 Chapter 1 of The Cloister and the Hearth This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Tom Denham The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reid Chapter 1 Not a day passes over the earth, but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows. Of these obscure heroes, philosophers and martyrs, the greater part will never be known till that hour when many that are great shall be small, and the small great. But of others the world's knowledge may be said to sleep. Their lives and characters lie hidden from nations and the animals that record them. The general reader cannot feel them. They are represented so curtly and coldly. They are not like breathing stories appealing to his heart, but little historic hailstones striking him but to glance off his bosom. Nor can he understand them, for epitomies are not narratives. Skeletons are not human figures. Thus records of prime truths remain a dead letter to plain folk. The writers have left so much to the imagination, and imagination is so rare a gift. Here, then, the writer of fiction may be of use to the public as an interpreter. There is a musty chronicle written in intolerable Latin, and in it a chapter where every sentence holds a fact. Here is told with harsh brevity the strange history of a pair who lived untrumpeted and died unsung four hundred years ago, and lie now as unpitted in that stern page as fossils in a rock. Thus living or dead fate is still unjust to them. For if I can but show you what lies below that dry chronicle as words, me thinks you will correct the indifference of centuries and give those two sore-tried souls a place in your heart for a day. It was past the middle of the fifteenth century. Louis-Anne's was sovereign of France, Edward IV was wrongful king of England, and Philip the Good, having by force and cunning dispossessed his cousin Jacqueline and broken her heart, reigned undisturbed this many years in Holland where our tale begins. Elias and Catherine, his wife, lived in the little town of Tergou. He traded wholesale and retail in cloth, silk, brown Holland, and above all in curried leather, a material highly valued by the middling people because it would stand twenty years' wear and turn an ordinary knife, no small virtue in a jerkin of that century in which folk were so liberal of their steel. Even at dinner a man would leave his meter-wile and car-view his neighbour on a very moderate difference of opinion. The couple were well to do, and would have been free from all earthly care but for nine children. When these were coming into the world one per annum, each was hailed with rejoicings, and the saints were thanked, not expostulated with, and when parents and children were all young together the latter were looked upon as lovely little playthings invented by heaven and joy and evening solace of people in business. But as the olive branches shot up and the parents grew older and saw with their own eyes the fate of large families misgivings and care mingled with their love. They belonged to a singularly wise and provident people. In Holland reckless parents were as rare as disobedient children. So now when the huge loaf came in on a gigantic trencher looking like a fortress in its moat and the tour of the table once made seem to have melted away, Elias and Catherine would look at one another and say, Who is to find bread for them all when we are gone? At this observation the younger ones needed all their filial respect to keep their little Dutch countenances. For in their opinion dinner and supper came by nature like sunrise and sunset and so long as that luminary should travel round the earth, so long as the brown loaf go round their family circle and set in their stomachs only to rise again in the family oven. But the remark awakened the national thoughtfulness of the elder boys and being often repeated set several of the family thinking. Some of them good thoughts, some ill thoughts according to the nature of the thinkers. Kate the children grow so this table will soon be too small. We cannot afford it, Eli, replied Catherine, answering not his words but his thought after the manner of women. Their anxiety for the future took at times a less dismal but more mortifying turn. The free burgers had their pride as well as the nobles and these two could not bear that any of their blood should go down in the borough after their decease. So by prudence and self-denial they managed to clothe all the little bodies and feed all the great mouths and yet put by a small horde to meet the future. And as it grew and grew they felt a pleasure the miser hoarding for himself knows not. One day the eldest boy but one, aged nineteen, came to his mother and with that outward composure which has so misled some persons as to the real nature of this people begged her to intercede with his father to send him to Amsterdam and place him with a merchant. This is the way of life that likes me. Merchants are wealthy, I am good at numbers, pretty good mother take my part in this and I shall ever be as I am now your debtor. Catherine threw up her hands with dismay and incredulity. What, leave Turgu? What is one street to me more than another? If I can leave the folk of Turgu I can surely leave the stones. What, quit your poor father now he is no longer young? Mother, if I can leave you I can leave him. What, leave your poor brothers and sisters that love you so dear? There are enough in the house without me. What mean you, Richard? Who is more thought of than you? Stay, have I spoke sharp to you? Have I been unkind to you? Never that I know of and if you had you should never hear of it from me, mother," said Richard gravely, but the tear was in his eye. It all lies in a word and nothing can change my mind. There will be one less mouth for you to feed. There now, see what my tongue has done," said Catherine and the next moment she began to cry. For she saw her first young bird on the edge of the nest trying his wings to fly into the world. Richard had a calm, strong will and she knew he never wasted a word. It ended as nature has willed all such discourse shall end. Young Richard went to Amsterdam with a face so long and sad as it had never been seen before at a heart like granite. That afternoon at supper there was one mouth less. Catherine looked at Richard's chair and wept bitterly. On this, Elias shouted roughly and angrily to the children, Sit wider, can't you? Sit wider! and turned his head away over the back of his seat-of-wile and was silent. Richard was launched and never cost him another penny. But to fit him out and place him in the house of van der Stegen took all the little horde but one gold crown. They began again. Two years passed. Richard found a niche in commerce for his brother Jacob and Jacob left Tergo directly after dinner, which was at eleven in the forenoon. At supper that day Elias remembered what had happened the last time so it was in a low whisper he said, Sit wider, dears! Now, until that moment Catherine would not see the gap at table for her daughter Catherine had besought her not to grieve tonight and she had said, No, sweetheart, I promise I will not since it vexes my children. But when Elias whispered, Sit wider, says she, Aye, the table will soon be too big for the children and you thought it would be too small. And having delivered this with forced calmness she put up her apron the next moment and wept soar. It is the best that leave us, sobbed she, that is the cruel part. Nay, nay, said Elias, our children are good children and all are dear to us alike. Heed her not, what God takes from us still seems better than what he spares to us. That is to say, men are by nature unthankful and women silly. And I say Richard and Jacob were the flower of the flock, sobbed Catherine. The little coffer was empty again and to fill it they gathered like ants. In those days speculation was pretty much confined to the cart and dice business. Elias knew no way to wealth but the slow and sure one. A penny saved is a penny gained was his humble creed. All that was not required for the business and the necessaries of life went into the little coffer with steel bands and florid key. They denied themselves in turn the humblest luxuries and then catching one another's looks smiled, perhaps with a greater joy than self-indulgence has to bestow. And so in three years more they had gleaned enough to set up their fourth son as a master tailor and their eldest daughter as a robe maker, in Tegu. Here were two more provided for. Their own trade would enable them to throw work into the hands of this pair, the coffer was drained to the dregs and this time the shop too bled a little in goods if not in coin. Alas there remained on hand two that were unable to get their bread and two that were unwilling. The unable ones were one, giles, a dwarf of the wrong sort, half stupidity, half malice, all head and claws and voice, run from by dogs and unprejudiced females and sided with through thick and thin by his mother. Two little Catherine, a poor little girl that could only move on crutches. She lived in pain but smiled through it with her marble face and violet eyes and long silky lashes and fretful or repining word never came from her lips. The unwilling ones were Cybrant, the youngest and ne'er-do-well, too much in love with play to work and Cornelis, the eldest who had made calculations and stuck to the hearth waiting for dead men's shoes. Almost worn out by their repeated efforts and above all dispirited by the moral and physical infirmities of those that now remained on hand, the anxious couple would often say, What will become of all these when we shall be no longer here to take care of them? But when they had said this a good many times, suddenly the domestic horizon cleared and then they used still to say it because habit is a habit, but they uttered it half mechanically now and added brightly and cheerfully. Thanks to Saint Bavon and all the saints, there's Gerard. Young Gerard was for many years of his life a son apart and he was going into the church and the church could always maintain