g voice, but the burgomaster
exclaimed with deep emotion:

"Stay, stay, Maria! Come, come, and forgive me!" Peter seized her hand,
exclaiming again:

"Come, come!"

But the young wife released herself, retreated a step and said
beseechingly:

"Let me go, Peter, I cannot; I need time to overcome this."

He let his arms fall and gazed mournfully into her face, but she turned
away and silently left the room. Peter Van der Werff did not follow her,
but went quietly into his study and strove to reflect upon many things,
that concerned his office, but his thoughts constantly reverted to Maria.
His love oppressed him as if it were a crime, and he seemed to himself
like a courier, who gathers flowers by the way-side and in this idling
squanders time and forgets the object of his mission. His heart felt
unspeakably heavy and sad, and it seemed almost like a deliverance when,
just before midnight, the bell in the Tower of Pancratius raised its
evilboding voice. In danger, he knew, he would feel and think of nothing
except what duty required of him, so with renewed strength he took his
hat from the hook and left the house with a steady step.

In the street he met Junker Van Duivenvoorde, who summoned him to the
Hohenort Gate, before which a body of Englishmen had again appeared; a
few brave soldiers who, in a fierce, bloody combat, had held Alfen and
the Gouda sluice against the Spaniards until their powder was exhausted
and necessity compelled them to yield or seek safety in flight. The
burgomaster followed the officer and ordered the gates to be opened to
the brave soldiers. They were twenty in number, among them the Netherland
Captain Van der Iaen, and a Young German officer. Peter commanded, that
they should have shelter for the night in the town-hall and the
guard-house at the gate. The next morning suitable quarters would be
found for them in the houses of the citizens. Janus Dousa invited the
captain to lodge with him, the German went to Aquanus's tavern. All were
ordered to report to the burgomaster at noon the next day, to be assigned
to quarters and enrolled among the volunteer troops.

The ringing of the alarm-bell in the tower also disturbed the night's
rest of the ladies in the Van der Werff household. Barbara sought Maria,
and neither returned to their rooms until they had learned the cause of
the ringing and soothed Henrica.

Maria could not sleep. Her husband's purpose of separating from her
during the im