers and savages to begin their work, come ye here. I will protect ye from the malice of these devils! ”
This harangue was received with such storms of applause by the rank and file that the unhappy captains had no alternative but to join in. Thus the waverers were brought back to the fold. Leisler seized the occasion. He drew up a declaration on the spot, which the nine captains of the train-bands signed then and there on a drum-head.
At nightfall, after a day of exhausting toil and excitement, Leisler took his accustomed course homeward along the Strand. The events of the day had made him a man of mark. Partly by his own boldness and address, partly by the force of circumstances, he had been lifted into great and sudden prominence. The effect was notable. Every eye was upon him; the very children and slaves gazed in awe and admiration upon the hero of the hour. Absorbed, elated, unconscious of all this public homage, he strode along, loudly declaiming to his companions upon the day’s transactions.
Nearing his own house, he seemed not, for a time, to note a couple, laden with baskets and wild-flowers, loitering upon the stoop. It was indeed not until he reached the bottom of the steps that he fairly recognized the two standing there, with hands clasped and deep in converse. Immediately he flamed forth: —
“ Ei — ye dare touch flesh and blood of mine ! Stand back ! Stand back ! Get into the house, ye shameless hussy! What do ye here with this Papist whelp ? ”
Choking with rage and shame, Steenie could not articulate the words which came flooding to his lips.
“I — I — well for you ’t is Hester’s father — else would I — but — but you shall smart for it — I’ll — I’ll make you sorry yet! ”
So! your worshipful father will send the schout for me ! Bah! that for your father! We’ll have no more of him and his sort. We ’ll pull him down, strip him of his thievings, and send him begging. But for you, young puppy! let me catch ye about my house again, — I ’ll have ye whipped at the cart’s tail! ”
About to retort, Steenie was hustled away by Leisler’s rough companions, and although he made a vigorous resistance he was quickly overpowered and driven down the street, covered with mud and offal rained upon him from the gutter.
VIII.
Virtus sibi munus was the highsounding motto of the Van Cortlandts, and the design upon the family escutcheon signified in some heraldic way their descent from the Dukes of Courland.
On the whole, as men and mottoes go, they had done fairly well in making good the boast. Their record for uprightness was at least as clear as their neighbors’, while for shrewdness and energy it was for the most part better. Indeed, later generations had turned into a jest the reproach once suggested by their patronymic, Short-land.
Although born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the father of Steenie, owed what he had and what he was chiefly to his own exertions. He had not only made the most of himself individually by cultivating his wits and curbing his passions, but had added a hundred fold to his estate both in lands and chattels.
Naturally, the management of such large interests had developed in him certain qualities of mind and character which gradually came to be recognized by his fellow-townsmen as the traits most fit for a chief magistrate. Thus it came about in the course of time he was made mayor. In the discharge of his public duties he gave such general satisfaction that he was returned again and again to the office. And with good reason: he not only administered the government with ability, but upheld its dignity with a becoming pomp. Furthermore, his comely person, his costly garb, his sumptuous mansion, his troop of servants and slaves, and, by no means last or least, the forceful character and commanding presence of his wife were all factors of value in the sum total of his popularity. Withal, Mynheer Van Cortlandt was esteemed a model magistrate.
Accustomed so long to rule over a law-abiding populace, the worshipful mayor regarded the present violent proceedings at the fort with unmixed dismay. Flying in the face of law and order, withstanding duly appointed officials, seemed acts so illogical and unwarrantable that he could find no rational standpoint from which to judge them.
Accordingly he went home from the Stadthuys, after the episode of Ludowyck’s seizing the keys, shocked and bewildered. Indeed, his extreme astonishment appeared to have quite overbalanced the wrath and humiliation proper to the moment.
Madam Van Cortlandt sat awaiting him. The lady is not unknown to history. A native vigor of understanding, a masculine force of will, and a lifelong association with the leaders of thought and action in the little world in which she lived had begotten in Gertryd Van Cortlandt a virile interest in public affairs. She had, moreover, so often given sound and practical advice in matters of moment that she had come to be regarded in administration circles as the silent member of the council.
Well aware of the present crisis, knowing too that her husband had been hastily summoned to the Stadthuys a few hours before upon urgent business, madam was naturally anxious to hear what new turn affairs had taken. For her own reasons, however, she chose not to betray by so much as a word or look any interest in her husband’s return.
Profoundly acquainted with his temperament, she perhaps achieved thereby economical results in the way of time and patience. Mynheer, with exasperating scrupulosity, put away his hat and stick, wiped his shoes again and again, sat down in his easy-chair, fumbled with the papers in his hand, sighed, adjusted his ruffles, cleared his throat, crossed his legs, coughed, and otherwise temporized, until, perhaps finding the ominous silence of his helpmeet more imperative than a volley of questions, he began : —
“I know not what we are coming to.”
Madam knit on in a controlled way, but with a staccato stitch.
“ Everything is upside down, authority is put at defiance, the people are gone mad.”
Madam vouchsafed no comment.
“The train-bands are risen against us.”
“ Leisler?” suggested madam, with contempt.
“ Yes.”
“ Humph ! ”
“ His aim is clear under all his pretense : to bring himself into power, and thrust us out.”
“ How came he to such a pitch of credit with these men ? ”
“ By inflaming their minds with talk of plots and Papists.”
“ A braggart’s wind is nothing,” said madam, coolly loosening by a little jerk the tension of her yarn. “ Let him talk.”
“ But he begins to act : to-day he sent Ludowyck to demand the keys of the fort.”
“ So ? ”
“ And his Excellency refused.”
“ Of course.”
