THE COUNSELS OF PRUDENCE
Neither Stoutenburg nor any of the others had made reply to Beresteyn's
firmly spoken oath. They were hard-headed Dutchmen, every one of them:
men of action rather than men of words: for good or ill the rest of the
world can judge them forever after by their deeds alone.
Therefore when the spectre of betrayal and of subsequent death appeared
so suddenly before them they neither murmured nor protested. They could
not in reason blame Beresteyn for his sister's presence in the cathedral
this night, nor yet that her thoughts and feelings in the matter of the
enmity between the Stadtholder and the Barneveld family did not coincide
with their own.
Silently they walked across the vast and lonely cathedral and filed one
by one out of the western door where Perk still held faithful watch.
Stoutenburg, their leader, had his lodgings in a small house situate at
the top of the Kleine Hout Straat, close to the well-known hostelry at
the sign of the "Lame Cow." This latter was an hostelry of unimpeachable
repute and thither did the six friends decide to go ere finally going
home for the night.
It had been decided between them some time ago that those who were able
to do so would show themselves in public as much as possible during the
next few days, so as to ward off any suspicion of intrigue which their
frequent consorting in secluded places might otherwise have aroused.
Out in the open they thought it best to disperse, electing to walk away
two and two rather than in a compact group which might call forth the
close attention of the night watchmen.
Stoutenburg linked his arm in that of Beresteyn.
"Let the others go on ahead," he said confidentially, "you and I,
friend, must understand one another ere we part for this night."
Then as Beresteyn made no immediate reply, he continued calmly:
"This will mean hanging for the lot of us this time, Nicolaes!"
"I pray to God ..." exclaimed the other hoarsely.
"God will have nought to say in the matter, my friend," retorted
Stoutenburg dryly, "'tis only the Stadtholder who will have his say, and
do you think that he is like to pardon...."
"Gilda will never...."
"Oh, yes, she will," broke in Stoutenburg firmly; "be not deluded into
thoughts of security. Gilda will think the whole of this matter over for
four and twenty hours at the longest, after which, feeling herself in an
impasse between her affection for you and her horror of me, she will
think it her duty to tell your father all that she heard in the
cathedral to-night."
"Even then," said Beresteyn, hotly, "my father would not send his only
son to the gallows."
"Do you care to take that risk?" was the other man's calm retort.
"What can I do?"
"You must act decisively and at once, my friend," said Stoutenburg
dryly, "an you do not desire to see your friends marched off to torture
and the scaffold with yourself following in their wake."
"But how? how?" exclaimed Beresteyn.
His was by far the weaker nature of the two: easily led, easily swayed
by a will stronger than his own. Stoutenburg wielded vast influence over
him; he had drawn him into the net of his own ambitious schemes, and had
by promises and cajolery won his entire allegiance. Now that destruction
and death threatened Nicolaes through his own sister--whom he sincerely
loved--he turned instinctively to Stoutenburg for help and for advice.
"It is quite simple," said the latter slowly. "Gilda must be temporarily
made powerless to do us any harm."
"How?" reiterated Beresteyn helplessly.
"Surely you can think of some means yourself," retorted Stoutenburg
somewhat impatiently. "Self-preservation is an efficient sharpener of
wits as a rule, and your own life is in the hands of a woman now, my
friend."
"You seem to forget that that woman is my sister. How can I conspire to
do her bodily harm?"
"Who spake of bodily harm, you simpleton?" quoth Stoutenburg with a
harsh laugh, "'tis you who seem to forget that if Gilda is your sister
she is also the woman whom I love more than my life ... more than my
ambition ... more even than my revenge...."
He paused a moment, for despite his usual self-control his passion at
this moment threatened to master him. His voice rose harsh and
quivering, and was like to attract the notice of passers-by. After a
moment or two he conquered his emotion and said more calmly:
"Friend, we must think of our country and of our faith; we must think of
the success of our schemes: and, though Gilda be dear to us
both--infinitely dear to me--she must not be allowed to interfere with
the great object which we hope to attain. Think out a way therefore of
placing her in such a position that she cannot harm us: have her
conveyed to some place where she can be kept a prisoner for a few days
until I have accomplished what I have set out to do."
Then as Beresteyn said nothing, seeming to be absorbed in some new
train of thought, Stoutenburg continued more persuasively:
"I would I could carry her away myself and hold her--a beloved
prisoner--while others did my work for me. But that I cannot do: for
'twere playing the part of a coward and I have sworn before the altar of
God that I would kill the Stadtholder with mine own hand. Nor would I
have the courage so to offend her: for let me tell you this, Nicolaes,
that soaring even above my most ambitious dreams, is the hope that when
these have been realized, I may ask Gilda to share my triumph with me."
"Nor would I have the courage so to offend my sister ... my father,"
said Beresteyn. "You speak of carrying her off, and holding her a
prisoner for eight days perhaps, or even a fortnight. How can I, her own
brother, do that? 'Tis an outrage she would never forgive: my father
would curse me ... disinherit me ... turn me out of house and home...."
"And will he not curse you now, when he knows--when to-morrow mayhap,
Gilda will have told him that you, his son, have joined hands with the
Lord of Stoutenburg in a conspiracy to murder the Prince of Orange--will
he not disinherit you then? turn you out of house and home?"
"Hold on for mercy's sake," exclaimed Beresteyn, who bewildered by the
terrible alternative thus put ruthlessly before him, felt that he must
collect his thoughts, and must--for the moment at any rate--put away
from him the tempter who insinuated thoughts of cowardice into his
brain.
"I'll say no more, then," said Stoutenburg quietly, "think it all over,
Nicolaes. My life, your own, those of all our friends are entirely in
your hands: the welfare of the State, the triumph of our faith depend on
the means which you will devise for silencing Gilda for a few brief
days."
After which there was silence between the two men. Beresteyn walked more
rapidly along, his fur-lined cloak wrapped closely round him, his arms
folded tightly across his chest and his hands clenched underneath his
cloak. Stoutenburg on the other hand was also willing to let the matter
drop and to allow the subtle poison which he had instilled into his
friend's mind to ferment and bring forth such thoughts as would suit his
own plans.
He knew how to gauge exactly the somewhat vacillating character of
Nicolaes Beresteyn, and had carefully touched every string of that
highly nervous organization till he left it quivering with horror at the
present and deathly fear for the future.
Gilda was a terrible danger, of that there could be no doubt. Nicolaes
had realized this to the full: the instinct of self-preservation was
strong in him; he would think over Stoutenburg's bold suggestion and
would find a way how to act on it. And at the bottom of his tortuous
heart Stoutenburg already cherished the hope that this new complication
which had dragged Gilda into the net of his own intrigues would also
ultimately throw her--a willing victim--into his loving arms.