school would begin and
Adrian had intended to finish his tasks this evening; but the visit to
the English riders had interfered, and he could not possibly appear
before the rector without his exercise. He frankly told Maria so, and she
cleared a place for him at the table where she was sewing, and helped the
young scholar with many a word and rule she had learned with her dead
brother.

When it lacked only half an hour of midnight, Barbara entered, saying:

"That's enough now. You can finish the rest early to-morrow morning
before school."

Without waiting for Maria's reply, she closed the boy's books and pushed
them together.

While thus occupied, the room shook with rude blows on the door of the
house. Maria threw down her sewing and started from her seat, while
Barbara exclaimed:

"For Heaven's sake, what is it?" Adrian rushed into his father's room and
opened the window.

The ladies had hurried after him, and before they could question the
disturber of the peace, a deep voice called:

"Open, I must come in."

"What is it?" asked Barbara, who recognized a soldier in the moonlight.
"We can't hear our own voices; stop that knocking."

"Call the burgomaster!" shouted the messenger, who had been constantly
using the knocker. "Quick, woman; the Spaniards are coming."

Barbara shrieked aloud and beat her hands. Maria turned pale, but without
losing her composure, replied: "The burgomaster is not at home, but I'll
send for him. Quick, Adrian, call your father."

The boy rushed down-stairs, meeting in the entry the man-servant and
Trautchen, who had jumped hastily out of bed, throwing on an
under-petticoat, and was now trying, with trembling hands, to unlock the
door. The man pushed her aside, and as soon as the door creaked on its
hinges, Adrian darted out and ran, as if in a race, down the street to
the commissioner's. Arriving before any other messenger, he pressed
through the open door into the dining-hall and called breathlessly to the
men, who were holding a council over their wine:

"The Spaniards are here!"

The gentlemen hastily rose from their seats. One wanted to rush to the
citadel, another to the town-hall and, in the excitement of the moment,
no sensible reflection was made. Peter Van der Werff alone maintained his
composure and, after Allertssohn's messenger had appeared and reported
that the captain and his men were on the way to Leyderdorp, the
burgomaster pointed out that the leaders' care