her children by hook or by crook in those days. No great hopes because his family had no interest with the great to get him a benefit and the young man's own habits were frivolous and indeed such as our cloth merchant would not have put up with in any one but a clerk that was to be. His trivialities were reading and penmanship and he was so wrapped up in them that often he could hardly be got away to his meals. The day was never long enough for him and he carried ever a tinder-box and brimstone matches and begged ends of candles of the neighbours, which he lighted at unreasonable hours' eye even at eight o'clock at night in winter when the very burgamaster was a bed. Endured at home, his practises were encouraged by the monks of a neighbouring convent. They had taught him penmanship and continued to teach him until one day they discovered in the middle of a lesson that he was teaching them. They pointed this out to him in a merry way. He hung his head and blushed. He had suspected as much himself, but mistrusted his judgment in so delicate a matter. But my son, said an elderly monk, how is it that you, to whom God has given an eye so true, a hand so subtle yet firm and a heart to love these beautiful crafts, how is it that you do not colour as well as write? A scroll looks but barren unless a border of fruit and leaves and rich arabesques surround the good words and charm the sense as those do the soul and understanding to say nothing of the pictures of holy men and women departed with which the several chapters should be adorned and not alone the eye soothed with the brave and the sweetly blended colours but the heart lifted by effigies of the saints in glory. Answer me, my son. At this Gerard was confused and muttered that he had made several trials at illuminating but had not succeeded well and thus the matter rested. Soon after this a fellow enthusiast came on the scene in the unwanted form of an old lady. Margaret, sister and survivor of the brothers Van Eyck, left Flanders and came to end her days in her native country. She bought a small house near Tegu. In course of time she heard of Gerard and saw some of his andiwork. It pleased her so well that she sent her female servant, Reichthainus, to ask him to come to her. This led to an acquaintance. It could hardly be otherwise for little Tegu had never held as many as two zealots of this sort before. Yet first the old lady damped Gerard's courage terribly. At each visit she fished out of holes and corners, drawings and paintings some of them by her own hand that seemed to him unapproachable. But if the artist overpowered him the woman kept his heart up. She and Reichth soon turned him inside out like a glove. Among other things they drew from him what the good monks had failed to hit upon, the reason why he did not illuminate, vis that he could not afford the gold, the blue and the red, but only the cheap earths, and that he was afraid to ask his mother to buy the choice colours and was sure he should ask her in vain. Then Margaret Van Eyck gave him a little brush, gold and some vermillion and ultramarine and a piece of good vellum to lay them on. He almost adored her. As he left the house Reichth ran after him with a candle and two quarters, he quite kissed her. But better even than the gold and lapis lazuli to that illuminator was the sympathy of the isolated enthusiast. That sympathy was always ready and as he returned it an affection sprung up between the old painter and the young calligrapher that was doubly characteristic of the time. For this was a century in which the fine arts and the higher mechanical arts were not separated by any distinct boundary nor were those who practised them and it was an age in which artists sought out and loved one another. Should this last statement stagger a painter or writer of our day let me remind him that even Christians loved one another at first starting backed by an acquaintance so venerable and strengthened by female sympathy Gerard advanced in learning and skill. His spirit too rose visibly. He still looked behind him when dragged to dinner in the middle of an initial G. But once seated showed great social qualities likewise a gay humour that had hitherto but peeped in him, shone out and often he set the table in a row and kept it there, sometimes with his own wit sometimes with jests which were glossy new to his family being drawn from antiquity. As a return for all he owed his friends the monks he made them exquisite copies from two of their choicest manuscripts vis the life of their founder and their comedies of terence the monastery finding the vellum the high and puissant prince Philip the Good Duke of Burgundy, Luxembourg and Brabant Earl of Holland and Zeeland Lord of Friesland, Count of Flanders Artois and Heno Lord of Salin and Macklin was versatile. He could fight as well as any king going and he could lie as well as any except the king of France he was a mighty hunter and could read and write his tastes were wide and ardent he loved jewels like a woman and gorgeous apparel he dearly loved maids of honour and indeed paintings generally in proof of which he ennobled Jan van Eyck he had also a rage for giants, dwarfs and turks these lasts stood ever planted about him turbaned and blazing with jewels his agents enveigled them from Istanbul with fair promises but the moment he had got them he baptised them by brute force in a large tub and this done let them squat with their faces towards Mecca and invoke Mahound as much as they pleased laughing in his sleeve at their simplicity in fancying they were still infidels he had lions in cages and fleet leopards trained by orientals to run down hairs and deer in short he relished all rarities except the humdrum virtues for anything singularly pretty or diabolically ugly this was your customer the best of him was he was open-handed to the poor and the next best was he fostered the arts in earnest whereof he now gave a signal proof he offered prizes for the best specimens of Orfevri in two kinds religious and secular item for the best paintings in white of egg, oils and tempera these to be on panel, silk or metal as the artist chose item for the best transparent painting on glass item for the best illuminating and border painting on vellum item for the fairest writing on vellum the burgamasters of several towns were commanded to aid all the poorer competitors by receiving their specimens and sending them with due care to Rotterdam at the expense of their several boroughs when this was cried by the bellman through the streets of Tergu a thousand mouths opened and one heart beat Gerard's he told his family timidly he should try for two of those prizes they stared in silence for their breath was gone at his audacity but one horrid laugh exploded on the floor like a petar Gerard looked down and there was the dwarf slit and fanged from ear to ear at his expense and laughing like a lion nature relenting at having made Giles so small had given him as a set off the biggest voice on record his very whisper was a bassoon he was like those stunted wide-mouthed pieces of ordinance we see on fortifications more like a flower pot than a cannon but odds timpana how they bellow Gerard turned red with anger the more so as the others began to titter white Catherine saw and a pink tinge came on her cheek she said softly why do you laugh is it because he is our brother you think he cannot be capable yes Gerard try with the rest many say you are skillful and mother and I will pray the virgin to guide your hand thank you little Kate you shall pray to our lady and our mother shall buy me vellum and the colours to illuminate with what will they cost my lad two gold crowns about three shillings and fourpons English money what screamed the housewife when the bushel of rye cost but a groat what me spend a month meal and meat and fire on such vanity as that the lightning from heaven would fall on me and my children would all be beggars mother sighed little Catherine imploringly oh it is in vain Kate said Gerard with a sigh I shall have to give it up like she would give it me but I think shame to be forever taking from her it is not her affair said Catherine very sharply what has she to do coming between me and my son and she left the room with a red face little Catherine smiled presently the housewife returned with a gracious affectionate air and two little gold pieces of land there sweet art said she you won't have to trouble Dame or Demoiselle for two poultry crowns but on this Gerard fell her thinking how he could spare her purse one will do mother I will ask the good monks to let me send my copy of their Terence it is on snowy vellum and I can write no better six sheets of vellum for my borders and miniatures and gold for my ground and prime colours one crown will do never time the ship for want of a bit of tar Gerard said his changeable mother but she added well there I will put the crown in my pocket that won't be like putting it back in the box going to the box to take out instead of putting it in it's like going to my heart with a knife for so many drops of blood you will be sure to want it Gerard the house is never built for less than the builder counted on sure enough when the time came Gerard longed to go to Rotterdam and see the Duke and above all to see the work of his competitors and so get a lesson from defeat and the crown came out of the housewife's pocket with a very good grace Gerard would soon be a priest it seemed hard to enjoy the world a little before separating himself from it for life the night before he went Margaret Van Eyck asked him to take a letter for her and when he came to look at it to his surprise he found it was addressed to the Princess Marie at the Stathaus in Rotterdam the day before the prizes were to be distributed Gerard started for Rotterdam in his holiday suit to wit a doublet of silver-gray cloth with sleeves and a jerkin of the same over it but without sleeves from his waist to his heels he was clad in a pair of tight-fitting buckskin hose fastened by laces called points to his doublet his shoes were pointed