"

"Nicolaes, father dear," she broke in quietly, "is very dear to us both.
I think that his momentary weakness will endear him to us even more. But
he was a tool in the hands of that unscrupulous Stoutenburg--and but for
that nameless and penniless soldier whose hand you were proud to grasp
just now, I would not be here in your arms at this moment."

"Ah!" said Cornelius Beresteyn dryly, "is this the way that the wind
blows, my girl? Did you not know then that the rascal--the day after he
dared to lay hands upon you--was back again in Haarlem bargaining with
me to restore you to my arms in exchange for a fortune?"

"And two days later, father dear," she retorted, "he endured insults,
injuries, cruelties from Stoutenburg, rather than betray Nicolaes' guilt
before me."

"Hm!" murmured Cornelius, and there was a humorous twinkle in his eyes
as he looked down upon his daughter's bowed head.

"And but for that same rascal, father," she continued softly, "you would
at this moment be mourning a dead daughter and Holland a hideous act of
treachery."

"Hush, my dear!" cried the old man impulsively, as he put his kind
protecting arms round the child whom he loved so dearly.

"I would never have followed the Lord of Stoutenburg while I lived," she
said simply.

"Please God," he said earnestly, "I would sooner have seen you in the
crypt beside your mother."

"Then, father, hath not the rascal you speak of deserved well of us? Can
we not guess that even originally he took me away from Haarlem, only
because he knew that if he refused the bargain, proposed to him by mine
own brother, Stoutenburg would have found some other means of ensuring
my silence."

"You are a good advocate, my girl," rejoined Cornelius with a sly wink
which brought the colour rushing up to Gilda's cheeks. "I think, by
your leave, I'll go and shake that vervloekte Keerl once more by the
hand.... And ... shall I tell him that you bear him no ill-will?" he
added roguishly.

"Yes, father dear, tell him that," she said gently.

"Then will you go to bed, dear?" he asked, "you are overwrought and
tired."

"I will sit by the window quietly for a quarter of an hour," she said,

"after that I promise you that I will go peaceably to bed."

He kissed her tenderly, for she was very dear to him, but being a man of
vast understanding and profound knowledge of men and things, the
humorous twinkle did not altogether fade from his eyes as he finally
bade his