agreeable to you."

"Come, pray come!" exclaimed the young girl.

"Do you want to say anything more to me?"

"I should like to do so, Fraulein Henrica. You ought not to stay in this
sad house. There is plenty of room in ours. Will you be our guest until
your father--"

"Yes, take me home with you!" cried the invalid, tears sparkling in her
eyes. "Take me away from here, only take me away--and I will be grateful
to you all my life."

CHAPTER XIV.

Maria had not mounted the stairs so joyously for weeks as she did to-day.
She would have sung, had it been seemly, though she felt a little
anxious; for perhaps her husband would not think she had done right to
invite, on her own authority, a stranger, especially a sick stranger, who
was a friend of Spain, to be their guest.

As she passed the dining-room, she heard the gentlemen consulting
together. Then Peter began to speak. She noticed the pleasant depth of
his voice, and said to herself that Henrica would like to hear it. A few
minutes after she entered the apartment, to greet her husband's guests,
who were also hers. Joyous excitement and the rapid walk through the air
of the May evening, which, though the day had been warm, was still cool,
had flushed her cheeks and, as she modestly crossed the threshold with a
respectful greeting, which nevertheless plainly revealed the pleasure
afforded by the visit of such guests, she looked so winning and lovely,
that not a single person present remained unmoved by the sight. The older
Herr Van der Does clapped Peter on the shoulder and then struck the palm
of his hand with his fist, as if to say: "I won't question that!" Janus
Dousa whispered gaily to Van Hout, who was a good Latin scholar:

"Oculi sunt in amore duces."

Captain Allertssohn started up and raised his hand to his hat with a
military salute; Van Bronkhorst, the Prince's Commissioner, gave
expression to his feelings in a courtly bow, Doctor Bontius smiled
contentedly, like a person who has successfully accomplished a hazardous
enterprise, and Peter proudly and happily strove to attract his wife's
attention to himself. But this was not to be, for as soon as Maria
perceived that she was the mark for so many glances, she lowered her eyes
with a deep blush, and then said far more firmly than would have been
expected from her timid manner:

"Welcome, gentlemen! My greeting comes late, but I would have gladly
offered it earlier."

"I can bear witness to th