up to offer him his chair. Peter sat down for a short time and drank a
glass of wine, but soon beckoned to the Junker and went out with him into
the street.

There he briefly requested him to go to his house, for they had an
important communication to make, and then went to Van Hout's residence,
which was close beside the inn.

Georg walked thoughtfully towards the burgomaster's.

The "they" could scarcely have referred to any one except Maria. What
could she want of him at so late an hour? Had his friend regretted
having offered him lodgings in her own house? He was to move into his
new quarters early next morning; perhaps she wished to inform him of this
change of mind, before it was too late. Maria treated him differently
from before, there was no doubt of that, but surely this was natural!
He had dreamed of a different, far different meeting! He had come to
Holland to support the good cause of Orange, yet he would certainly have
turned his steed towards his beloved Italy, where a good sword was always
in demand, instead of to the north, had he not hoped to find in Holland
her, whom he had never forgotten, for whom he had never ceased to long--
Now she was the wife of another, a man who had shown him kindness, given
him his confidence. To tear his love from his heart was impossible; but
he owed it to her husband and his own honor to be strong, to resolutely
repress every thought of possessing her, and only rejoice in seeing her;
and this he must try to accomplish.

He had told himself all these things more than once, but realized that he
was walking with unsteady steps, upon a narrow pathway, when she met him
outside the dining-room and he felt how cold and tremulous was the hand