in moderation and secured by a strap that passed under the hollow of the foot on his head long hair and pinned to his back between his shoulders was his hat it was further secured by a purple silk ribbon little Kate had passed round him from the sides of the hat and knotted neatly on his breast below his hat attached to the upper rim of his broad waist-belt was his leaven wallet when he got within a league of Rotterdam he was pretty tired but he soon fell in with a pair that were more so he found an old man sitting by the roadside quite worn out and a comely young woman holding his hand with a face brimful of concern the country people trudged by and noticed nothing amiss but Gerard as he passed drew conclusions even Dress tells a tale to those who study it so closely as he did being an illuminator the old man wore a gown and a fur tippet and a velvet cap sure signs of dignity but the triangular purse at his girdle was lean, the gown rusty the fur worn sure signs of poverty the young woman was dressed in plain russet cloth yet snow-white lawn covered that part of her neck the gown left visible and ended halfway up her white throat in a little band of gold embroidery and her headdress was new to Gerard instead of hiding her hair in a pile of linen or lawn she wore an open network of silver cord with silver spangles at the interstices in this her glossy, urban hair was rolled in front into two solid waves and supported behind in a luxurious and shapely mass his quick eye took in all this and the old man's pallor in the young woman's eyes so when he had passed them a few yards he reflected and turned back and came towards them bashfully father I fear you are tired indeed my son I am replied the old man and faint for lack of food Gerard's address did not appear so agreeable to the girl as to the old man she seemed ashamed and with much reserve in her manner said that it was her fault she had underrated the distance and imprudently allowed her father to start too late in the day no no said the old man it is not the distance it is the want of nourishment the girl put her arms round his neck with tender concern but took that opportunity of whispering father a stranger a young man but it was too late Gerard with simplicity and quite as a matter of course fell to gathering sticks with great expedition this done he took down his wallet out with the man-shirt of bread and the iron flask his careful mother had put up and his everlasting tinder-box lighted a match then a candle-end then the sticks iron flask on it then down he went on his stomach and took a good blow then looking up he saw the girl's face at thord and she was looking down at him and his energy with a demure smile he laughed back to her mind the pot, said he and don't let it spill for heaven's sake there's a cleft stick to hold it safe with and with this he set off running towards the cornfield at some distance whilst he was gone there came by on a mule with rich purple housings an old man redolent of wealth the purse at his girdle was plethoric the fur on his tippet was ermine broad and new it was Gisbrecht van Svitten the burger-meister of Thurgud he was old and his face furrowed he was a notorious miser and looked one generally but the idea of sopping with the duke raised him just now into manifest complacency yet at the sight of the faded old man and his bright daughter sitting by a fire of sticks the smile died out of his face and he wore a strange look of pain and uneasiness he reigned in his mule why Peter Margaret said he almost fiercely what mummary is this Peter was going to answer but Margaret interposed hastily and said my father was exhausted so I am warming something to give him strength before we go on what reduced to feed by the roadside like the Bohemians said Gisbrecht and his hand went into his purse it did not seem at home there it fumbled uncertainly afraid too large a coin might stick to a finger and come out at this moment who should come bounding up but Gerard he had two straws in his hand and he threw himself down by the fire and relieved Margaret of the cooking part then suddenly recognising the burger-master he coloured all over Gisbrecht fan-sweeten started and glared at him and took his hand out of his purse oh he said bitterly I am not wanted and went slowly on casting a long look of suspicion on Margaret and hostility on Gerard that was not very intelligible however there was something about it that Margaret could read enough to blush at and almost toss her head Gerard only stared with surprise by Sint Bavon I think the old miser grudges us three our quart of soup said he when the young man put that interpretation on Gisbrecht's strange and meaning look Margaret was greatly relieved and smiled gaily on the speaker meanwhile Gisbrecht plodded on more wretched in his wealth than these in their poverty and the curious thing is that the mule, the purple housings and one half the coin in that plethoric purse belonged not to Gisbrecht fan-sweeten but to that faded old man and that comely girl who sat by a roadside fire to be fed by a stranger they did not know this but Gisbrecht knew it and carried in his heart a scorpion of his own begetting that scorpion is remorse the remorse that not being penitence is incurable and ready for fresh misdeeds upon a fresh temptation twenty years ago when Gisbrecht fan-sweeten was a hard and honest man the touchstone opportunity came to him and he did an act of heartless roguery it seemed a safe one it had hitherto proved a safe one though he had never felt safe today he had seen youth enterprise and above all knowledge seated by Fair Margaret and her father on terms that look familiar and loving and the fiends are at his ear again End of Chapter 1 Recording by Tom Denham Chapter 2 of The Cloister and the Hearth This Librivox Recording is in the public domain Recording by Tom Denham The soup is hot said Gerard But how were we to get it to our mouths inquired the senior despondently Father the young man has brought her straws and Margaret smiled slyly Aye aye said the old man but my poor bones are stiff and indeed the fire is too hot for a body to kneel over with these short straws said John the Baptist but the young man is a droid for while he stated his difficulty Gerard removed it he untied in a moment the knot on his breast took his hat off put a stone into each corner of it then wrapping his hand in the tail of his jerkin whipped the flask off the fire wedged it between the stones and put the hat under the old man's nose with a merry smile the other tremulously inserted the pipe of rice straw and sucked lo and behold his one drawn face was seen to light up more and more till it quite glowed and as soon as he had drawn a long breath Hippocrates and Galen he cried Tis a soup over the restorative of restoratives blessed be the nation that invented it and the woman that made it and the young man who brings it to fainting folk have a suck my girl while I relate to our young host the history and virtues of this his sovereign compound this corroborative young sir was unknown to the ancients we find it neither in their treatises of medicine nor in those popular narratives which reveal many of their remedies both in churuchery and medicine proper Hector in the Ilias if my memory does not play me false Margaret alas he's off was invited by one of the ladies of the poem to drink a draft of wine but he declined on the plea that he was just going into battle and must not take ought to weaken his powers now if the soup over had been known in Troy clear that in declining venum merum upon that score he would have added in the hexameter but a super well madam I will degust and gratefully not only would this have been but common civility I've heard you know perfect commander is wanting in but not to have done it would have proved him a shallow and improvident person unfit to be trusted with the conduct of a war for men going into a battle need sustenance and all possible support as is proved by this that foolish generals bringing hungry soldiers to blows with full ones have been defeated in all ages by inferior numbers the Romans lost a great battle in the north of Italy to Hannibal the Carthaginian by this neglect alone now this divine Alexia gives in one moment forced to the limbs and ardour to the spirits and taken into Hector's body at the nick of time would by the aid of Phibos, Venus and the Blessed Saints have most likely procured that Greeks a defeat for note how faint and weary and heart sick I was a minute ago well I suck this celestial cordial and now behold me as brave as Achilles and strong as an eagle oh father now an eagle a lack girl I defy thee and all the world ready I say like a foaming charger to devour the space between this and Rotterdam and strong to combat the ills of life even poverty and old age which last philosophers have called the sumum malum negatur unless the man's life has been ill spent which by the by it generally has now for the moderns father dear father fear me not girl I will be brief unreasonably and unseasonably brief the superval occurs not in modern science but this is only one proof more if proof were needed that for the last few hundred years physicians have been idiots with their chicken broth and their decoction of gold where by they attribute the highest quality so that meat which has the least juice of any meat and to that metal which has less chemical qualities than all the metals mountain banks dances homicides since then from these no light is to be gathered go we to the chroniclers and and first we find that it do get clear French night being about to join battle with the English masters at that time of our France and sturdy strikers by sea and land drunk not one but three soups over in honor of the blessed Trinity this done he charged the islanders and as might have been foretold killed a multitude and drove the rest into the sea but he was only the first of a long list of holy and hard hitting ones who have by this divine restorative being sustentated fortified corroborated and consoled dear father privy add thyself