Lysbeth | Page 2

sheet of snow, while, instead of boats and barges, skaters
glided up and down the frozen surface of the canals, which were swept
for their convenience. Outside the walls of the town, not far from the
Morsch poort, or gate, the surface of the broad moat which surrounded
them presented a sight as gay as it was charming. Just here one of the
branches of the Rhine ran into this moat, and down it came the
pleasure-seekers in sledges, on skates, or afoot. They were dressed,
most of them, in their best attire, for the day was a holiday set apart for
a kind of skating carnival, with sleighing matches, such games as
curling, and other amusements.

Among these merry folk might have been seen a young lady of two or
three and twenty years of age, dressed in a coat of dark green cloth
trimmed with fur, and close-fitting at the waist. This coat opened in
front, showing a broidered woollen skirt, but over the bust it was tightly
buttoned and surmounted by a stiff ruff of Brussels lace. Upon her head
she wore a high-crowned beaver hat, to which the nodding ostrich
feather was fastened by a jewelled ornament of sufficient value to show
that she was a person of some means. In fact, this lady was the only
child of a sea captain and shipowner named Carolus van Hout, who,
whilst still a middle-aged man, had died about a year before, leaving
her heiress to a very considerable fortune. This circumstance, with the
added advantages of a very pretty face, in which were set two deep and
thoughtful grey eyes, and a figure more graceful than was common
among the Netherlander women, caused Lysbeth van Hout to be much
sought after and admired, especially by the marriageable bachelors of
Leyden.
On this occasion, however, she was unescorted except by a serving
woman somewhat older than herself, a native of Brussels, Greta by
name, who in appearance was as attractive as in manner she was
suspiciously discreet.
As Lysbeth skated down the canal towards the moat many of the good
burghers of Leyden took off their caps to her, especially the young
burghers, one or two of whom had hopes that she would choose them to
be her cavalier for this day's fete. Some of the elders, also, asked her if
she would care to join their parties, thinking that, as she was an orphan
without near male relations, she might be glad of their protection in
times when it was wise for beautiful young women to be protected.
With this excuse and that, however, she escaped from them all, for
Lysbeth had already made her own arrangements.
At that date there was living in Leyden a young man of four or five and
twenty, named Dirk van Goorl, a distant cousin of her own. Dirk was a
native of the little town of Alkmaar, and the second son of one of its
leading citizens, a brass founder by trade. As in the natural course of
events the Alkmaar business would descend to his elder brother, their

father appointed him to a Leyden firm, in which, after eight or nine
years of hard work, he had become a junior partner. While he was still
living, Lysbeth's father had taken a liking to the lad, with the result that
he grew intimate at the house which, from the first, was open to him as
a kinsman. After the death of Carolus van Hout, Dirk had continued to
visit there, especially on Sundays, when he was duly and
ceremoniously received by Lysbeth's aunt, a childless widow named
Clara van Ziel, who acted as her guardian. Thus, by degrees, favoured
with such ample opportunity, a strong affection had sprung up between
these two young people, although as yet they were not affianced, nor
indeed had either of them said a word of open love to the other.
This abstinence may seem strange, but some explanation of their self-
restraint was to be found in Dirk's character. In mind he was patient,
very deliberate in forming his purposes, and very sure in carrying them
out. He felt impulses like other men, but he did not give way to them.
For two years or more he had loved Lysbeth, but being somewhat slow
at reading the ways of women he was not quite certain that she loved
him, and above everything on earth he dreaded a rebuff. Moreover he
knew her to be an heiress, and as his own means were still humble, and
his expectations from his father small, he did not feel justified in asking
her in marriage until his position was more assured. Had the Captain
Carolus still been living the case would have been different, for then he
could have gone