but
of course, a minor motive."

"I am interested in that third and minor motive, Chevalier de
St. Luc."

"I noticed last night at the play that you were speaking to a
merchant, one Adrian Van Zoon."

"'Tis true, but how do you know Van Zoon?"

"Let it suffice, lad, that I know him and know him well. I wish you to
beware of him."

He spoke with a sudden softness of tone that touched Robert, and there
could be no doubt that his meaning was good. They were still walking
in the most casual manner, their faces bent to the driving snow, and
almost hidden by the collars of their cloaks.

"What can Adrian Van Zoon and I have in common?" asked Robert.

"Lad, I bid thee again to beware of him! Look to it that you do not
fall into his treacherous hands!"

His sudden use of the pronoun "thee," and his intense earnestness,
stirred Robert deeply.

"Friends seem to rise around me, due to no merit of mine," he
said. "Willet has always watched over me. Tayoga is my brother.
Jacobus Huysman has treated me almost as his own son, and
Master Benjamin Hardy has received me with great warmth of heart. And
now you deliver to me a warning that I cannot but believe is given
with the best intent. But again I ask you, why should I fear Adrian
Van Zoon?"

"That, lad, I will not tell you, but once more I bid you beware of
him. Think you, I'd have taken such a risk to prepare you for a
danger, if it were not real?"

"I do not. I feel, Chevalier de St. Luc, that you are a friend in
truth. Shall I speak of this to Mr. Willet? He will not blame me for
hiding the knowledge of your presence here."

"No. Keep it to yourself, but once more I tell you beware of Adrian
Van Zoon. Now you will not see me again for a long time, and perhaps
it will be on the field of battle. Have no fears for my safety. I can
leave this solid town of yours as easily as I entered it. Farewell!"

"Farewell!" said Robert, with a real wrench at the heart. St. Luc left
him and walked swiftly in the direction of St. George's Chapel. The
snow increased so much and was driving so hard that in forty or fifty
paces he disappeared entirely and Robert, wishing shelter, went back
to the house of Benjamin Hardy, moved by many and varied emotions.

He could not doubt that St. Luc's warning was earnest and important,
but why should he have incurred such great risks to give it? What was
he to Adrian Van Zoon? and what was Adrian Van Zoon to him? And what
did the talk at nig