“Go to your cousin, Junker,” said Janus Dousa kindly; “it will probably be an hour before I can find paper, pen and sealing wax. Fraulein Van Hoogstraten will be glad to hear, through you, from her father.”
“If agreeable to you, young sir,” added the burgomaster; “my house stands open to you.”
Nicolas hesitated a moment, then said quickly: “Yes, take me to her.”
When the youth had reached the north end of the city with Herr von Warmond, who had undertaken to accompany him, he asked the latter:
“Are you Junker Van Duivenvoorde, Herr von Warmond?”
“I am.”
“And you captured Brill, with the Beggars, from the Spaniards?”
“I had that good fortune.”
“And yet, you are of a good old family. And were there not other noblemen with the Beggars also?”
“Certainly. Do you suppose it ill-beseems us, to have a heart for our ancestors’ home? My forefathers, as well as yours, were noble before a Spaniard ever entered the land.”