Adrian Van der Werff
hastily interposed, crying:

"For shame, Cornelius.--I'll stop the mouth of anybody who utters such
an insult again. Catholics are Christians, as well as we. You heard it
from Van Hout, and my father says so too. Will you be a Spaniard, Adam,
yes or no?"

"No!" cried the latter firmly. "And if anybody else--"

"You can quarrel afterward," said Adrian Van der Werff, interrupting his
excited companions, then good-naturedly picking up the books Baersdorp
had flung down, and handing them to him, continued resolutely, "I'll be
a Spaniard to-day. Who else?"

"I, I, I too, for aught I care," shouted several of the scholars, and
the forming of the two parties would have been carried on in the best
order to the end, if the boys' attention had not been diverted by a
fresh incident.

A young gentleman, followed by a black servant, came up the street
directly towards them. He too was a Netherlander, but had little in
common with the school-boys except his age, a red and white complexion,
fair hair, and clear blue eyes, eyes that looked arrogantly out upon
the world. Every step showed that he considered himself an important
personage, and the gaily-costumed negro, who carried a few recently
purchased articles behind him, imitated this bearing in a most comical
way. The negro's head was held still farther back than the young
noble's, whose stiff Spanish ruff prevented him from moving his handsome
head as freely as other mortals.

"That ape, Wibisma," said one of the school-boys, pointing to the
approaching nobleman.

All eyes turned towards him, scornfully scanning his little velvet hat
decked with a long plume, the quilted red satin garment padded in the
breast and sleeves, the huge puffs of his short brown breeches, and the
brilliant scarlet silk stockings that closely fitted his well-formed
limbs.

"The ape," repeated Paul Van Swieten. "He wants to be a cardinal, that's
why he wears so much red."

"And looks as Spanish as if he came straight from Madrid," cried another
lad, while a third added:

"The Wibismas certainly were not to be found here, so long as bread was
short with us."

The Wibismas are all Glippers.

"And he struts about on week-days, dressed in velvet and silk," said
Adrian. "Just look at the black boy the red-legged stork has brought
with him to Leyden."

The scholars burst into a loud laugh, and as soon as the youth had
reached them, Paul Van Swieten snarled in a nasal tone