“Yes, I know her, and I knew her father.  He left her house, furniture, jewellery, and thirty thousand crowns, which are placed out at good interest.  A nice fortune for a gallant who wants money, but it will be Dirk van Goorl’s, not yours.”

“Ah! that is just the point.  Now what do you know about Dirk van Goorl?”

“A respectable, hard-working burgher, son of well-to-do parents, brass-workers who live at Alkmaar.  Honest, but not very clever; the kind of man who grows rich, becomes a Burgomaster, founds a hospital for the poor, and has a fine monument put up to his memory.”

“Mother, the cold water has dulled your wits.  When I ask you about a man I want to learn what you know against him.”

“Naturally, Excellency, naturally, but against this one I can tell you nothing.  He has no lovers, he does not gamble, he does not drink except a glass after dinner.  He works in his factory all day, goes to bed early, rises early, and calls on the Jufvrouw van Hout on Sundays; that is all.”

“Where does he attend Mass?”

“At the Groote Kerke once a week, but he does not take the Sacrament or go to confession.”

“That sounds bad, mother, very bad.  You don’t mean to say that he is a heretic?”

“Probably he is, Excellency; most of them are about here.”

“Dear me, how very shocking.  Do you know, I should not like that excellent young woman, a good Catholic too, like you and me, mother, to become mixed up with one of these dreadful heretics, who might expose her to all sorts of dangers.  For, mother, who can touch pitch and not be defiled?”

“You waste time, Excellency,” replied his visitor with a snort.  “What do you want?”

“Well, in the interests of this young lady, I want to prove that this man is a heretic, and it has struck me that—­as one accustomed to this sort of thing—­you might be able to find the evidence.”

“Indeed, Excellency, and has it struck you what my face would look like after I had thrust my head into a wasp’s nest for your amusement?  Do you know what it means to me if I go peering about among the heretics of Leyden?  Well, I will tell you; it means that I should be killed.  They are a strong lot, and a determined lot, and so long as you leave them alone they will leave you alone, but if you interfere with them, why then it is good night.  Oh! yes, I know all about the law and the priests and the edicts and the Emperor.  But the Emperor cannot burn a whole people, and though I hate them, I tell you,” she added, standing up suddenly and speaking in a fierce, convinced voice, “that in the end the law and the edicts and the priests will get the worst of this fight.  Yes, these Hollanders will beat them all and cut the throats of you Spaniards, and thrust those of you who are left alive out of their country, and spit upon your memories and worship God in their own fashion, and be proud and free, when you are dogs gnawing the bones of your greatness; dogs kicked back into your kennels to rot there.  Those are not my own words,” said Meg in a changed voice as she sat down again.  “They are the words of that devil, Martha the Mare, which she spoke in my hearing when we had her on the rack, but somehow I think that they will come true, and that is why I always remember them.”