h stood somewhat isolated from the others; even now its
long, weird arms showed like heavy lines of ink upon the black
background of the sky.

Diogenes almost fell up against the door; he could hardly stand. But the
miller was on the look-out for him, having slept only with half an eye,
waiting for the stranger whose emissaries had already paid him well. He
carried a lanthorn and a bunch of keys; his thin, sharp head was
surmounted with a cotton nightcap and his feet were encased in thick
woollen hose.

It took him some time to undo the many heavy bolts which protected the
molens against the unwelcome visits of night marauders, and before he
pushed back the final one, he peered through a tiny judas in the door
and in a querulous voice asked the belated traveller's name.

"Never mind my name," quoth Diogenes impatiently, "and open thy door,
miller, ere I break it in. I am as tired as a nag, as thirsty as a dog
and as hungry as a cat. The jongejuffrouw is I trust safe: I am her
major domo and faithful servant, so open quickly, or thy shoulder will
have to smart for the delay."

I have Diogenes' own assurance that the miller was thereupon
both obedient and prompt. He--like all his compeers in the
neighborhood--found but scanty living in the grinding of corn for the
neighbouring peasantry, there was too much competition nowadays and work
had not multiplied in proportion. Optimists said that in a few years
time the paralysing effects of the constant struggle against Spain would
begin to wear off, that the tilling of the soil would once more become a
profitable occupation and that the molens which now stood idle through
many days in the year would once more become a vast storehouse of
revenue for those who had continued to work them.

But in the meanwhile the millers and their families were oft on the
verge of starvation, and some of them eked out a precarious livelihood
by taking in wayfarers who were on their way to and from the cities and
had sundry reasons--into which it was best not to inquire--for
preferring to sleep and eat at one of these out-of-the-way places rather
than in one of the city hostelries.

Diogenes had made previous acquaintance with his present landlord; he
knew him to be a man of discretion and of boundless cupidity, two very
useful qualities when there is a secret to be kept and plenty of money
wherewith to guard it.

Therefore did Diogenes order his companions to convey the jongejuffrouw
to