st robbed and then nearly drowned beneath the ice--well, that
is a game which Black Meg does not forget."

"Hush, mother, you are not the only person with a memory. What was the
reward? Twelve florins? Well, you shall have them, and five more; that's
good pay for a lick of cold water. Are you satisfied?"

"No, Excellency. I wanted the life, that heretic's life. I wanted to
baste her while she burned, or to tread her down while she was buried.
I have a grudge against the woman because I know, yes, because I know,"
she repeated fiercely, "that if I do not kill her she will try to kill
me. Her husband and her young son were burnt, upon my evidence mostly,
but this is the third time she has escaped me."

"Patience, mother, patience, and I dare say that everything will come
right in the end. You have bagged two of the family--Papa heretic and
Young Hopeful. Really you should not grumble if the third takes a little
hunting, or wonder that in the meanwhile you are not popular with Mama.
Now, listen. You know the young woman whom it was necessary that I
should humour yesterday. She is rich, is she not?"

"Yes, I know her, and I knew her father. He left her house, furniture,
jewellery, and thirty thousand crowns, which are placed out at good
interest. A nice fortune for a gallant who wants money, but it will be
Dirk van Goorl's, not yours."

"Ah! that is just the point. Now what do you know about Dirk van Goorl?"

"A respectable, hard-working burgher, son of well-to-do parents,
brass-workers who live at Alkmaar. Honest, but not very clever; the kind
of man who grows rich, becomes a Burgomaster, founds a hospital for the
poor, and has a fine monument put up to his memory."

"Mother, the cold water has dulled your wits. When I ask you about a man
I want to learn what you know _against_ him."

"Naturally, Excellency, naturally, but against this one I can tell you
nothing. He has no lovers, he does not gamble, he does not drink except
a glass after dinner. He works in his factory all day, goes to bed
early, rises early, and calls on the Jufvrouw van Hout on Sundays; that
is all."

"Where does he attend Mass?"

"At the Groote Kerke once a week, but he does not take the Sacrament or
go to confession."

"That sounds bad, mother, very bad. You don't mean to say that he is a
heretic?"

"Probably he is, Excellency; most of them are about here."

"Dear me, how very shocking. Do you know, I should not like that
excellent you