XXIX
It was the month of January, the cruel month that freezes the calf in the womb of the cow. Snow had fallen over all the land, and then frozen hard. The boys went out to snare with bird-lime the sparrows that came to seek what nourishment they could find on the hardened snow; and whatever they took they brought back to their cottages. Against the grey, bright sky the skeletons of the trees detached themselves in motionless outline, and their branches were covered as it were with cushions of snow, and the roofs of the cottages likewise, and the tops of the walls where showed the footprints of the cats who themselves went out hunting for sparrows in the snow. Far and wide the fields were hidden under that wonderful white fleece which warms the earth against the bitter cold of winter. The smoke of houses and cottages showed black as it mounted heavenwards, and over everything there brooded a great stillness.
And Katheline and Nele lived alone in their cottage, and Katheline wagged her head, crying continually:
“Hans, my heart is yours. But you must give back those seven hundred caroluses. Put out the fire! My head is burning! Alas! Where are your kisses cold as snow?” And she stood watching at the window.
Suddenly a horseman rode past at the gallop, crying:
“Here comes the bailiff, the high bailiff of Damme!”
And he went on to the Town Hall, crying out all the time, so as to gather together the burghers and the aldermen. And thereafter in the silence that ensued Nele could hear two blasts of a trumpet, and straightway all the people of Damme came running to their doors thinking that it must be no less a personage than His Royal Majesty himself whose arrival was announced by such a fanfare. And Katheline also went to her door with Nele, and in the distance she could see a troop of splendid horsemen riding all together, and at their head a magnificent figure in a cloak of black velvet edged with sable. And she knew him at once for the high bailiff of Damme.
Now behind him there rode a company of youthful Lords clad in long cloaks, and they rode along gaily, and their coats were adorned with buttons and trimmings of gold, and their hats with long ostrich plumes waving gaily in the wind. And they seemed one and all to be good comrades and friends of the high bailiff; and conspicuous among them was a thin-faced gentleman dressed in green velvet and gold trimmings, and like the others his cloak was of black velvet and his hat also was adorned with black plumes. And his nose was like a vulture’s beak, his mouth compressed and thin, and his beard was red and his face pale, and very proud was his bearing.
While the company of gentlemen was passing before the cottage, Katheline suddenly ran forward and leapt at the bridle of the pale horseman, and cried out, mad with joy as it seemed:
“Hans! My beloved, I knew you would come back! Oh, you are beautiful like this, all clad in velvet and gold, shining like a sun against the snow! Have you brought me those seven hundred caroluses? Shall I hear you again crying like the sea-eagle?”
The high bailiff brought the cavalcade to a stand, and the pale gentleman said:
“What does this beggar-woman want with me?”
But Katheline, still holding the horse by the bridle, made answer: “You must be dreaming, Hans. Wake up from your dream! I have cried for you so long. O nights of love, my beloved! O kisses of snow, O body of ice! See, this is your child!”
And she pointed to Nele, who was gazing at the man with terror, for now he had raised his whip as though he were about to strike at Katheline. But Katheline still continued her entreaties, weeping all the time:
“Ah! Do you not remember? Have pity on your servant! Take her with you whithersoever you will! Put out the fire! Hans, have pity!”
“Get out of the way!” he said. And he urged on his steed so quickly that Katheline was forced to loose hold of the bridle, and she fell on to the road, and the horse went over her, leaving a bleeding wound upon her forehead. Then the bailiff inquired of the pale horseman as to whether he knew aught of the woman.
“I know her not,” was the answer. “She is out of her wits, doubtless.”
But by this time Nele had helped up Katheline from the ground. “If this woman is mad,” she said, “at least, my Lord, I am not. And I am ready to die here and now of this snow that I am eating”—and here Nele took and ate of the snow with her fingers—“if this horseman has not had knowledge of my mother, and if he has not forced her to lend him money, nay, all the money that she had, and if it was not he that killed the dog which belonged to Claes, so that he might take from the wall of the well those seven hundred caroluses which belonged to the poor man that is dead.”
“Hans, my pet,” sobbed Katheline, “give me the kiss of peace. Time was when you killed your friend because you were jealous, by the dike.... You loved me well in those days.”
“Who is that man she speaks of?” demanded the bailiff.
“I know not,” said the pale horseman. “The talk of this beggar-woman is no concern of ours. Let us move on.”
But by now a crowd of people had collected, workpeople of the town, and they all began to take Katheline’s part, crying: “Justice! Justice, my Lord Bailiff! Justice!”
And the bailiff said to Nele: “Who is the one that was killed? Speak the truth in God’s name.”
Then Nele said her say, pointing the while at the pale horseman:
“This is the man who came every Saturday to the keet to visit my mother, and to take her money from her. He killed one of his own friends, Hilbert by name, in the field of Servaes Van der Vichte; and this he did not from any love of Katheline, as she in her innocent folly believes, but rather that he might get hold of her seven hundred caroluses and keep them all for himself.”
“You lie,” said the pale horseman.
“Oh no!” said Nele. “For it is you that caused the death of Soetkin; you that reduced her orphan son to misery; you—nobleman that you are—who came to us, common people, and the first time you came you brought money to my mother, so that ever afterwards you might take her money from her! And you it is that introduced into our house that friend of yours to whom you would have given me in marriage; but, as you know, I would have none of him. What did he do, your friend Hilbert, that time I tore his eyes with my finger-nails?”
“Nele is naughty,” said Katheline. “You must not pay any attention to her, Hans, my pet. She is angry because Hilbert tried to take her by force; but Hilbert cannot do so any more. The worms have eaten him. And Hilbert was ugly, Hans, my pet. It is you alone that are beautiful, and Nele, she is naughty.”
Nele accuses Hans
Now the bailiff ordered the women to go about their business, but Katheline would not budge from where she stood. They were obliged, therefore, to take her into the cottage by force. And all the people that were there assembled began to cry out:
“Justice, my Lord! Justice!”
At this moment the sergeants of the commune came upon the scene, attracted by the noise, and the bailiff, bidding them wait, addressed himself to the Lords and nobles in the following manner:
“My Lords and Gentlemen,—Notwithstanding all those privileges which protect the illustrious order of the nobility of Flanders, I find myself constrained to arrest Joos Damman on account of the accusations which have been brought against him. And I therefore order him to be confined to prison until such time as he can be brought to trial according to the laws and ordinances of the Empire. Hand me, then, your sword, Sir Joos!”
At this command Joos Damman was seen to hesitate, but all the people cried out as with one voice:
“Justice, my Lord! Justice! Let him deliver up his sword!”
And he was obliged to do so in spite of himself; and when he had dismounted from his horse he was conducted by the sergeants to the prison of the commune.
Nevertheless he was not confined in one of the dungeons, but was placed in a room with barred windows, where, for a payment of money, he was made not too uncomfortable. For he was provided with a fire, a good bed, and some good food, half of which, however, went to the gaoler.