VAN VOLKENBERG’S WINDOW
Louis Van Ramm continued his way towards the manor-house, walking
rapidly, I following on the turf at the roadside. Suddenly I came upon
the place where I had joined the high road in my retreat from the park
the night before. Knowing that the path that led to this point was a
short cut through the woods, I ran along it in the hope of finding some
place of vantage, whence I could observe what went on outside the
manor-house. When I reached the edge of the wood I saw the shadowy
building, its front all shot with lighted windows. One of these windows
was on the lower floor near the ground. I wondered whether it would
offer me any advantage as a means of discovering what was going on
inside the building. Some high bushes grew near it and in these I
managed to conceal myself so near the window that I could see inside
quite well. I presume that the fire of logs within made the room too
hot, for the window was open, in spite of the chill wind that bit me to
the bone. The patroon was sitting at a table in plain sight of the
window. Between him and the door and facing him was the woman I had seen
the night before on the terrace, evidently his daughter.
“Go to your room, Miriam,” I heard him say to her. “I have no use for
you here. As for this man Le Bourse, if you have any dealings with him I
shall lock you up. Go. Do you hear me?”
The girl did not move. She folded her arms across her breast, at the
same time drawing herself up proudly. She was tall and slender, and of a
fine, dignified figure.
“Father,” she replied, “there is no use threatening me. You know that I
am not a coward. If you do not intend to make some reparation to this
man who has come to seek his sister, I shall. You can at least be kind
to him. You know only too well that unkindness here hastened, perhaps
caused, the poor girl’s unhappy death.”
She brushed her hand across her eyes. I blessed her in my heart for that
little act. The patroon, however, grew angry. He lifted a wine glass
from the table and held it in his hand, as if he intended to throw it at
her.
“Do not talk to me of her,” he burst out. “Not a word of her or you
shall repent it. Now go. You have already seen too much of this man. I
shall not tolerate it.”
The girl bowed with proper dignity, but she did not move. She had still
a word of protest that must be said.
“I shall obey you, sir, but I must say what I feel. I shall not act
behind your back. You shall know exactly what I intend to do. I shall
see him again and tell him all I can of the miserable fate of his sister
and I shall do all in my power to sooth his sorrow. I loved Ruth even if
she was but—”
Her words were cut short by the crash of breaking glass. She had sprung
to one side just in time to evade the flying goblet which her father
hurled at her.
“Will you not obey me? Are you not my daughter?”
“I am you daughter, but for all that, father—”
She stopped speaking and left the room abruptly, for at that moment
another door was opened, which I could not see, though I heard the latch
click distinctly. Then Louis Van Ramm entered the room and came to his
master’s side. I heard the patroon say something to him about the
“Wench, my daughter.” Then he and the dwarf fell to talking in tones so
low that I could only hear now and then an excited exclamation of
surprise.
I can hardly express the feelings that I experienced at that moment.
From where I crouched in the shrubbery, shivering with cold, I could
look upon the wide space where I had seen the Red Band drilling the
night before, surrounded by the jumping shadows of the torches. The
picture of the girl dressed in white, standing upon the platform while
the troopers obeyed the commands of their chief, and the impatient
gesture with which she had been dismissed by her father, were all clear
in my mind’s eye. I had not thought then that within a day I should have
found a friend within the walls of the manor. Yet such was the case. The
girl was disposed to treat me kindly. I did not care so much for that.
My heart was drawn towards her because she had loved Ruth, and because
she was now suffering for that affection. I could not but admire her
spirit, and the quiet dignity with which she stood to her convictions
before the hot anger of her parent; nor could I observe without still
greater admiration the noble pride that prompted her to be silent the
moment another person entered the room. Of course I did not know then as
I knew later how unlike her usual manner this severity towards her
father was. But I soon learned that there were moments when his peculiar
infirmity demanded such firmness and that this was one of them.
While I mused upon the scene before me and all it stood for, the patroon
and his retainer sat at the table in busy conversation. At last Van
Volkenberg leaned back in his chair and fitted the palms of his hands
together, tapping the finger tips slightly.
“Good news, Louis,” he said, for the first time raising his voice so
that I could hear him distinctly. “This time we trip the Earl, God’s
curse upon him.”
For a moment they sat silent, the master lost in thought. Evidently the
news communicated to Louis in the meeting by Webber’s tavern was vitally
connected with the welfare of the Earl of Bellamont. At last Van
Volkenberg was roused by some question from his companion that I could
not hear.
“You are right,” the patroon answered. “On my life we must not let this
chance slip. Before day-light—” I lost what followed, for he bent over
the table with a pen in his hand and began to write.
