Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

The Burgomaster's Wife — Volume 02 by Georg Ebers
page 66 of 74 (89%)

"Enough," cried Wilhelm, rising hastily. "She fell on one of her
father's weapons when a child."

"On the contrary, sir, the handle of Junker Van Hoogstraten's weapon fell
on the forehead of his own daughter. How horrified you look! Oh!
I have witnessed worse things in this house. Now it is your turn
again: In what city of my home did you meet the signorina?"

"In Rome, alone and under an assumed name. Isabella--a Holland girl!
Pray go on with your story, Belotti; I won't interrupt you again. What
had the child done, that her own father--"

"He is the wildest of all the wild Hoogstratens. Perhaps you may have
seen men like him in Italy--in this country you might seek long for such
a hurricane. You must not think him an evil-disposed man, but a word
that goes against the grain, a look askance will rob him of his senses,
and things are done which he repents as soon as they are over. The
signorina received her scar in the same way. She was a mere child, and
of course ought not to have touched fire-arms, nevertheless she did
whenever she could, and once a pistol went off and the bullet struck one
of the best hunting-dogs. Her father heard the report and, when he saw
the animal lying on the ground and the pistol at the little girl's feet,
he seized it and with the sharp-edged handle struck--"

"A child, his own daughter!" exclaimed Wilhelm indignantly.

"People are differently constituted," Belotti continued. "Some, the
class to which you probably belong, cautiously consider before they speak
or act; the second reflect a long time and, when they are ready, pour
DigitalOcean Referral Badge