to that venerable company ever soup cools and Margaret held the heart imploringly in both hands till he inserted the straw once more this spared them the modern instances and gave Gerard an opportunity of telling Margaret how proud his mother would be her soup had profited a man of learning I but said Margaret it would like her ill to see her son give all and take none for himself why brought you but two straws fair mistress I hoped you would let me put my lips to your straw there being but two Margaret smiled and blushed never beg that you may command said she the straw is not mine it is yours you cut it in yonder field I cut it and that made it mine but after that your lip touched it and that made it yours did it then I will lend it to you there now it is yours again your lip has touched it no it belongs to us both now let us divide it by all means do you have a knife no I will not cut it that would be unlucky I'll bite it there I shall keep my half you will burn yours once you get home no doubt you know me not I waste nothing it is odds but I make a hairpin of it or something this answer dashed the novice Gerard instead of provoking him to fresh efforts and he was silent and now the bread and soup being disposed of the old scholar prepared to continue his journey then came a little difficulty Gerard the adroit could not tie his ribbon again as Catherine had tied it Margaret after slyly eyeing his efforts for some time offered to help him for at her age girls tend to be coy and tender saucy and gentle by turns and she saw she had put him out of countenance but now then a fair head with its stately crown of urban hair glossy and glowing through silver put sweetly towards him and while it ravished his eye two white supple hands played gently upon the stubborn ribbon and moulded it with soft and airy touches then a heavenly thrill ran through the innocent young man and vague glimpses of a new world of feeling and sentiment opened on him and these new and exquisite sensations Margaret unwittingly prolonged it is not natural to her sex to hurry ought that pertains to the sacred toilet nay when the taper fingers had at last subjugated the ends of the knot her mind was not quite easy till by a maneuver peculiar to the female hand she had made her palm convex and so applied it with a gentle pressure centre of the knot a sweet little coaxing hand kiss as much as to say now be a good knot and stay so the palm kiss was bestowed on the ribbon but the wearer's heart leapt to meet it there, that is how it was said Margaret and drew back to take one last keen survey of her work then looking up for simple approval Margaret's skill received full in her eyes a longing gaze of such ardent adoration as made her lower them quickly and colour all over an indescribable tremor seized her and she retreated with downcast lashes and tell-tale cheeks and took her father's arm on the opposite side Gerard blushing at having scared her away with his eyes on the other arm and so the two young things went downcast and conscious and propped the eagle along in silence they entered Rotterdam by the she-dom's apport and as Gerard was unacquainted with the town Peter directed him the way to the Hochstrett in which the Stathaus was he himself was going with Margaret to his cousin in the Usterwagenstreet so almost on entering the gate their roads lay apart they bought each other a friendly adieu and Gerard dived into the great town a profound sense of solitude fell upon him yet the streets were crowded then he lamented too late that out of delicacy he had not asked his late companions who they were and they lived be shrew my shame facetness said he but their words and their breathing were above their means and something did whisper me they would not be known I shall never see her more o weary world I hate you and your ways to think I must meet beauty and goodness and learning three pearls of price and never see them more to this sad reverie and letting his body go where it would he lost his way but presently meeting a crowd of persons all moving in one direction he mingled with them for he argued they must be making for the Stathaus soon the noisy troop that contained the moody Gerard emerged not upon the Stathaus but upon a large meadow by the side of the mass and then the attraction was revealed games of all sorts were going on wrestling the game of palm the quintane leisure domain, archery, tumbling in which art I blushed to say women as well as men performed to the great delectation of the company there was also a trained bear who stood on his head and marched upright and bowed with prodigious gravity to his master beat a drum and a cock that strutted on little stilts disdainfully these things made Gerard laugh now and then but the gay scene could not really enliven it for his heart was not in tune with it so hearing a young man say to his fellow that the duke had been in the meadow but was gone to the Stathaus to entertain the burger masters and alderman and the competitors friends he suddenly remembered he was hungry and should like to sup with a prince he left the riverside and this time he found the Huchstreet and it speedily led him to the Stathaus but when he got there he was refused first at one door then at another till he came to the great gate of the courtyard it was kept by soldiers and super intended by a pompous major domo glittering in an embroidered collar and a gold chain of office and holding a white staff with a gold knob there was a crowd of persons at the gate endeavouring to soften this official rock they came up in turn like ripples and retired as such in turn it cost Gerard a struggle to get near him and when he was within four heads of the gate he saw something he did his heart beat there was Peter with Margaret on his arm soliciting humbly for entrance my cousin the alderman is not at home they say he is here what is that to me old man if you will not let us pass into him at least take this leaf from my tablet to my cousin see I have written his name he will come out to us for what do you take me I carry no messages I keep the gate then he bawled in a stentorian voice inexorably no strangers enter here but the competitors and their companies come old man cried a voice in the crowd you have gotten your answer make way Margaret turned round half imploringly good people we all come from far and my father is old a servant that knows us not and would not let us sit in our cousin's house at this the crowd laughed hoarsely Margaret shrank as if they had struck her and at that moment a hand grasped hers a magic grasp it felt like heart meeting heart or magnet steel she turned quickly round at it and it was Gerard such a little cry of joy and appeal came from her bosom and she began to whimper prettily they had hustled her and frightened her for one thing and her cousin thoughtlessness in not even telling his servant they were coming was cruel and the servant's caution however wise and faithful to her master was bitterly mortifying to her father and her and to her so mortified and anxious and jostled came suddenly this kind hand and face all is well now remarked a coarse humorist she had gotten her sweet heart ho ho ho went the crowd she dropped Gerard's hand directly and turned round with eyes flashing through her tears I have no sweet heart you rude men but I am friendless in your boorish town and this is a friend and one who knows what you know not how to treat the aged and the weak the crowd was dead silent they had only been thoughtless and now felt the rebuke though severe was just the silence enabled Gerard to treat with the porter I am a competitor sir what is your name and the man eyed him suspiciously Gerard the son of Elias the janitor inspected a slip of parchment he held in his hand Gerard Eliason can enter with my company these two nay those are not your company they came before you what matter they are my friends and without them I go not in stay without them that I will not that we shall see we will and speedily and with this Gerard raised a voice of astounding volume and power and shouted so that the whole street rang ho Philip Earl of Holland are you mad cried the porter here is one of your violets defies you hush hush and will not let your guests pass in hush murder the dukes there I'm dead cried the janitor quaking then suddenly trying to overpower Gerard's thunder he shouted with all his lungs open the gate ye naves way there for Gerard Eliason and his company the fiends go with him the gate swung open as if by magic eight soldiers lowered their pikes halfway and made an arch under which the victorious three marched in triumphant the moment they had passed the pikes clashed together horizontally to bar the gateway and all but pinned an abdominal citizen that sought to wedge in along with them once passed the guarded portal a few steps brought the trio upon a scene of oriental luxury the courtyard was laid out in tables loaded with rich meats and piled with gorgeous plate guests in rich and various costumes sat beneath a leafy canopy of fresh cut branches fastened tastefully to gold silver and blue silken cords that traversed the area and fruits of many hues including some artificial ones of gold silver and wax home pendant or peeped like fair eyes among the green leaves of plain trees and lime trees the duke's minstrels swept their lutes at intervals and a fountain played red burgundy in six jets that met and battled in the air the evening sun darted its fires through those bright and purple wine spouts making them jets and cascades of molten rubies then passing on tinged with the blood of the grape shed crimson glories here and there on fairfaces snowy beards velvet satin jeweled hilts glowing gold gleaming silver and sparkling glass Gerard and his friend stood dazzled spellbound presently a whisper buzzed round them salute the duke salute the duke they looked up and there on high under the dais was their sovereign bidding them welcome with a kindly wave of the hand the men bowed low and Margaret curtsied with a deep and graceful obeisance the duke's hand being up