CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT.
IN WHICH THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF CORRESPONDENCE, AND THE WIDOW ISCALLED UP VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING.
We must now return to Mynheer Krause, who, after he had delivered overhis gold, locked up his counting-house and went up to the saloon,determining to meet his fate with all the dignity of a Roman senator, hesent for his daughter, who sent word back that she was packing up herwardrobe, and this answer appeared but reasonable to the syndic, who,therefore, continued in his chair, reflecting upon his approachingincarceration, conning speeches, and anticipating a glorious acquittal,until the bell of the cathedral chimed the half hour after ten. He thensent another message to his daughter, and the reply was that she was notin the room, upon which he dispatched old Koops to Ramsay, requestinghis attendance. The reply to this second message was a letter presentedto the syndic, who broke the seal and read as follows:--
"My dear and honoured sir,
"I have sought a proper asylum for your daughter during the impendingtroubles, and could not find one which pleased, and in consequence Ihave taken the bold step, aware that I might not have received yoursanction if applied for, of taking her on board the cutter with me; shewill there be safe, and as her character might be, to a certain degree,impeached by being in company with a man of my age, I intend, as soon aswe arrive in port, to unite myself to her, for which act, I trust, youwill grant me your pardon. As for yourself, be under no apprehension; Ihave saved you. Treat the accusation with scorn, and if on are admittedinto the presence of his majesty, accuse him of the ingratitude which hehas been guilty of; I trust that we shall soon meet again, that I mayreturn to you the securities and specie of which I have charge, as wellas your daughter, who is anxious once more to receive your blessing.
"Yours ever, till death,
"EDWARD RAMSAY."
Mynheer Krause read this letter over and over again; it was verymystifying. Much depends in this world upon the humour people are in atthe time; Mynheer Krause was, at that time, full of Cato-like devotionand Roman virtue, and he took the contents of the letter in true Catonicstyle.
"Excellent young man--to preserve my honour he has taken her away withhim! and, to preserve her reputation he intends to marry her! Now, Ican go to prison without a sigh. He tells me that he has saved me--saved me!--why, he has saved everything; me, my daughter, and myproperty! Well, they shall see how I behave! They shall witness thecalmness of a Stoic; I shall express no emotion or surprise at thearrest, as they will naturally expect, because I know it is to takeplace--no fear--no agitation when in prison, because I know that I am tobe saved. I shall desire them to bear in mind that I am the syndic ofthis town, and must receive that respect which is due to my exaltedsituation;" and Mynheer Van Krause lifted his pipe and ordered Koops tobring him a stone jug of beer, and thus doubly armed like Cato, heawaited the arrival of the officer with all the stoicism of beer andtobacco.
About the same hour of night that the letter was put into the hands ofMynheer Krause, a packet was brought up to Lord Albemarle, who wasplaying a game of put with his Grace the Duke of Portland; at that timeput was a most fashionable game; but games are like garments--as theybecome old they are cast off, and handed down to the servants. Theoutside of the despatch was marked "To Lord Albemarle's own hands.Immediate and most important." It appeared, however, as if the twonoble lords considered the game of put as more important and immediate,for they finished it without looking at the packet in question, and itwas midnight before they threw up the cards. After which, LordAlbemarle went to a side table, apart from the rest of the company, andbroke the seals. It was a letter with enclosures, and ran as follows:--
"My Lord Albemarle,--
"Although your political enemy, I do justice to your merits, and toprove my opinion of you, address to you this letter, the object of whichis to save your Government from the disgrace of injuring a worthy man,and a stanch supporter, to expose the villany of a coward and ascoundrel. When I state that my name is Ramsay, you may at once besatisfied that, before this comes to your hands, I am out of your reach.I came here in the king's cutter, commanded by Mr Vanslyperken, withletters of recommendation to Mynheer Krause, which represented me as astanch adherent of William of Orange and a Protestant, and with thatimpression I was well received, and took up my abode in his house. Myobject you may imagine, but fortune favoured me still more, in having inmy power Lieutenant Vanslyperken. I opened the Government despatches inhis presence, and supplied him with false seals to enable him to do thesame, and give me the extracts which were of importance, for which Ihardly need say he was most liberally rewarded; this has been carried onfor some time, but it appears, that in showing him how to obtain yoursecrets, I also showed him how to possess himself of ours, and theconsequence has been that he has turned double traitor, and I have nownarrowly escaped.
