eyes did they enjoy my present happiness."

"Sir, there are many in this colony who have great reason to distrust
their senses, though none can be mistaken in believing they see Alderman
Van Beverout in a well-employed man. He that dealeth in the produce of the
beaver must have the animal's perseverance and forethought! Now, were I a
king-at-arms, there should be a concession made in thy favor, Myndert, of
a shield bearing the animal mordant, a mantle of fur, with two Mohawk
hunters for supporters, and the motto, 'Industry.'"

"Or what think you, my Lord," returned the other, who did not more than
half relish the pleasantry of his companion, "of a spotless shield for a
clear conscience, with an open hand for a crest, and the motto, 'Frugality
and Justice?'"

"I like the open hand, though the conceit is pretending. I see you would
intimate that the Van Beverouts have not need, at this late day, to search
a herald's office for honors. I remember, now I bethink me, on some
occasion to have seen their bearings; a windmill, courant; dyke, coulant;
field, vert, sprinkled with black cattle--No! then, memory is
treacherous; the morning air is pregnant with food for the imagination!"

"Which is not a coin to satisfy a creditor, my Lord," said the caustic
Myndert.

"Therein has truth been, pithily, spoken. This is an ill-judged step,
Alderman Van Beverout, that lets a gentleman out by night, like the ghost
in Hamlet, to flee into the narrow house with the crowing of the cock. The
ear of my royal cousin hath been poisoned, worse than was the ear of
'murdered Denmark,' or the partisans of this Mister Hunter would have