he gave it another turn and pointed the newcomers out to a knot of valets instantly seven of his people with an obedient start went headlong at our friends seated them at a table and put fifteen many coloured soups before them in little silver bowls and as many wines in crystal vases nay father let us not eat until we have thanked our good friend said Margaret now first recovering from all this bustle girl, he is our guardian angel Gerard put his face into his hands tell me when you have done said he and I will reappear and have my supper for I am hungry I know which of us three is the happiest at meeting again me inquired Margaret no guess again no then I have no guess which it can be and she gave a little crow of happiness and gaiety the soup was tasted and vanished in a twirl of fourteen hands and fish came on the table in a dozen forms with patties of lobster and almonds mixed and of almonds and cream and an immense variety of bleuets known to us the next trifle was a wild boar which smelt divine why then did Margaret start away from it with two shrieks of dismay and pinched so good a friend as Gerard because the Duke's cuisinier had been too clever had made this excellent dish too captivating to the sight as well as taste he had restored to the animal Margaret mimicry with burnt sugar and other edible colours the hair and bristles he had robbed him of by fire and water to make him still more enticing the huge tusks were carefully preserved in the brute's jaw and gave his mouth the winning smile that comes of tusk in Manor Beast and two eyes of coloured sugar glowed in his head Saint Argus eyes so bright so bloodshot so threatening they followed a man and every movement of his knife and spoon but indeed I need the pencil of Granville or Tennille to make you see the two gilt valets on the opposite side of the table putting the monster down before our friends with a smiling self-satisfied benevolent obsequiousness for this gustly monster was the flower of all masterbles old Peter clasping both hands in pious admiration of it Margaret wheeling round with horrors stricken eyes and her hand on Gerard's shoulder squeaking and pinching his face of unwise delight at being pinched the grisly brute glaring sulkily on all and the guests grinning from ear to ear what's to do shouted the duke hearing the signals of female distress seven of his people with a zealous start went headlong and told him he laughed and said give her of the beef stuffing then and bring me some more benevolent monarch the beef stuffing was his own private dish on these grand occasions an ox was roasted whole and reserved for the poor but this wise as well as charitable prince had discovered that whatever venison hares, lamb, poultry, etc. you skewered into that beef cavern got cooked to perfection retaining their own juices and receiving those of the reeking ox these he called his beef stuffing and took delight therein as did now our trio for at his word one of his people went headlong and drove silver tridents into the steaming cave at random and speared a kid a signet and a flock of wildfowl these presently smoked before Gerard and company and Peter's face sad and slightly morose at the loss of the savage hog expanded and shorn after this twenty different tarts of fruits and herbs and last of all confectionery on a titanic scale cathedrals of sugar all guilt painted in the interstices of the bass reliefs castles with motes and ditches imitated to the life elephants, camels toads, knights on horseback jousting kings and princesses looking on trumpeters blowing all these personages eating and their veins filled with sweet-centered juices works of art made to be destroyed the guests breached a bastion crunched a crusader and his horse and lance or cracked a bishop cope, chasuble crozier and all as remorselessly as we do a caraway comfort sipping meanwhile hippocrats and other spiced drinks and Greek and Corsican wines while every now and then little Turkish boys, turban spangled, jeweled and guilt came offering on bended knee golden troughs of rose water and orange water to keep the guests hands cool and perfumed but long before our party arrived at this final stage appetite had succumbed and Gerard had suddenly remembered he was the bearer of a letter to the princess Marie and in an undertone had asked one of the servants if he would undertake to deliver it the man took it with a deep obeisance he could not deliver it himself but would instantly give it one of the princesses sweet several of whom were about it may be remembered that Peter and Margaret came here not to dine but to find their cousin well the old gentleman ate heartily and being much fatigued dropped asleep and forgot all about his cousin Margaret did not remind him we shall hear why meanwhile that cousin was seated within a few feet of them at their backs and discovered them when Margaret turned round and screamed at the boar but he forbore to speak to them for municipal reasons Margaret was very plainly dressed and Peter inclined to thread bear so the old man said to himself it will be time to make up to them when the sun sets and the company disperses then I will take my poor relations to my house the none will be the wiser half the courses were lost on Gerard and Margaret there were no great eaters and just now were feeding on sweet thoughts that have ever been unfavourable to appetite but there is a delicate kind of sensuality to whose influence these two were perhaps more sensitive than any other pair in that assembly the delights of colour music and perfume all of which blended so fascinatingly here Margaret leaned back and half closed her eyes and murmured to Gerard what a lovely scene the warm sun the green shade the rich dresses the bright music of the loots and the cool music of the fountain and all faces so happy and gay and then it is to you we owe it Gerard was silent all but his eyes observing which now speak not to me said Margaret languidly let me listen to the fountain what are you a competitor for he told her very well you will gain one prize at least which which have you seen any of my work I know but you will gain a prize I hope so but what makes you think so because you were so good to my father Gerard smiled at the feminine logic and hung his head at the sweet praise and was silent speak not murmured Margaret they say this is a world of sin and misery can that be what is your opinion no that is all a silly old song explained Gerard elders keep repeating out of custom it is not true how can you know you are but a child said Margaret with pensive dignity why only look around and then I thought I had lost you forever and you are by my side and now the minstrels are going to play again sin and misery stuff and nonsense the loots burst out the courtyard rang again with their delicate harmony what do you admire most of all these beautiful things Gerard you know my name how is that white magic I am a witch angels are never witches but I can't think how you foolish boy was it not cried at the gate loud enough to deave one so it was where is my head what do I admire most if you will sit a little more that way I'll tell you this way yes so that the light may fall on you there I see many fair things here fairer than I could have conceived but the fairest of all to my eye is your lovely hair in its silver frame and the setting sun kissing it it reminds me of what the vulgate praises for beauty an apple of gold in a network of silver and oh what a pity I did not know you before I sent in my poor endeavours at illuminating I could illuminate so much better now I could do everything better there now the sun is full on it it is like an oriole so our lady looked and heard till today oh fire it is wicked to talk so compare a poor coarse favoured girl like me with the queen of heaven oh Gerard I thought you were a good young man and Margaret was shocked apparently Gerard tried to explain I am no worse than the rest but how can I help having eyes and a heart Margaret Gerard be not angry now now is it likely I love you oh for shame you must not say that to me and Margaret coloured furiously at this sudden assault I can't help it I love you I love you hush hush for pity's sake I must not listen to such words from a stranger I am ungrateful to call you a stranger oh how one may be mistaken if I had known you were so bold and Margaret's bosom began to heave and her cheeks were covered with blushes and she looked towards her sleeping father very much like a timid thing that meditates actual flight then Gerard was frightened at the alarm he caused give me he said imploringly how could anyone help loving you well sir I will try and forgive you you are so good in other respects but then you must promise me never to say you to say that again give me your hand then or you don't forgive me she hesitated but eventually put out her hand in a little way very slowly and with seeming reluctance he took it and held it prisoner when she thought it had been there long enough she tried gently to draw it away he held it tight it submitted quite patiently to force what is the use resisting force she turned her head away and her long eyelashes drooped sweetly Gerard lost nothing by his promise words were not needed here and silence was more eloquent nature was in that day what she is in ours but manners were somewhat freer then as now virgins drew back alarm at the first words of love but of prudery and artificial cockatry there was little and the young soon read one another's hearts everything was on Gerard's side his good looks her belief in his goodness her gratitude and opportunity for at the Duke's banquet this mellow summer eve all things disposed the female nature to tenderness the avenues to the heart lay open the senses were so soothed and subdued with lovely colours and subtle sounds and delicate odours the sun sinking gently the warm air the green canopy the cool music of the now violet fountain Gerard and Margaret sat hand in hand in silence and Gerard's eyes sought hers lovingly hers now and then turned on him timidly and imploringly the presently two