"The information possessed by Mynheer Krause was given by me to win hisfavour, for one simple reason, that I fell in love with his daughter,who has now quitted the country with me. He never was undeceived as tomy real position, nor is he even now. Let me do an honest man justice.I enclose you the extracts from your duplicates made by MrVanslyperken, written in his own hand, which I trust will satisfy you asto his perfidy, and induce you to believe in the innocence of the worthysyndic from the assurance of a man, who, although a Catholic, aJacobite, and if you please an attainted traitor, is incapable oftelling you a falsehood. I am, my lord, with every respect for yournoble character,
"Yours most obediently,
"EDWARD RAMSAY."
"This is corroborative of my suspicions," said Lord Albemarle, puttingdown the papers before the Duke of Portland.
The duke read the letter and examined the enclosures.
"Shall we see the king to-night?"
"No, he is retired, and it is of no use, they are in prison by thistime; we will wait the report to-morrow morning--ascertain how many havebeen secured--and then lay these documents before his majesty."
Leaving the two noble lords to go to bed, we shall now return toAmsterdam at twelve o'clock at night precisely; as the bell tolled, aloud knock was heard at the syndic's house. Koops, who had been orderedby his master to remain up, immediately opened the door, and a possecomitatus of civil power filled the yard.
"Where is Mynheer Krause," inquired the chief in authority.
"Mynheer, the syndic, is up-stairs in the saloon."
Without sending up his name, the officer went up, followed by three orfour others, and found Mynheer Krause smoking his pipe.
"Ah, my very particular friend, Mynheer Engelback, what brings you hereat this late hour with all your people? Is there a fire in the town?"
"No, Mynheer Syndic. It is an order, I am very sorry to say, to arrestyou, and conduct you to prison."
"Arrest and conduct me to prison?--me, the syndic of the town?--that isstrange--will you allow me to see your warrant?--yes, it is all true,and countersigned by his majesty; I have no more to say, MynheerEngelback. As syndic of this town, and administrator of the laws, it ismy duty to set the example of obedience to them, at the same timeprotesting my entire innocence. Koops, get me my mantle. MynheerEngelback, I claim to be treated with the respect due to me, as syndicof this town."
The officers were not a little staggered at the coolness and sang-froidof Mynheer Krause, he had never appeared to so such advantage; theybowed respectfully as he finished his speech.
"I believe, Mynheer Krause, that you have some friends staying withyou?"
"I have no friend in the house except my very particular friend, MynheerEngelback," replied the syndic.
"You must excuse us, but we must search the house."
"You have his majesty's warrant so to do, and no excuse is necessary."
After a diligent search of half an hour, nobody was found in the house,and the officers began to suspect that the Government had been imposedupon. Mynheer Krause, with every mark of attention and respect, wasthen walked off to the Hotel de Ville, whe
re he remained in custody, forit was not considered right by the authorities that the syndic should bethrown into the common prison upon suspicion only. When he arrivedthere, Mynheer Krause surprised them all by the philosophy with which hesmoked his pipe.
But, although there was nobody to be found, except the syndic in thesyndic's house, and not a soul at the house inhabited by the Jesuit,there was one more person included in the warrant, which was the widowVandersloosh; for Lord Albemarle, although convinced in his own mind ofher innocence, could not take upon himself to interfere with thedecisions of the council: so, about one o'clock, there was a loudknocking at the widow's door, which was repeated again and again beforeit awoke the widow, who was fatigued with her long and hot journey tothe Hague. As for Babette, she made a rule never to wake at anythingbut the magical Number 6, sounded, by the church clock, she was awokenby her mistress's voice.
"Babette," cried the widow Vandersloosh, "Babette."
"Yes, ma'am."
"There's a knock at the door, Babette."
"Only some drunken sailors, ma'am--they go away when they find theycannot get in."
Here the peals were redoubled.
"Babette, get up Babette--and threaten them with the watch."
"Yes, ma'am," replied Babette, with a terrible yawn.
Knocking and thumping with strokes louder than before.
