After a few more words he dismissed the dwarf in order to talk to me alone.
“St. Vincent,” he began, “I have a delicate task for you to undertake. Doubtless you know that I and my household are in bad repute in Yorke. You see, this putting arms into the hands of my retainers is a new custom in the province. We patroons are bound to get the power, but I am the only one who has had the courage to begin in the proper way. The gossips tell strange stories about me and mine. I keep them away from the ears of Miriam; but—God bless her!—she loves to see the gay sights of the town. I shall let her ride to Yorke this afternoon and you shall ride with her. Mind you keep her ears stuffed with wax against the common murmur. That is your task.”
Towards three o’clock I stood before the terrace beside our horses awaiting Mistress Miriam’s coming out. Soon she came. The blood mantled in her cheek and she drew back when her eyes fell upon me.
“I thought I should go alone or with Annetje,” she said to her father.
“I think that Monsieur St. Vincent will be better company. Pretty maids like you should not ride alone nowadays.”
Whether she objected to riding with me, or whether she suspected that I was set as a spy upon her, one could not have told from anything she said or did. She thanked me kindly, so kindly for my trouble, that I did not feel the pain of her refusal. She bade me lead her horse back to the stable and then re-entered the house.
I had hardly taken the saddle off when Louis came in all apant with running.
“Put it on again,” he cried. “She has changed her mind.”
I resaddled the horse. Five minutes later Mistress Van Volkenberg stepped upon the terrace. She wore the same riding habit as before, but this time she wore a mask that concealed her features. When I helped her to mount, she bowed her thanks, but did not speak to me. Soon we were riding at a rapid pace through the park towards New York.
I rode behind as fitted a man in my position. When we neared the Kissing Bridge she reined in her horse slowly till we rode side by side. I wondered at her action. Something little Pierre had said about Annetje and the way she always made him go before when they crossed the Kissing Bridge caused a shadow to fill my heart. Was my young mistress—? I did not have time to follow the thought further before she laid her hand upon my bridle. Both horses stopped with their front feet upon the bridge. I could see her eyes twinkling through the holes in her mask.