CHAPTER XXIX
CHECK AGAIN
Though the jongejuffrouw seemed inexpressibly tired and weak, her attitude toward Diogenes lost nothing of its cold aloofness. She was peeping out under the hood of the sledge when he approached it, and at sight of him she immediately drew in her head.
"Will you deign to descend, mejuffrouw," he said with that slight tone of good-humoured mockery in his voice which had the power to irritate her. "Mynheer Ben Isaje, whose hospitality you will enjoy this night, lives some way up this narrow, insalubrious street, and he has bidden me to escort you to his house."
Silently, and with a great show of passive obedience, Gilda made ready to step out of the sledge.
"Come, Maria," she said curtly.
"The road is very slippery, mejuffrouw," he added warningly, "will you not permit me—for your own convenience' sake—to carry you as far as Ben Isaje's door?"
"It would not be for my convenience, sir," she retorted haughtily, "an you are so chivalrously inclined perhaps you would kindly convey my waiting woman thither in your arms."
"At your service, mejuffrouw," he said with imperturbable good temper.
And without more ado, despite her screams and her struggles, he seized Maria round her ample waist and round her struggling knees at the moment that she was stepping out of the sledge in the wake of her mistress.