"Babette, Babette!"
"I must put something on, ma'am," replied Babette, rather crossly.
"Speak to them out of the window, Babette."
Here poor Babette came down to the first floor, and opening the windowat the landing-place on the stairs, put her head out and cried,--"If youdon't go away, you drunken fellows, my mistress will send for thewatch."
"If you don't come down and open the door, we shall break it open,"replied the officer sent to the duty.
"Tell them it's no inn, Babette, we won't let people in after hours,"cried the widow, turning in her bed and anxious to resume her soundsleep.
Babette gave the message and shut down the window.
"Break open the door," cried the officer to his attendants. In a minuteor two the door was burst open, and the party ascended the staircase.
"Mercy on me! Babette, if they ar'n't come in," cried the widow, whojumped out of her bed, and, nearly shutting her door, which had beenleft open for ventilation, she peeped out to see who were the boldintruders; she perceived a man in black with a white staff.
"What do you want?" screamed the widow, terrified.
"We want Mistress Vandersloosh. Are you that person?" said the officer.
"To be sure I am. But what do you want here?"
"I must request you to dress and come along with me directly to theStadt House," replied the officer, very civilly.
"Gott in himmel! what's the matter?"
"It's on a charge of treasonable practices, madam."
"Oh, ho! I see: Mr Vanslyperken. Very well, good sir; I'll put on myclothes directly. I'll get up any hour in the night, with pleasure, tobring that villain--. Yes, yes, Mr Vanslyperken, we shall see.Babette, take the gentlemen down in the parlour, and give them somebottled beer. You'll find it very good, sirs; it's of my own brewing.And Babette, you must come up and help me."
The officer did not think it necessary to undeceive the widow, whoimagined that she was to give evidence against Vanslyperken, not thatshe was a prisoner herself. Still the widow Vandersloosh did not likebeing called up at such an unseasonable hour, and thus expressed herselfto Babette as she was dressing herself.
"Well, we shall see the ending of this, Babette.--My under petticoat ison the chair.--I told the lords the whole truth, every word of it; and Iam convinced that they believed me too.--Don't pull tight all at once,Babette; how often do I tell you that? I do believe you missed ahole.--The cunning villain goes there and says that I--yes, Babette--that I was traitor myself; and I said to the lords, `Do I look like atraitor?'--My petticoats, Babette; how stupid you are, why, your eyesare half shut now; you know I always wear the blue first, then thegreen, and the red last, and yet you will give me the first whichcomes.--He's a handsome lord, that Duke of Portland; he was one of the_bon_--before King William went over and conquered England, and he wasmade a lord for his valour.--My ruff, Babette. The Dutch are a bravenation. My bustle now.--How much beer did you give the officers? Mindyou take care of everything while I am gone. I shall be home by nine, Idare say. I suppose they are going to try him now, that he may behanged at sunrise. I knew how it would be. Yes, yes, Mr Vanslyperken,every dog has his day; and there's an end of you, and of your cur also,I've a notion."
The widow being now duly equipped, walked down stairs to them, andproceeded with the officers to the Stadt House. She was brought intothe presence of Mynheer Engelback, who held the office of provost.
"Here is the widow Vandersloosh, mynheer."
"Very well," replied Engelback, who was in a very bad humour at theunsuccessful search after the conspirators, "away with her."
"Away! where?" exclaimed the widow.
Engelback did not condescend to make a reply. The officers were mute;but one stout man on either side seized her arm, and led her away,notwithstanding expostulation, and some resistance on her part.
"Where am I going? what is all this?" exclaimed the widow, terrified;but there was no answer.
At last they came to a door, held open already by another man with abunch of keys. The terrified woman perceived that it was a paved stonecell, with a brick arch over it; in short, a dungeon. The truth flashedupon her for the first time. It was she who had been arrested fortreason. But before she could shriek she was shoved in, and the doorclosed and locked upon her; and the widow sank down into a sittingposture on the ground, overcome with astonishment and indignation. "Wasit possible? had the villain prevailed?" was the question which sheasked herself over and over again, changing alternately from sorrow toindignation. At one time wringing her hands, and at others exclaiming,"Well, well, Mr Vanslyperken, we shall see."