sweet unreasonable tears rolled down her cheeks and she smiled deliciously while they were drying yet they did not take long and the sun declined and the air cooled and the fountain plashed more gently and the pair throbbed in unison and silence and this weary world looked heaven to them O the merry days the merry days when we were young O the merry days the merry days when we were young A grave white-haired Seneschal came to their table and inquired courteously whether Gerard Eliason was of their company Upon Gerard's answer he said the Princess Marie would confer with you young sir I am to conduct you to her presence Instantly all faces within hearing turned sharp round and were bent with curiosity and envy on the man that was to go to a Princess Gerard rose to obey I wager we shall not see you again said Margaret calmly but colouring a little That you will was the reply then he whispered in her ear this is my good Princess but you are my Queen he added aloud wait for me I pray you I will presently return Aye aye said Peter Awaking and speaking at one and the same moment Gerard gone the pair whose dress was so homely yet they were with the man whom the Princess sent for became the signusor of neighbouring eyes observing which William Johnson came forward acted surprise and claimed his relations and to think that there was I at your backs and you saw me not Nay Cousin Johnson I saw you long sign said Margaret coldly you saw me and spoke not to me Cousin it was for you to welcome us to Rotterdam as it is for us to welcome you at Sevenburgan your servant denied us a seat in your house they idiot and I had a mind to see whether it was like maid like master for there is Cousin by words William Johnson blushed purple he saw Margaret was keen and suspected him he did the wisest thing under the circumstances trusted to deeds not words he insisted on their coming home with him at once and he would show them whether they were welcome to Rotterdam or not who doubts it Cousin who doubts it said the scholar Margaret thanked him graciously but demurred to go just now said she wanted to hear the minstrels again in about a quarter of an hour Johnson renewed his proposal and about her observe that many of the guests had left then her real reason came out it were ill manners to our friend and he will lose us he knows not where we lodge in Rotterdam and the city is large and we have parted company once already oh said Johnson we will provide for that my young man I mean my secretary shall sit here and wait and bring him on to my house he shall lodge with me and with no other Cousin we shall be too burdensome nay nay you shall see whether you're welcome or not you and your friends and your friends friends if need be I shall hear what the princess would with him Margaret felt a thrill of joy that Gerard should be lodged under the same roof with her then she had a slight misgiving but if your young man should be thoughtless and go play and Gerard miss him he go play he leave that spot where I put him and bid him stay oh stand forth Hans Klotterman a figure clad in black surge and dark violet hose arose and took two steps and stood before them without moving a muscle a solemn precise young man the very statue of gravity and starched propriety at his aspect Margaret being very happy could hardly keep her countenance but she whispered Johnson I would put my hand in the fire for him we are at your command Cousin as soon as you have given him his orders Hans was then instructed to sit at the table and wait for Gerard and conduct him to Ustavagan Strait he replied not in words but by calmly taking the seat indicated and Margaret Peter and William Johnson went away together and indeed it is time you were a bedfather after all your travel said Margaret this had been in her mind all along Hans Klotterman sat waiting for Gerard solemn and businesslike the minutes flew by but excited no impatience in that perfect young man Johnson did him more than justice when he laughed to scorn the idea of his secretary leaving his post or neglecting his duty in pursuit of sport or out of youthful hilarity and frivolity as Gerard was long in coming the patient Hans his employer's eye being no longer on him improved the time by quaffing solemnly silently and at short but accurately measured intervals goblets of Corsican wine the wine was strong and so was Klotterman's head and Gerard had been gone a good hour ere the model secretary imbibed the notion that creation expected Klotterman to drink the health of all good fellows and no more of the Duke of Burgundy there present with this view he filled Bumper Nine and rose gingerly but solemnly and slowly having reached his full height he instantly rolled upon the grass goblet in hand spilling the cold liquor on more than one ankle whose owners frisked and not disturbing a muscle in his own long face which in the total eclipse of reason retained its gravity, primness and infallibility the seneschal led Gerard through several passages to the door of the pavilion where some young noblemen embroidered and feathered sat sentinel guarding the air apparent and playing cards by the red light of torches their servants held a whisper from the seneschal and one of them rose reluctantly stared at Gerard with haughty surprise and entered the pavilion he presently returned and beckoning the pair led them through a passage or two and landed them in an antechamber where sat three more young gentlemen feathered, furred and embroidered like pieces of fancy work and deep in that instructive and edifying branch of learning dice you can't see the princess it is too late said one another followed suit she passed this way but now with a nurse she's gone to bed doll and all juice ace again Gerard prepared to retire the seneschal with an incredulous smile replied the young man is here by the Countess's orders be so good as to conduct him to her ladies on this a superb adonis rose with an injured look and led Gerard into a room where sat or lolliped eleven ladies chattering like magpies two more industrious than the rest were playing cat's cradle with fingers as nimble as their tongues at the sight of a stranger all the tongue stopped like one piece of complicated machinery and all the eyes turned on Gerard as if the same string that checked the tongues had turned the eyes on Gerard was ill at ease before but this battery of eyes discounted and stim and down went his eyes on the ground then the cowards finding like the hair who ran by the pond and the frogs scuttled into water that there was a creature they could frighten giggled and enjoyed their prowess then a duena said severely madam! and they were all abashed at once as though a modesty string had been pulled this same duena took Gerard and marched before him in solemn silence the young man's heart sank and he had half a mind to turn and run out of the place what must princes be, he thought when their courtiers are so freezing doubtless they take their breeding from him they serve these reflections were interrupted by the duena suddenly introducing him into a room where three ladies start working and a pretty little girl tuning a lute the ladies were richly but not showily dressed and the duena went up to the one who was hemming a kerchief and said a few words in a low tone this lady then turned towards Gerard with a smile and beckoned him to come near her she did not rise but she laid aside her work and her manner of turning towards him slight as the movement was was full of grace and ease and courtesy she began a conversation at once Margaret Van Eyck is an old friend of mine sir and I am right glad to have a letter from her hand and thankful to you sir for bringing it to me safely Marie my love this is the young gentleman who brought you that pretty miniature sir I thank you a thousand times said the young lady I'm glad you feel her debtor sweetheart for our friend would have us to do him a little service in return I will do anything on earth for him replied the young lady with ardour anything on earth is nothing in the world said the countess of Charolais quietly well then I will what would you have me do sir Gerard had just found out what high society he was in my sovereign De Moisel said he gently and a little tremulously where there have been no pains there needs no reward but we must obey mama all the world must obey mama that is true then our De Moisel reward me if you will by letting me hear the stave you were going to sing and I did interrupt it what you love music sir I adore it the little princess looked inquiringly at her mother and received a smile of ascent then she took her loot and sang a romant of the day although but twelve years old she was a well-taught and painstaking musician her little claw swept the chords with courage and precision and struck out the notes of the arpeggio clear and distinct and bright like twinkling stars but the main charm was her voice it was not mighty but it was round, clear, full and ringing like a bell she sang with a certain modest eloquence though she knew none of the tricks of feeling she was too young to be theatrical or even sentimental so nothing was forced all gushed her little mouth seemed the mouth of nature the ditty too was pure as its utterance as there were none of those false divisions those whining slurs which are now sold so dear by Italian songsters though every jackal in India delivers them gratis to his customers all night and sometimes gets shot for them and always deserves it so there were no cadences and fiorituri the trite, turgid and feeble expletives of song skim milk with which mindless musicians and mindless writers quench fire wash out colour and drown melody and meaning dead while the pure and tender strain was flowing from the pure young throat Geron's eyes filled the countess watched him with interest for it was usual to applaud the princess loudly but not with cheek and eye so when the voice ceased and the glasses left off ringing she asked demurely was he content? Gerard gave a little start the spoken voice broke at charm and brought him back to earth oh