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He started, and exclaimed: "There is that rascal, Sir Richard Fulke!" "Where?" exclaimed both his companions. "He has gone now," Rupert said. "But he stood there in shadow, at the entrance to that lane." So saying, he hurried forward, but no sign of his enemy was visible. "Are you sure it was he?" Mynheer Von Duyk asked. "What can he be doing in Holland?"
"And why do you not think that either up or down the river they will overtake them?" Van Duyk asked Rupert, as the officer left the room. "Because they will know that a fleet horseman will pass them; and that by morning the people at the towns on the banks will all be on the lookout for them.
Van Duyk listened with great attention, and promised that when he went shortly to Haarlem he would use all his influence to abbreviate the powers which the deputies so unwisely used. Two or three days before the date fixed for Rupert's departure, he was walking in the town with Mynheer Von Duyk and his daughter, when he observed a person gazing intently at him from the entrance to a small bylane.
Had the men in custody been brought up this morning, there would have been no choice but to have carried the matter through. It was then a relief to us to find that they had escaped. I have told you this, young sir, as your due after having rescued Mistress Von Duyk from so great a peril.
He had paid him six months' rent in advance, and had received the keys of the house. He believed that some of his party had arrived, as he had himself seen two men go in, but the house was certainly not yet open for business. Rupert, who had been all day at work following out other clues given by persons who had come forward, returned just as Mynheer van Duyk came back with the news.
It is difficult to see what he proposes to himself by stirring up a party against me; but he might have some scheme which we cannot fathom. Our Dutchmen are slow but obstinate, and once they get an idea in their head it is difficult to discharge." "You do not fear any public tumult, surely?" Rupert said. "I do not anticipate it, and yet I regard it as possible," Van Duyk said.
He explained to them exactly the steps which had been taken, and his opinion as to the true state of things; and bade them think the matter over in every light, and to come to him at daybreak, and let him know if any plan for the conduct of the search had occurred to them. The result of the night's thoughts and of the morning's deliberations was conveyed to Mynheer van Duyk by Rupert.
Then he took horse again, and rode to Dort. Mynheer van Duyk and Maria were delighted to see him; and Hugh and Sedley were hospitably received by the servants, with whom Hugh had, on the occasion of his last visit, made himself a prime favourite. For the first day of their arrival Rupert had all the talking to do, and his adventures to relate from the time he set sail from Dort.
It was considered certain by Rupert and Van Duyk that Maria was either already confined in that boat, or that she would be taken there when it was considered safe to start. A close scrutiny of the boat with a telescope showed that two men were on board her. They appeared to be smoking, and idling about.
Rupert had written over to say how glad he should be to see them at his marriage, but that he could not think of asking them to come so far. Mynheer van Duyk had, however, written to say that he and his daughter would certainly come, for that regarding Rupert as a son it would be extraordinary indeed for him to be absent.
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