his first sleep. They opened
his cupboards, they ran their knives into an alligator he had nailed to
his wall; they looked under his bed: it was a large room, and apparently
full of hiding-places, but they found no Gerard.

Then they went on to Margaret's room, and the very sight of it was
discouraging--it was small and bare, and not a cupboard in it; there
was, however, a large fireplace and chimney. Dierich's eye fell on these
directly. Here they found the beauty of Sevenbergen sleeping on an old
chest not a foot high, and no attempt made to cover it; but the sheets
were snowy white, and so was Margaret's own linen. And there she lay,
looking like a lily fallen into a rut.

Presently she awoke, and sat up in the bed, like one amazed; then,
seeing the men, began to scream faintly, and pray for mercy.

She made Dierich Brower ashamed of his errand.

"Here is a to-do," said he, a little confused. "We are not going to hurt
you, my pretty maid. Lie you still, and shut your eyes, and think of
your wedding-night, while I look up this chimney to see if Master Gerard
is there."

"Gerard! in my room?"

"Why not? They say that you and he--"

"Cruel! you know they have driven him away from me--driven him from his
native place. This is a blind. You are thieves; you are wicked men; you
are not men of Sevenbergen, or you would know Margaret Brandt better
than to look for her lover in this room of all others in the world. Oh,
brave! Four great hulking men to come, armed to the teeth, to insult one
poor honest girl! The women that live in your own houses must be naught,
or you would respect them too much to insult a girl of good character."

"There! come away, before we hear worse," said Dierich hastily. "He
is not in the chimney. Plaster will mend what a cudgel breaks; but a
woman's tongue is a double-edged dagger, and a girl is a woman with her
mother's milk still in her." And he beat a hasty retreat. "I told the
burgomaster how 'twould be."

CHAPTER XV

Where is the woman that cannot act a part? Where is she who will not
do it, and do it well, to save the man she loves? Nature on these great
occasions comes to the aid of the simplest of the sex, and teaches her
to throw dust in Solomon's eyes. The men had no sooner retired than
Margaret stepped out of bed, and opened the long chest on which she had
been lying down in her skirt and petticoat and stockings, and nightdress
over all; and put the lid, bed-clothes and all