“ But, seeing the danger, he hurried to the Stadthuys, called a council, and laid the matter before us. We were in the midst of discussing some means of punishing their insolence when the door was burst open, and in he came again. ’ Ludowyek ? ”
“ Yes, with his whole troop at his heels, and demanded the keys then and there to be delivered.” “ And his Excellency ? ”
“ Had no resource but to give them up.”
“ Father in heaven ! ” Shocked out of all self-control, madam started to her feet. She presently checked herself, and walked up and down, profoundly moved. At length stopping before her husband, she asked abruptly, “ And were you standing by ? ”
The worshipful mayor quailed before the eyes of his wife.
“ I — I was there. I told you so.”
“ And suffered it to go on ? ”
“ What was to be done ? The man was backed by a score of hulking fellows. They were ready for any violence; the madness had already seized upon them.”
Madam did not answer ; she continued looking at her spouse with a gaze that caused the sweat to start out in beads on his pale forehead.
“ What was to be done ? ” he repeated, in a tone of deeper deprecation. “ There was Leisler yonder at the fort with ten times as many more rascals to burn down the Stadthuys and hale us forth if we refused.”
“ And what then ? ”
“ Eh ? ”
“ If they had haled you forth ? ”
This was a cruel question. Mynheer had no answer for it. Unable to bear the intolerable look with which it was accompanied, he started to his feet, and walked about the room, plucking up a show of spirit as he talked.
“'T is my part as a public officer to do everything to keep the peace. This business is only a fever, a passing excitement, which will blow over in a few days if met with calmness.”
Madam did not answer ; she sat down and resumed her knitting. She made bad work of it, too, repeatedly raveling out what she had done. Her husband studied her face with anxiety. He seemed waiting for her to speak, but she held her peace. “ What think you we must do ? ” he asked, after a long pause.
“ Seize that man.”
The crisp laconism of this answer and the unwavering positivism which inspired it so took the wind out of Mynheer’s sails that his little fleet of objections and obstacles could hardly come to port.
“ ’T is impossible. He holds the fort, mind you; he has a small army besides.”
“ Seize him, at all hazards,” repeated madam, as if she had not heard a word of all this.
“ We have no force equal to it; he has the men, he has the arms, he has the public money. ’T is impossible, I say.”
Madam knit and raveled in silence.
“ 'T is useless to attempt what is not in our power,” continued Mynheer presently, as if to invite further discussion.
“ Are all the train-band captains in league with him?” asked madam suddenly.
“ No; three are still wavering.”
“Three, — ’t is something.” She spent a long minute in deliberation. “ And what hinders these from going over ? ”
“ Their own qualms, — nothing else.”
“ Get them together, then ! ” sharply and with decision. “ Stay the progress of the contagion. Fix them in their allegiance ; find out their following.”
“ I have sent for them already,” plucking up at this unexpected point of coincidence. “ I am waiting for them now.”
“ Waiting ! ”
Mynheer perceptibly winced at the intonation.
“ I expect them every minute.”
“ If every minute of this night were an hour, every hour of it would be precious. Why are you sitting here? ”
“ What better can I do ? ”
“ Put forth a proclamation ! Brand these wretches as traitors ! Set a price on their heads ! Let not the people think they are gaining ground ! ”
The decision and energy of his wife’s tone affected Mynheer; it afforded him visible comfort. He arose, and seemed on the point of taking some action, when the outer door was heard to slam violently, there was a rush in the hall, and his eldest son came bursting into the room.
“ Father — sir — I — that dog — that hog — quick ! send and seize him! ”
Mynheer, simply irritated by the interruption, gave no heed to its merits.
“ Don’t trouble us now, my son. Your mother and I have weighty matters to discuss.”
“ You have nothing weightier than this,” persisted Steenie. “ That beast heaped insults upon me ! ”
Absorbed as he was with the one imperative question of the hour, this persistence was intolerable to Mynheer.
“ Go away, I say ! ” he cried angrily.
“ Leave us alone ! I have no time for foolish quarrels.”
“ ’T is no foolish quarrel, this! ” shouted the junker, confronting his father with blazing eyes, and pounding the table with his big clenched fist until everything on it rattled. “ He called me a Papist, and threatened me with the cart’s tail! ”
Mynheer was getting bewildered at the universal spirit of insubordination. He simply stood and stared.
“ Who is this, my son ? ” asked his mother, with unshaken equilibrium.
“ Old Leisler.”
It may be taken as an evidence of madam’s control over the small emotions that she did not change front at this. “ I told him,” continued Steenie, addressing his father, “ you would call - him to account, and he snapped his finger at you and cursed you, and said you were a traitor, and to be pulled down ; and when I would make answer to his taunts, his brutal fellows thrust me into the street, and pelted me with mud.”
“ Where was this ? ” asked Mynheer, gradually awakening.
“ In the Strand.”
“ What were you doing there ? ”
“ We — I had taken a party to Staaten Island in my ketch ” —
“ And then? ”
“ We had but just come ashore in the dock, and — and the basket was heavy, and I was helping Hester home with it" —
“ So, that silly chit again ! You brought it on yourself, then,” interposed madam calmly.
“ She is not to blame for her father,” retorted Steenie stoutly.
“ But she is of his brood, and her pink cheeks will not cure her bad blood. Take warning, my boy, and keep clear of her.”
Mynheer had at last a tangible thread to the snarl. Forthwith he put in angrily : —
“ Mark you, now from henceforth I forbid you to hold any acquaintance with that girl, or ever be seen in her company. As for this matter, you are well served for your folly.
Madam did not join in this foolish inhibition, but, studying the junker’s crestfallen face as he turned to withdraw, she added, with a significance which fixed his attention, “ Whenever an ill afflicts you, my son, which you can find no cure for, bide your time.”
Edwin Lassetter Bynner.