"O father, if for me thou could feel!"

"See, now, if I thought this man would be to thee a good husband, I

would say, 'God made him, and God does not make all his men Dutchmen;'

and I would forgive him his light, loose life, and his wicked wasting of

gold and substance, and give thee to him, with thy fortune and with my

blessing. But I think he will be to thee a careless husband. He will get

tired of thy beauty; thy goodness he will not value; thy money he will

soon spend. Three sweethearts had he in New York before thee. Their very

names, I dare say, he hath forgotten ere this."

"If Richard could make you sure, father, that he would be a good

husband, would you then be content that we should be married?"

"That he cannot do. Can the night make me sure it is the day? Once very

much I respected Batavius. I said, 'He is a strict man of business;

honourable, careful, and always apt to make a good bargain. He does not

drink nor swear, and he is a firm member of the true Church. He will

make my Joanna a good husband.' That was what I thought. Now I see that

he is a very small, envious, greedy man; and like himself he quickly

made thy sister. This is what I fear: if thou marry that soldier, either

thou must grow like him, or else he will hate thee, and make thee

miserable."

"Just eighteen I am. Let us not talk of husbands. Why are you so

hurried, father, to give me to this strange dominie? Little is known of

him but what he says. It is easy for him to speak well of Lambertus Van

Linden."

"The committee from the Great Consistory have examined his testimonials.

They are very good. And I am not in a hurry to give thee away. What I

fear is, that thou wilt be a foolish woman, and give thyself away."

Katherine stood with dropped head, looking apparently at the brown

earth, and the green box borders, and the shoots of white and purple and

gold. But what she really saw, was the pale, handsome face of her sick

husband, its pathetic entreaty for her love, its joyful flush, when with

bridal kisses he whispered, "Wife, wife, wife!"

Joris watched her curiously. The expression on her face he could not

understand. "So happy she looks!" he thought, "and for what reason?"

Katherine was the first to speak.




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