FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197  
198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   >>   >|  
ll I get to the Beggars?" "You?" asked the captain in astonishment. "Yes, I!" replied the Junker eagerly. "I shall soon be seventeen, and when I am--Wait, just wait--you'll hear of me yet." "Right, Nicolas, right," replied the other. "Let us be Holland nobles and noble Hollanders." Three hours later, Junker Matanesse Van Wibisma rode into the Hague with Belotti, whom he had loved from childhood. He brought his father nothing but a carefully-folded and sealed letter, which Janus Dousa, with a mischievous smile, had given him on behalf of the citizens of Leyden for General Valdez, and which contained, daintily inscribed on a large sheet, the following lines from Dionysius Cato: "Fistula dulce canit volucrem dum decipit auceps." ["Sweet are the notes of the flute, when the fowler lures the bird to his nest."] CHAPTER XXVII. The first week in June and half the second had passed, the beautiful sunny days had drawn to a close, and numerous guests sought the "Angulus" in Aquarius's tavern during the evening hours. It was so cosy there when the sea-breeze whistled, the rain poured, and the water fell plashing on the pavements. The Spanish besieging army encompassed the city like an iron wall. Each individual felt that he was a fellow-prisoner of his neighbor, and drew closer to companions of his own rank and opinions. Business was stagnant, idleness and anxiety weighed like lead on the minds of all, and whoever wished to make time pass rapidly and relieve his oppressed soul, went to the tavern to give utterance to his own hopes and fears, and hear what others were thinking and feeling in the common distress. All the tables in the Angulus were occupied, and whoever wanted to be understood by a distant neighbor was forced to raise his voice very loud, for special conversations were being carried on at every table. Here, there, and everywhere, people were shouting to the busy bar-maid, glasses clinked together, and pewter lids fell on the tops of hard stone-ware jugs. The talk at a round table in the end of the long room was louder than anywhere else. Six officers had seated themselves at it, among them Georg von Dornburg. Captain Van der Laen, his superior officer, whose past career had been a truly heroic one, was loudly relating in his deep voice, strange and amusing tales of his travels by sea and land, Colonel Mulder often interrupted him, and at every somewhat incredible story, smiling
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197  
198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216   217   218   219   220   221   222   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

tavern

 

Angulus

 
neighbor
 

Junker

 

replied

 
common
 

carried

 
wanted
 
feeling
 

distant


thinking
 

distress

 

tables

 

forced

 

understood

 

conversations

 

special

 

occupied

 

relieve

 
Business

opinions
 

stagnant

 

idleness

 
weighed
 
anxiety
 

companions

 

fellow

 
prisoner
 

closer

 

utterance


oppressed
 

rapidly

 

wished

 
officer
 

superior

 

career

 

Captain

 

Dornburg

 

heroic

 
travels

Colonel

 
Mulder
 

amusing

 
incredible
 
loudly
 

relating

 
strange
 

seated

 

pewter

 
clinked