the children's gifts from godparents fell into the hands of the
conquerors, while a hundred and seventy rich villages near Aalst were
compelled to furnish food for the mutineers.

Navarrete did not forbid the plundering. According to his opinion, what
soldiers took by assault was well-earned booty. To him the occupation of
Aalst was an act of righteous self-defence, and the regiments shared his
belief, and were pleased with their Eletto.

The rebels sought and found quarters in the citizens' houses, slept in
their beds, eat from their dishes, and drank their wine-cellars empty.
Pillage was permitted for three days. On the fifth discipline was
restored, the quartermaster's department organized, and the citizens were
permitted to assemble at the guild-hall, pursue their trades and
business, follow the pursuits to which they had been accustomed. The
property they had saved was declared unassailable; besides, robbery had
ceased to be very remunerative.

The Eletto was at liberty to choose his own quarters, and there was no
lack of stately dwellings in Aalst. Ulrich might have been tempted to
occupy the palace of Baron de Hierges, but passed it by, selecting as a
home for his mother and himself a pretty little house on the market-
place, which reminded him of his father's smithy. The bow-windowed room,
with the view of the belfry and the stately guildhall, was pleasantly
fitted up for his mother, and the city gardeners received orders to send
the finest house-plants to his residence. Soon the sitting-room, adorned
with flowers and enlivened by singing-birds, looked far handsomer and
more cosy than the nest of which he had dreamed. A little white dog,
exactly like the one Florette had possessed in the smithy, was also
procured, and when in the evening the warm summer air floated into the