forth a great many words, but rarely act at all; while the third, and at
their head the Hoogstraten family, heap deeds on deeds, and if they ever
think, it is only after the act is accomplished. If they then find that
they have committed an injustice, pride comes in and forbids them to
confess, atone for, or recall it. So one misfortune follows another;
but the gentlemen pay no heed and find forgetfulness in drinking and
gambling, carousing and hunting. There are plenty of debts, but all
anxiety concerning them is left to the creditors, and boys who receive no
inheritance are supplied with a place at court or in the army; for the
girls, thank God, there is no lack of convents, if they confess our holy
religion, and both have expectations from rich aunts and other blood
relations, who die without children."

"You paint in vivid colors."

But they are true, and they all suit the Junker; though to be sure he
need not keep his property for sons, since his wife gave him none. He
met her at court in Brussels, and she came from Parma."

"Did you know her?"

"She died before I came to the padrona's house. The two young ladies
grew up without a mother. You have heard that their father would even
attack them, yet he doubtless loved them and would never resolve to place
them in a convent. True, he often felt--at least he freely admitted it
in conversations with her excellenza--that there were more suitable
places for young girls than his castle, where matters went badly enough,
and so he at last sent his oldest daughter to us. My mistress usually
could not endure the society of young girls, but Fraulein Anna was one of
her nearest relatives, and I know she invited her of her own accord. I