than of Rotterdam. But she and the girls wanted everything that
they saw in the show windows, and I found that, before we left Haarlem,
the Mariner's purse would again be opened wide by the hypnotic spell of
Aunt Fay.

In a thirty horse-power car we were not long on the way out to
Brederode, though I took her slowly through the charming Bloemendaal
district, giving the strangers plenty of time to admire the quaintly
built, flower-draped country houses half drowned in the splendid forest
where Druids worshiped once, and to find out for themselves that the
dark yellow billows in the background were dunes hiding the sea.

We left the car in front of the shady inn, and ordered coffee to be
ready when we should come back--coffee, with plenty of cream, and a kind
of sugared cake, which has been loved by Haarlemers since the days when
the poor, deluded ladies of the town baked their best dainties for the
Spaniards who planned their murder.

It was natural to play guide on the way to the dear old copper and
purple and green-gold ruin, ivy-curtained from the tower roofs to the
mossy moat.

This was my first visit to the place for a year or two, and I longed to
take the One Girl apart, to tell her of my fantastic ancestor, the Water
Beggar, of whom I am proud despite his faults and eccentricities; to
recall stories of the past; the origin of our name "Brede Rode," broad
rood; how it, and the lands, were given as a reward, and many other
things. But instead, I made myself agreeable to the Chaperon, and saved
Tibe on three separate occasions from joining the bright reflections and
the water-lilies in the pond.

I sat by Nell at a table afterwards, however, and she had to pour coffee
for me, because she was doing that kind office for the rest; and as the
sugar tongs had been forgotten, she popped me in a lump of sugar with
her own fingers before she stopped to think. Then, she looked as if she
would have liked to fish it out again, but, being softer than her heart,
it had melted, and I got it in spite of her.

We drove back through the forest in a green, translucent glimmer, like
light under the sea, and there was little time to dress for dinner when
I brought them to anchor for the night. The nice old hotel, with its
Delft plates half covering the walls, its alcoves and unexpected
stairways with green balusters, and its old dining-room looking on a
prim garden, pleased the eyes which find all things in Hollow Land
interesti