hick head you think that rank and wealth are everything to
a man, and therefore you would send Ralph away to seek rank and wealth
that may or may not belong to him, although he does not wish to go. As
for you, Ralph, you are a bigger fool, for you think that Jan Botmar,
your foster-father here, desires to be rid of you when in truth he only
seeks your good to his own sore loss. As for you, Suzanne, you are the
biggest fool of all, for you wish to fly in everybody's face, like a cat
with her first litter of kittens; but there, what is the use of arguing
with a girl in love? Now listen, and I will ask you some questions, all
of you. Jan, do you wish to send Ralph away with these strangers?"
"Almighty! vrouw," he answered, "you know well that I would as soon send
away my right hand. I wish him to stop here for ever, and whatever I
have is his; yes, even my daughter. But I seek what is best for him,
and I would not have it said in after years that Jan Botmar had kept an
English lad not old enough to judge for himself from his rank and wealth
because he took pleasure in his company and wished to marry him to his
girl."
"Good," I said. "And now for you, Suzanne; what have you to say?"
"I have nothing to add to my words," she replied; "you know all my
heart."
"Good again. And you, Ralph?"
"I say, mother, that I will not budge from this place unless I am
ordered to go, and if I do go, I will come back for Suzanne. I love you
all, and with you I wish to live and nowhere else."
"Nay, Ralph," I answered sighing, "if once you go you will never come
back, for out yonder you will find a new home, new interests, and,
perchance, new loves. Well, though nobody has thought of me in this
matter, I have a voice in it, and I will speak for myself. That lad
yonder has been a son to me for many years, and I who have none love him
as such. He is a man as we reckon in this country, and he does not wish
to leave us any more than we wish him to go. Moreover, he loves Suzanne,
and Suzanne loves him, and I believe that the God who brought them
together at first means them to be husband and wife, and that such love
as they bear to each other will give them more together than any wealth
or rank can bring to them apart. Therefore I say, husband, let our son,
Ralph, say here with us and marry our daughter, Suzanne, decently and in
due season, and let their children be our children, and their love our
love."
"And how about the Scotchmen w
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