For some time I watched the end of the quill nodding back and forth as
he wrote, evidently in great haste and excitement. Twice he tore the
paper across several times and began to write upon a new sheet. When he
had finished, he rose, folding what he had written carefully as he did
so. He took a step or two away from the table towards the window. This
movement brought him so close to me that I overheard what followed
without difficulty.
“This must be printed and posted before day-light, Louis. Take it to
Bradford. Rout him out of bed. Give him good reasons. It must be done at
once. Do not take no from him. Hurry, Louis, my gay hawk. We shall peck
the fine Earl to the bone by noon to-morrow.”
At that both men left the apartment. I set out immediately along the
footpath that joined with the road to the city. I had not far to go in
order to reach the main road, but the distance was far enough to bring
me for a moment in peril of my life. I was still within hail of the
house when I heard dull, heavy thuds falling in quick succession behind
me, and growing louder with every step. I turned to look back. A hound
was making towards me in great leaps across the moonlight. The next
moment he sprang upon me. Though I braced myself for the shock, I fell
heavily to the ground. In this moment of danger, I had enough presence
of mind to thrust my hand into the brute’s mouth and to grip tight hold
of his lower jaw. We writhed and twisted about the ground for several
minutes. Once I was knocked so violently against the trunk of a tree
that it was a miracle that I did not lose my hold. We rolled back
together and in some way, I know not how, I fell uppermost with the
point of my knee on the dog’s side. Quick as a flash, I gripped my free
hand on his throat. He gasped for breath till his whole body shook and I
with it. But I had won the fall and did not rise till he lay motionless
at my feet.
Such an escape as that makes a man sober. I continued along the road,
thinking of many things; above all, of how it might have ended. By what
a slender thread and how tenaciously we cling to life! Yesterday, when
my sorrow first fell upon me with its full weight, there was nothing
terrible about the face of death; but to-night, with his grim features
close before me, I felt that heedless courage which even the most
miserable always feel, though they would thank God for cowardice. With
this thought came another: How Ruth must have felt! She had crossed the
gulf that I had fought to draw back from. Not till then did my thoughts
return to the work in hand—the paper and the dwarf’s errand. Almost
immediately I heard the clatter of horse hoofs breaking the silence
behind me.
In a moment Louis Van Ramm dashed by me at full gallop, raising a cloud
of dust as he rode, and sending a flaw of wind into the roadside bushes
where I had concealed myself at the first sound of his approach.
“So you will trap the Earl, will you?” thought I. “Do not reckon without
me, Louis Van Ramm.”
Then I set out running, and was soon at the fort.
It had been scarce six years since William Bradford had come from
Philadelphia to set up his printing press in New York. As I passed the
mouth of the street where Bradford lived I could hear Louis kicking and
pounding at the printer’s door, for what reason beyond his master’s hest
I was soon to learn.
At the fort I found some difficulty in gaining access to the Earl; but,
by means of the password which he had communicated to me, and a little
threat and bluster on my own account, I was soon inside the walls. The
Earl heard my fragmentary tale with interest.
“I can easily imagine what has been communicated to him,” said
Bellamont. “But what Bradford has to do with it is beyond my
penetration.”
He rang a bell upon the table. A man-at-arms appeared, whom he bade
summon the captain of the guard.
“Take a squad of men,” commanded the Earl as soon as the man had
appeared for duty. “Take a squad of men and arrest William Bradford and
anyone else whom you may find at his shop. At once. To your duty.”
The Earl at a pinch, as Lady Marmaduke had said, was no man to bandy
words, though, to be sure, he said to me as soon as the soldiers had set
out that he wished I had got my information in any other way than
spying. I did not remind him that he had set me to watch, or that there
was no other way on earth by which I could have followed his
instructions, for I knew that if I said anything his conscience would
suggest some kind of harmless watchfulness from a distance.
“Your Excellency’s welfare is always above my own,” I said humbly,
though I shared none of his scruples.
“Ay, doubtless,” he answered musingly. “Well, let us see how it turns
out.”
Thirty minutes later the prisoner was under arrest in the fort. The
Earl’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction over the intelligence he had
received through the arrest. For the second time he summoned the
man-at-arms.
“As soon as it is late enough I want you to dispatch a messenger to
Patroon Van Volkenberg, and to the other members of my council,
notifying them individually that there will be a meeting of my
privy-council at ten o’clock to-morrow.” Then he turned to me. “The
clouds are breaking, Le Bourse. I doubt not there will be a flash of
light and a clap of thunder hard upon ten o’clock.”