“I am having my way,” returned Trynje, “only it isn’t your way, madam.”
“She is not the fool she would seem,” remarked Jeanne, in an aside.
“Good little Trynje!” cried Lendert.
Trynje stood a moment looking wistfully from one to the other. She did not enjoy this disturbance, but she had a happy consciousness of having done what made it easier for all but Madam.
“Go, girl!” Madam commanded Alaine in a hard tone. “Go, take off the clothes my bounty has provided for you. Your rags Maria will return to you. I want never to see your face again.”
“Nor your son’s?” asked Lendert.
“Nor his, unless he agrees to bring Trynje home to me. All this would then be his. Otherwise he can leave my roof; his disobedience casts him out.”
“It is not the first time I have been cast out,” replied Lendert, with some bitterness. “My first opposition to your wishes brought me that.”
“You will not find it necessary to repeat the experience,” responded Madam. “These lands belong to the widow of Pieter De Vries, and not to the son of Kilian Verplanck. Come, Trynje, we will go in. I do not turn you away.”
Trynje did not budge, but held Alaine’s hand tightly in hers. “I am sorry not to oblige you, madam, but I can’t let Alaine sleep in the woods to-night. I shall take her to my mother.”