stated, entered the studio, and having delivered the box and the
valuation of the Jew, into the hands of the stranger, he was about to
retire, when Vanderhausen called to him to wait; and, presenting the
case and the certificate to Gerard Douw, he paused in silence until he
had satisfied himself, by an inspection of both, respecting the value of
the pledge left in his hands. At length he said----

"Are you content?"

The painter said he would fain have another day to consider.

"Not an hour," said the suitor, apathetically.

"Well then," said Douw, with a sore effort, "I am content, it is a
bargain."

"Then sign at once," said Vanderhausen, "for I am weary."

At the same time he produced a small case of writing materials, and
Gerard signed the important document.

"Let this youth witness the covenant," said the old man; and Godfrey
Schalken unconsciously attested the instrument which for ever bereft him
of his dear Rose Velderkaust.

The compact being thus completed, the strange visitor folded up the
paper, and stowed it safely in an inner pocket.

"I will visit you to-morrow night at nine o'clock, at your own house,
Gerard Douw, and will see the object of our contract;" and so saying
Wilken Vanderhausen moved stiffly, but rapidly, out of the room.

Schalken, eager to resolve his doubts, had placed himself by the window,
in order to watch the street entrance; but the experiment served only to
support his suspicions, for the old man did not issue from the door.
This was _very_ strange, odd, nay fearful. He and his master returned
together, and talked but little on the way, for each had his own
subjects of reflection, of anxiety, and of hope. Schalken, however, did
not know the ruin which menaced his dearest projects.

Gerard Douw knew nothing of the attachment which had sprung up between
his pupil and his niece; and even if he had, it is doubtful whether he
would have regarded its existence as any serious obstruction to the
wishes of Minheer Vanderhausen. Marriages were then and there matters of
traffic and calculation; and it would have appeared as absurd in the
eyes of the guardian to make a mutual attachment an essential element in
a contract of the sort, as it would have been to draw up his bonds and
receipts in the language of romance.

The painter, however, did not communicate to his niece the important
step which he had taken in her behalf, a forebearance caused not by any
anticipated opposition on