第65章 Volume 2(29)

Rose blushed and smiled.'Such faces and such tempers seldom go together,and,when they do,the compound is a love-potion which few heads or hearts can resist.Trust me,thou wilt soon be a bride,girl.But this is trifling,and I am pressed for time,so make ready the large room by eight o'clock to-night,and give directions for supper at nine.I expect a friend to-night;and observe me,child,do thou trick thyself out handsomely.I would not have him think us poor or sluttish.'

With these words he left the chamber,and took his way to the room to which we have already had occasion to introduce our readers--that in which his pupils worked.

When the evening closed in,Gerard called Schalken,who was about to take his departure to his obscure and comfortless lodgings,and asked him to come home and sup with Rose and Vanderhausen.

The invitation was of course accepted,and Gerard Douw and his pupil soon found themselves in the handsome and somewhat antique-looking room which had been prepared for the reception of the stranger.

A cheerful wood-fire blazed in the capacious hearth;a little at one side an old-fashioned table,with richly-carved legs,was placed--destined,no doubt,to receive the supper,for which preparations were going forward;and ranged with exact regularity,stood the tall-backed chairs,whose ungracefulness was more than counterbalanced by their comfort.

The little party,consisting of Rose,her uncle,and the artist,awaited the arrival of the expected visitor with considerable impatience.

Nine o'clock at length came,and with it a summons at the street-door,which,being speedily answered,was followed by a slow and emphatic tread upon the staircase;the steps moved heavily across the lobby,the door of the room in which the party which we have described were assembled slowly opened,and there entered a figure which startled,almost appalled,the phlegmatic Dutchmen,and nearly made Rose scream with affright;it was the form,and arrayed in the garb,of Mynher Vanderhausen;the air,the gait,the height was the same,but the features had never been seen by any of the party before.

The stranger stopped at the door of the room,and displayed his form and face completely.He wore a dark-coloured cloth cloak,which was short and full,not falling quite to the knees;his legs were cased in dark purple silk stockings,and his shoes were adorned with roses of the same colour.The opening of the cloak in front showed the under-suit to consist of some very dark,perhaps sable material,and his hands were enclosed in a pair of heavy leather gloves which ran up considerably above the wrist,in the manner of a gauntlet.

In one hand he carried his walking-stick and his hat,which he had removed,and the other hung heavily by his side.

A quantity of grizzled hair descended in long tresses from his head,and its folds rested upon the plaits of a stiff ruff,which effectually concealed his neck.

So far all was well;but the face!--all the flesh of the face was coloured with the bluish leaden hue which is sometimes pro-duced by the operation of metallic medicines administered in excessive quantities;the eyes were enormous,and the white appeared both above and below the iris,which gave to them an expression of insanity,which was heightened by their glassy fixedness;the nose was well enough,but the mouth was writhed considerably to one side,where it opened in order to give egress to two long,discoloured fangs,which projected from the upper jaw,far below the lower lip;the hue of the lips themselves bore the usual relation to that of the face,and was consequently nearly black.The character of the face was malignant,even satanic,to the last degree;and,indeed,such a combination of horror could hardly be accounted for,except by supposing the corpse of some atrocious malefactor,which had long hung blackening upon the gibbet,to have at length become the habitation of a demon--the frightful sport of Satanic possession.

It was remarkable that the worshipful stranger suffered as little as possible of his flesh to appear,and that during his visit he did not once remove his gloves.

Having stood for some moments at the door,Gerard Douw at length found breath and collectedness to bid him welcome,and,with a mute inclination of the head,the stranger stepped forward into the room.

There was something indescribably odd,even horrible,about all his motions,something undefinable,that was unnatural,un-human--it was as if the limbs were guided and directed by a spirit unused to the management of bodily machinery.

The stranger said hardly anything during his visit,which did not exceed half an hour;and the host himself could scarcely muster courage enough to utter the few necessary salutations and courtesies:and,indeed,such was the nervous terror which the presence of Vanderhausen inspired,that very little would have made all his entertainers fly bellowing from the room.

They had not so far lost all self-possession,however,as to fail to observe two strange peculiarities of their visitor.

During his stay he did not once suffer his eyelids to close,nor even to move in the slightest degree;and further,there was a death-like stillness in his whole person,owing to the total absence of the heaving motion of the chest,caused by the process of respiration.

These two peculiarities,though when told they may appear trifling,produced a very striking and unpleasant effect when seen and observed.Vanderhausen at length relieved the painter of Leyden of his inauspicious presence;and with no small gratification the little party heard the street-door close after him.

'Dear uncle,'said Rose,'what a frightful man!I would not see him again for the wealth of the States!'

'Tush,foolish girl!'said Douw,whose sensations were anything but comfortable.