madam, he cried surely it is thus that cherubs and serifs sing and charm the saints in heaven I am somewhat of your opinion my young friend said the countess with emotion and she bent a look of love and gentle pride upon her girl a heavenly look such as they say is given to the eye of the short lived resting on the short lived the countess resumed my old friend requests me to be serviceable to you it is the first favour she has done is the honour of asking us and the request is sacred you are in holy order sir Gerard bowed I fear you are not a priest you look too young oh no madam I am not even a subdeacon I am only a lector but next month I shall be an exorcist and befall long an acolyth well, Monsieur Gerard with your accomplishments you can soon pass through the inferior orders and let me beg for you to do so for the day after you have said your first mass I shall have the pleasure of appointing you to a benefice oh madam and Marie remember I make this promise in your name as well as my own fear not mamar I will not forget but if he will take my advice what he will be is bishop of Liege the bishop of Liege is a beautiful bishop what do you not remember him mamar that day we were at Liege he was braver than Granpabar himself he had on a crown a high one and it was cut in the middle and it was full of oh such beautiful jewels and his gown stiff with gold and his mantle too and it had a broad border all pictures but above all his gloves you have no such gloves mamar they were embroidered and covered with jewels and scented with such lovely scent I smelt them all the time he was giving me his blessing on my head with them dear old man I dare say he will die soon most old people do and then sir you can be bishop you know and where gently Marie gently bishop ricks a four old gentleman and this is a young gentleman mamar he is not so very young not compared with you Marie eh he is a good big dear mamar and I am sure he is good enough for a bishop alas mamazelle you are mistaken I know not that Monsieur Girard but I'm a little puzzled to know on what grounds marmoiselle there pronounces your character so boldly alas mamar said the princess have you not looked at his face then and she raised her eyebrows at her mother's simplicity I beg your pardon said the Countess I have well sir if I cannot go quite so fast as my daughter attributed to my age not to a want of interest in your welfare a benefit will do to begin your career with and I must take care it is not too far from what do you call the place tergo madame a priest gives up much continued the Countess often I fear he learns too late how much and her woman's eye rested a moment on Girard with mild pity and half surprise that is resigning her sex and all the heaven they can bestow and the great parental joys at least you shall be near your friends have you a mother yes madam thanks me to God good you shall have a church near tergo she will thank me and now sir we must not detain you too long from those who have a better claim on your society than we have Duchess oblige me by bidding one of the pages conduct him to the Hall of Banquet the way is hard to find Girard bowed low to the Countess and the Princess and backed towards the door I hope it will be a nice benefit said the Princess to him with a pretty smile as he was going out then shaking her head with an air of solemn misgiving but you had better have been Bishop of Liege Girard followed his new conductor his heart warm with gratitude but ere he reached the banquet hall a chill came over him the mind of one who has led a quiet uneventful life is not apt to take in contradictory feelings at the same moment and balance them would rather be overpowered by each in turn while Girard was with the Countess the excitement of so newer situation the unlooked for promise the joy and pride it would cause at home possessed him wholly but now it was passion's turn to be heard again what give-up Margaret whose soft hand he still felt in his and her deep eyes in his heart designed her and all the world of love and joy she had opened on him today the revulsion when it came was so strong that he hastily resolved to say nothing at home about the offered benefits the Countess is so good, thought he she has a hundred ways of aiding a young man's fortune she will not compel me to be a priest when she shall learn I love one of her sex one would almost think she does know it for she cast a strange look on me and said a priest gives up much too much I dare say she will give me a place about the palace and with this hopeful reflection his mind was eased and being now at the entrance of the banqueting hall he thanked his conductor and ran hastily with joyful eyes to Margaret he came in sight of the table she was gone! Peter was gone too nobody was at the table at all only a citizen in sober garments had just tumbled under it dead drunk and several persons were raising him to carry him away Gerard never guessed how important this solemn drunkard was to him he was looking for beauty and let the beast lie he ran wildly round the hall which was now comparatively empty she was not there he left the palace outside he found a crowd gaping at two great fan lights just lighted over the gate he asked them earnestly if they had seen an old man in a gown and a lovely girl pass out they laughed at the question they were staring at these new lights that turned night in today they didn't trouble their heads about old men and young wenches every day sights from another group he learned there was a mystery being played under canvas hard by and all the world gone to see it this revived his hopes and he went and saw the mystery in this representation divine personages too sacred for me to name here came clumsily down from heaven to talk sophistry with the cardinal virtues the nine muses and the seven deadly sins all present in human shape and not unlike one another to enliven which weary stuff in rattled the prince of the power of the air and an imp that kept molesting him and buffeting him with a bladder at each thwack of which the crowd were in ecstasies when the vices had uttered good store of obscenity and the virtues twaddle the celestials including the nine muses went gingerly back to heaven one by one for there was but one cloud and two artisans worked it up with its supernatural freight and worked it down with a winch in full sight of the audience these disposed of the bottomless pit opened and flamed in the center of the stage the carpenters and virtues shoved the vices in and the virtues and Beelzebub and his tormentor danced merrily round the place of eternal torture to the fife and taba this entertainment was writ by the bishop of Ghent for the diffusion of religious sentiment by the aid of the censors and was an average specimen of theatrical exhibitions so long as they were in the hands of the clergy but in course of time the laity conducted plays and so the theatre I learned from the pulpit has become profane Margaret was nowhere in the crowd and Gerard could not enjoy the performance he actually went away in act two in the midst of a much admired piece of dialogue in which justice outquibbled Satan he walked through many streets but could not find her he sought at last fairly worn out he went to a hostelry and slept till daybreak all that day heavy and heart-sick he sought her but could never fall in with her or her father nor ever obtain the slightest clue then he felt she was false but Gerard changed her mind he was irritated now as well as sad more good fortune fell on him he almost hated it at last on the third day after he had once more been through every street he said she is not in the town and I shall never see her again I will go home he started for Tagoo with royal favour promised fifteen golden angels in his purse a golden medal on his bosom and a heart like a lump of lead End of Chapter 3 Recording by Tom Denham Chapter 4 of The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reid This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Recording by Tom Denham It was near four o'clock in the afternoon Eli was in the shop his eldest and youngest sons were abroad Catherine and her little crippled daughter had long been anxious about Gerard and now they were gone a little way down the road to see if by good luck he might be visible in the distance and Giles was alone in the sitting-room which I will sketch, furniture and dwarf included The Hollenders were always an original and leading people they claim to have invented printing wooden type oil painting, liberty, banking, gardening, etc above all, years before my tale they invented cleanliness so while the English gentry in velvet chicken-toed shoes trod floors of stale rushes foul receptacle of bones decomposing morsels, spittle dogs, eggs and all abominations this Hosea's sitting-room at Tergo was flawed with Dutch tiles so highly glazed and constantly washed that you could eat off them There was one large window the cross-stonework in the centre of it was very massive and stood in relief looking like an actual cross to the inmates and was eyed as such in their devotions the panes were very small and lozens shaped and soldered to one another with strips of lead the like you may see to this day in our rural cottages the chairs were rude and primitive all but the armchair whose back at right angles with its seat was so high that the sitter's head stopped two feet short of the top this chair was of oak and carved at the summit there was a copper pail that went in at the waist holding holy water and a little hand-beesum to sprinkle it far and wide and a long narrow but massive oak table and a dwarf sticking to it rim by his teeth his eyes glaring and his claws in the air like a pouncing vampire nature it would seem did not make Giles a dwarf out of malice pre-pence she constructed a head and torso with her usual care but just then her attention was distracted and she left the rest to chance the result was a human wedge an inverted cone he might justly have taken her to task in the terms of Horace Amfora Coepit Institutuai Corrente Rotà