mall
white hand, which had the subtle fragrance of tulips, would be placed in
one which was deeply stained with blood.

Poor young vixen, with the sharp tongue that knew how to hurt and the
blue eyes that could probe a wound like steel! It was strange to think
that their soft glances were reserved for a man whose heart was more
filled with hate for men than with love for one woman.

"If I loved you, little vixen," he once murmured apostrophizing the
elusive vision which lightened the darkness around him, "if I loved you,
I would break my word to that dastard who is your brother ... I would
not take you to Rotterdam to further his ambition, but I would carry
you off to please myself. I would take you to some distant land, mayhap
to my unknown father's home in England, where the sounds of strife and
hatred amongst men would only come as a faint and intangible echo. I
would take you to where roses bloom in profusion, and where in the
spring the petals of apple-blossoms would cover you like a mantle of
fragrant snow. There I would teach that sharp tongue of yours to murmur
words of tenderness and those perfect blue eyes to close in the ecstasy
of a kiss. But," he added with his habitual light-hearted laugh, "I do
not love you, little vixen, for heigh-ho! if I did 'twere hard for my
peace of mind."

* * * * *

When Diogenes neared the town of Leyden he heard its church clocks ring
out the hour of three. Close by the city walls he took off his skates,
preferring to walk the short league which lay between him and Houdekerk.

He was more tired than he cared to own even to himself, and the last
tramp along the road was inexpressibly wearisome. But he had seen or
heard nothing more of his pursuers; he was quite convinced that they had
lost track of him some hours ago. The south wind blew in heavy gusts
from over the marshlands far away, and the half-melted snow clung sticky
and dank against the soles and heels of his boots. A smell of dampness
in the air proclaimed the coming triumph of the thaw. The roads, thought
Diogenes, would be heavy on the morrow, impassable mayhap to a sledge,
and the jongejuffrouw would have to travel in great discomfort in a
jolting vehicle.

At last in the near distance a number of tiny lights proclaimed the
presence of a group of windmills. It was in one of these that Pythagoras
and Socrates had been ordered to ask for shelter--in the fifth one down
the road, whic