I have it! I do not drink, and Lenora drinks very little; so there will
be _two_ bottles for Monsieur Denecker and _one_ for his nephew! But,
even at the worst, what is the use of anxiety? Let _luck_ settle it!"

With this De Vlierbeck went into the corners of the cellar, where he
gathered from the walls a quantity of cobwebs, which he wound
artistically around the bottles and covered with dust and sand.

On reaching the saloon he went to work with paste and paper to mend some
rents in the tapestry on the wall; and then, after passing nearly half
an hour in brushing his clothes and disguising their threadbare spots
with water and ink, he came back to the table and made preparations for
a task which was still more singular than any he had hitherto been
engaged in. Taking from the drawer a silk thread, an awl, and a bit of
wax, he put his boot on his knees and began to mend the rents in the
leather with the skill of a cobbler! It will readily be supposed that
this odd occupation stirred a variety of emotions in the heart of the
poor gentleman; violent twitches and spasms passed over his face; his
cheeks became red, then deadly pale; till at last, yielding to a
passionate impulse, he cut the silk, threw it on the table, and, with
his hands stretched toward the portraits, cried out, with struggling
passion,--

"Yes! behold me,--behold me,--ye whose noble blood runs in my veins!
You, brave captain, who, fighting at the side of Egmont, at St. Quentin,
gave your life for your country,--you, statesman and ambassador, who,
after the battle of Pavia, rendered such eminent services to the Emperor
Charles,--you, benefactor of your race, who endowed so many hospitals
and churches,--you, proud bishop, who, as priest and scholar, defended
so bravely your faith and your God,--behold me, all of you, not only