Couruschius Exit his centre was anything but his centre of gravity bisected upper Giles would have outweighed three lower Giles but this very disproportion enabled him to do feats baffle Milo his brawny arms had no weight to draw after them so he could go up a vertical pole like a squirrel and hang for hours from a bow by one hand like a cherry by its stalk if he could have made a vacuum with his hands as the lizard is said to do with its feet he would have gone along a ceiling now this pocket athlete was insanely fond of gripping the dinner table with both hands and so swinging and then climax of delight he would seize it with his teeth and taking off his hands hold on like grim death by his huge ivories but all our joys however elevating suffer interruption little Kate caught Samsonet in his posture and stood aghast she was her mother's daughter and her heart was with the furniture not with the twelve-mode gymnast oh Giles how can you mother is at hand it dents the table go and tell her little tail bearer snarls Giles you are the one for making mischief am I inquired Kate calmly that is news to me the biggest in Tergo growled Giles fastening on again oh indeed said Kate dryly this piece of unwanted satire launched and Giles not visibly blasted she sat down quietly and cried her mother came in almost at that moment and Giles hurled himself under the table and there glared what is it to do now said the dame sharply then turned her experienced eyes from Kate to Giles and observing the position he had taken up at a sheepish expression she hinted at coughing of ears nay mother said the girl it was but a foolish word Giles spoke I had not noticed it at another time but I was tired and in care for Gerard you know let no one be in care for me said a faint voice at the door and in tottered Gerard pale, dusty and worn out and amidst uplifted hands and cries of delight curiosity and anxiety mingled dropped exhausted into the nearest chair beating Rotterdam like a covert for Margaret and the long journey afterwards had fairly knocked Gerard up but elastic youth soon revived and behold him the centre of an eager circle first of all they must hear about the prizes then Gerard told him he had been admitted to see the competitor's works all laid out in an enormous hall before the judges pronounced oh mother, oh Kate when I saw the goldsmith's work I had liked to have fallen on the floor I thought not all the goldsmiths on earth had so much gold silver jewels and craft of design and facture but in sooth all the arts are divine then to please the females he described to them the reliquaries ferritories calluses, croziers, crosses pics as monstrances and other wonders ecclesiastical and the goblets hanaps, watches, clocks chains, brooches etc so that their mouths watered but Kate when I came to the illuminated work from Ghent and Bruges my heart sank for the first minute I could almost have cried but I prayed for a better spirit and presently I was able to enjoy them and thank God for those lovely works and for those skillful patient craftsmen whom I own my masters well the coloured work was so beautiful I forgot all about the black and white but next day when all the other prizes had been given they came to the writing and whose name think you was called first yours said Kate the others laughed her to scorn you may well laugh said Gerard but for all that Gerard my son of Turgu was the name the herald shouted I stood stupid they thrust me forward everything swam before my eyes I found myself kneeling on a cushion at the feet of the Duke he said something to me but I was so flattered I could not answer him so then he put his hand to his side and did not draw a glaive and cut off my dull head near gold metal and there it is there was a yell and almost a scramble and then he gave me fifteen great bright golden angels I had seen one before but I never handled one here they are oh Gerard, oh Gerard there is one for you our eldest and one for you Cybrandt and for you little mischief and for you little Lily because God hath afflicted thee and one for myself to buy colours and vellum and nine for her that nursed us all and risked the two crowns upon poor Gerard's hand the gold drew out their characters Cornelis and Cybrandt clutched each his coin with one glare of greediness and another glare of envy at Kate who had got two pieces Giles seized his and rolled it along the floor and gambled after it Kate put down her crutches and sat down and held out her little arms to Gerard with a heavenly gesture of love and tenderness and the mother fairly benumbed at first by the shower of gold that fell on her apron now cried out leave kissing him Kate he is my son not yours Gerard my boy I have not loved you as you deserved then Gerard threw himself on his knees beside her and she flung her arms round him and wept for joy and pride upon his neck good lad, good lad cried the hosier with some emotion I must go and tell the neighbours lend me the medal Gerard I'll show it my good friend Peter Boyskins he is ever regaling me his son Jorian won the till mug a shooting at the butts I do my man and show Peter Boyskins one of the angels tell him there are 14 more where that came from mind you bring it me back stay a moment father there is better news behind said Gerard flushing with joy at the joy he caused better, better than this then Gerard told his interview with the Countess and the house rang with joy now God bless the good lady and bless the Dame Van Eyck a benefice oh son my cares are at an end Eli my good friend and master now we too can die happy whenever our time comes this dear boy will take our place and none of these loved ones will want a home or a friend from that hour Gerard was looked upon as the stay of the family he was a son apart but in another sense he was always in the right and nothing too good for him Cornelis and Cybrandt became more and more jealous of him and longed for the day he should go to his benefice they would get rid of the favourite and his reverence as purse for them with these views he cooperated the wound love had given him throbbed duller and duller his success and the affection and admiration of his parents made him think more highly of himself and resent with more spirit Margaret's ingratitude and discourtesy for all that she had power to cool him towards the rest of her sex and now for every reason he wished to be ordained priest as soon as he could pass the intermediate orders he knew the vulgate already better than most of the clergy and studied the rubric and the dogmas of the church with his friends the monks and the first time the bishop came that way he applied to be admitted exorcist the third step in holy orders the bishop questioned him and ordained him at once he had to kneel and after a short prayer the bishop delivered him a little manuscript full of exorcisms and said take this, Gerard and have power to lay hands on the possessed whether baptised or catechumens and he took it reverently and went home invested by the church with power to cast out demons returning home from the church he was met by little Kate on her crutches oh Gerard who think you have sent to our house seeking you the burger master himself Giesbrecht van Svieten what would he with me ne Gerard I know not but he seems urgent to see you you are to go to his house on the instant well he is the burger master I will go but it likes me not Kate I have seen him cast such a look on me as no friend casts no matter such looks forewarn the wise to be sure he knows knows what Gerard nothing nothing Kate I'll go end of chapter 4 recording by Tom Denham chapter 5 of The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reid this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Tom Denham Giesbrecht van Svieten was an artful man he opened on the novice with something quite wide of the mark he was really aiming at the town records said he are crabidly written and the ink rusty with age he offered Gerard the honour of transcribing them fair Gerard inquired what he was to be paid Giesbrecht offered a sum that would have just purchased the pens, ink and parchment but burger master my labour here is a year's work your labour call you marking parchment your labour little sweat goes to that I throw tis labour and skilled labour to boot and that is better paid in all crafts than rude labour sweat or no sweat besides there's my time your time why what is time to you at two and twenty then fixing his eyes keenly on Gerard to mark the effect of his words he said say rather little groan you are in love your body is with these chanting monks but your heart is with Peter Brant and his red-haired girl I know no Peter Brant this denial confirmed Giesbrecht's suspicion that the caster out of demons was playing a deep game you lie he shouted did I not find you at her elbow on the road to Rotterdam ah and you were seen at Sevenburgen but to the day was I ah and at Peter's house at Sevenburgen ah at Sevenburgen now this was what in modern days is called a draw it was a guess put boldly forth as fact to elicit by the young man's answer whether he had been there lately or not the result of the artifice surprised the crafty one Gerard started up in a strange state of nervous excitement burger master said he with trembling voice I have not been at Sevenburgen these three years and I know not the name of those who you saw me with nor where they dwelt but as my time is precious though you value it not give you good day and he darted out with his eyes sparkling Giesbrecht started up in huge ire but he sank into his chair again he fears me not he knows something if not all then he called hastily to his trusty servant and almost dragged him to a window you see young man he cried haste follow him but let him not see you he is young but old in craft keep him in sight all day let me know whether he goes and what he does it was night when the servant returned well well cried van Sveten eagerly master the young man went from you to Sevenburgen Giesbrecht groaned to the house of Peter the magician End of Chapter 5 Recording by Tom Denham