Was it right to abandon the young wife, who had held out a saving hand in her distress?  Yet how much nearer was her own sister than this stranger!  Each day that she allowed herself to linger in this peaceful asylum, seemed like a theft from Anna—­since she had read in a letter from her to her husband, the only one the dead man’s pouch contained, that she was ill and sunk in poverty with her child.

Help was needed here, and no one save herself could offer it.

With aid from Barbara and Maria, she packed her clothes.  At noon everything was ready for her departure, and she would not be withheld from eating in the dining-room with the family.  Peter was prevented from coming to dinner, Henrica took his seat and, under the mask of loud, forced mirth, concealed the grief and anxieties that filled her heart.  At twilight Maria and the children followed her into her room, and she now had the harp brought and sang.  At first her voice failed to reach many a note, but as the snow falling from the mountain peaks to the plains at first slides slowly, then rapidly increases in bulk and power, her tones gradually gained fulness and irresistible might and, when at last she rested the harp against the wall and walked to the chair exhausted, Maria clasped her hand and said with deep emotion: 

“Stay with us, Henrica.”

“I ought not,” replied the girl.

“You are enough for each other.  Shall I take you with me, children?” Adrian lowered his eyes in embarrassment, but Bessie jumped into her lap, exclaiming.

“Where are you going?  Stay with us.”

Just at that moment some one knocked at the door, and Peter entered.  It was evident that he brought no good tidings.  His request had been refused.  The council had almost unanimously voted an assent to Van Bronkhorst’s proposition, that the young lady, as a relation of prominent friends of Spain among the Netherland nobility, should be kept in the city.  Peter’s representations were unheeded; he now frankly told Henrica what a conflict he had had, and entreated her to have patience and be content to remain in his house as a welcome guest.

The young girl interrupted him with many a passionate exclamation of indignation, and when she grew calmer, cried: 

“Oh, you men, you men!  I would gladly stay with you, but you know from what this base deed of violence detains me.  And then:  to be a prisoner, to live weeks, months, without mass and without confession.  Yet first and last-merciful Heavens, what will become of my unfortunate sister?”

Maria gazed beseechingly at Peter, and the latter said: 

“If you desire the consolations of your religion, I will send Father Damianus to you, and you can hear mass with the Grey Sisters, who live beside us, as often as you desire.  We are not fighting against your religion, but for the free exercise of every faith, and the whole city stands open to you.  My wife will help you bear your anxiety about your sister far better than I could do, but let me say this:  wherever and however I can help you, it shall be done, and not merely in words.”