lights far away on the right which proclaimed the distant city.

A chill struck suddenly to her heart. Ben Isaje had lied! Why? She was
not being taken to his house which was situate half a league outside
Rotterdam ... then whither was she being taken? What new misery, what
new outrage awaited her now?

The lights of the distant city receded further and further away from her
view, the driver once more put his horses at a trot, the sledge moved
along more smoothly now: it seemed as if it were going over the surface
of the river. Delft was being left behind, and the sledge was following
the course of the Schie ... on toward Ryswyk....

The minutes sped on, another quarter of an hour, another half hour,
another hour in this dread suspense. The driver was urging his horses
unmercifully: he gave them but little rest. It was only when for a few
brief moments he put them at walking pace, that Gilda heard--all around
her as it seemed--that metallic click of skates which told her that the
sledge was surrounded by men who were there to watch over her and see
that she did not escape.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE CAPTIVE LION

Beresteyn was sitting at the table in the weighing-room of the molens:
his elbows rested on the table, and his right hand supported his head;
in the feeble light of the lanthorn placed quite close to him, his face
looked sullen and dark, and his eyes, overshadowed by his frowning
brows, were fixed with restless eagerness upon the narrow door.

Stoutenburg, with hands crossed over his chest, with head bare and
collar impatiently torn away from round his neck, was pacing up and down
the long, low room like a caged beast of prey.

"Enter!" he shouted impatiently in response to a loud knock on the door.
Then as Jan entered, and having saluted, remained standing by the door,
he paused in his feverish walk, and asked in a curiously hoarse voice,
choked with anxiety:

"Is everything all right, Jan?"

"Everything, my lord."

"The jongejuffrouw?..."

"In the hut, my lord. There is a good fire there and the woman is
preparing some hot supper for the lady."

"How does she seem?"

"She stepped very quietly out of the sledge, my lord, the moment I told
her that we had arrived. She asked no questions, and walked straight
into the hut. Meseemed that the jongejuffrouw knew exactly where she
was."

"The woman will look after her comforts well?"

"Oh, yes, my lord, though she is only a rough peasant, she