The visitor waved his hand slightly, as, if in acknowledgment of the courtesy, but remained standing.
'I have the honour to see Mynher Vanderhausen, of Rotterdam?' said Gerard Douw.
'The same,' was the laconic reply of his visitant.
'I understand your worship desires to speak with me,' continued Douw, 'and I am here by appointment to wait your commands.'
'Is that a man of trust?' said Vanderhausen, turning towards Schalken, who stood at a little distance behind his master.
'Certainly,' replied Gerard.
'Then let him take this box and get the nearest jeweller or goldsmith to value its contents, and let him return hither with a certificate of the valuation.'
At the same time he placed a small case, about nine inches square, in the hands of Gerard Douw, who was as much amazed at its weight as at the strange abruptness with which it was handed to him.
In accordance with the wishes of the stranger, he delivered it into the hands of Schalken, and repeating HIS directions, despatched him upon the mission.
Schalken disposed his precious charge securely beneath the folds of his cloak, and rapidly traversing two or three narrow streets, he stopped at a corner house, the lower part of which was then occupied by the shop of a Jewish goldsmith.