The Laughing Cavalier by Baroness Orczy (best 7 inch ereader .TXT) 📕

a letter writ by me to the banker Ben Isaje of Rotterdam. He knows Jongejuffrouw Beresteyn well by sight, and in my letter I will ask him, firstly, to ascertain from herself if she is well and safe, and secondly to see that she is at once conveyed, still under your escort, to his private residence which is situate some little distance out of the city between Schiedam and Overschie on the way to Delft, and lastly, to hand over to you the balance of 3,000 guilders still due then by me to you.”

He paused a moment to draw breath after the lengthy peroration, then, as Diogenes made no comment, he said somewhat impatiently:

“I hope, sir, that all these arrangements meet with your approval!”

“They fill me with profound respect for you, sir, and admiration for your administrative capacities,” replied Diogenes, with studied politeness.

“Indeed I do flatter myself⁠ ⁠…” quoth the other.

“Not without reason, sir. The marvellous way in which you have provided for the safety of three-fourths of your money, and hardly at all for that of your sister, fills me with envy which I cannot control.”

“Insolent⁠ ⁠…”

“No, no, my good sir,” interposed Diogenes blandly, “we have already agreed that we are not going to quarrel, you and I⁠ ⁠… we have too great a need for one another; for that 3,000 guilders⁠—which, after deductions, will be my profit in this matter⁠—means a fortune to a penniless adventurer, and you are shrewd enough to have gauged that fact, else you had not come to me with such a proposal. I will do you service, sir, for the 3,000 guilders which will enable me to live a life of independence in the future, and also for another reason, which I would not care to put into words, and which you, sir, would fail to understand. So let us say no more about all these matters. I agree to your proposals and you accept my services. Tonight at ten o’clock I will meet you at the halfway house which stands in the hamlet of Bennebrock at the crossroads where a signpost points the way to Leyden.”

“Tonight! That’s brave!” exclaimed Beresteyn. “You read my thoughts, sir, even before I could tell you that delay in this affair would render it useless.”

“Tonight then, sir,” said Diogenes in conclusion, “I pray you have no fear of failure. The jongejuffrouw will sleep at Leyden, or somewhere near there, this night. The city is distant but half-a-dozen leagues, and we can reach it easily by midnight. From thence in the morning we can continue our journey, and should be in sight of Rotterdam twenty-four hours later. For the rest, as you say, the manner of our journey doth not concern you. If the frost continues and we can travel by sledge all the way we could reach Rotterdam in two days; in any event, even if a thaw were to set in we should not be more than three days on the way.”

He rose from his chair and stood now facing Beresteyn. His tall figure, stretched to its full height, seemed to tower above the other man, though the latter was certainly not short; but Diogenes looked massive⁠—a young lion sniffing the scent of the desert. The mocking glance, the curve of gentle irony were still there in eyes and mouth, but the nostrils quivered with excitement, with the spirit of adventure which never slept so soundly but that it awakened at a word.

“And now, sir,” he said, “there are two matters both of equal importance, which we must settle ere I can get to work.”

“What may these be, sir?”

“Firstly the question of money. I have not the wherewithal to make preparations. I shall have to engage a sleigh for tonight, horses, an escort as far as Leyden. I shall have to make payments for promises of secrecy.⁠ ⁠…”

“That is just, sir. Would 200 guilders meet this difficulty?”

“Five hundred would be safer,” said Diogenes airily, “and you may deduct that sum from your first payment at Bennebrock.”

Beresteyn did not choose to notice the impertinent tone which rang through the other man’s speech. Without wasting further words, he took a purse from his wallet, and sitting down on one corner of the model’s platform, he emptied the contents of the purse upon it.

He counted out five hundred guilders, partly in silver and partly in gold. These he replaced in the purse and then handed it over to Diogenes. The latter had not moved from his position during this time, standing as he did at some little distance so that Beresteyn had to get up in order to hand him the money. Diogenes acknowledged its receipt with a courteous bow.

“And what is the other matter, sir?” asked Nicolaes, after he had placed the rest of his money back into his wallet, “what is the other matter which we have failed to settle?”

“The jongejuffrouw, sir.⁠ ⁠… I am a comparative stranger in Haarlem.⁠ ⁠… I do not know the illustrious lady by sight.”

“True, I had not thought of that. But this omission can very easily be remedied⁠ ⁠… if you, sir, will kindly call our friend Hals; he has, an I mistake not, more than one sketch of my sister in his studio and a half-finished portrait of her as well.”

“Then I pray you, sir,” rejoined Diogenes airily, “do you go and acquaint our mutual friend of your desire to show me the half-finished portrait of the jongejuffrouw, for I must now exchange this gorgeous doublet of a prosperous cavalier for one more suited to this day’s purpose.”

And he immediately proceeded to undress without paying the slightest heed to Beresteyn’s look of offended dignity.

It was no use being angry with this independent knave; Nicolaes Beresteyn had found that out by now, therefore he thought it best to appear indifferent to this new display of impudence and himself to go and seek out Frans Hals as if this had been his own intention all along.

Inwardly fuming but without uttering another word he