"Riekje, Riekje, my heart!" said Nelle in tears, "no greater happiness
could come to us on Saint Nicholas day. Poor folk rejoice more over a
child that is born to them, than over all the treasures in the world,
but the child whom God sends on Easter Day or St. Nicholas day is above
all welcome."

"Dolf, you can run better than I can," said Tobias. "Run and fetch
Madame Puzzel; we will look after Riekje."

Then Dolf pressed Riekje once more to his heart, and ran up the ladder.
The plank which connected the boat with the shore shook as he crossed
it.

"He is already a long way off," said Tobias.




III.


The night hung over the town like a great bird, but it had snowed on the
preceding days, and through the darkness Dolf could see the blanched
face of the earth, white as the face of the dead. He ran full speed
along the river bank as one pursued by the tide, though, even then, his
footfall was not so rapid as the beating of his heart. The distant
lights through the fog seemed to him like a procession of taper-bearers
at a funeral; he did not know how this idea arose, but it terrified him,
for behind it again he saw death. Then he came upon silent figures