第66章 Volume 2(30)

'A man may be as ugly as the devil,and yet if his heart and actions are good,he is worth all the pretty-faced,perfumed puppies that walk the Mall.Rose,my girl,it is very true he has not thy pretty face,but I know him to be wealthy and liberal;and were he ten times more ugly--'

'Which is inconceivable,'observed Rose.

'These two virtues would be sufficient,'

continued her uncle,'to counterbalance all his deformity;and if not of power sufficient actually to alter the shape of the features,at least of efficacy enough to prevent one thinking them amiss.'

'Do you know,uncle,'said Rose,'when I saw him standing at the door,I could not get it out of my head that I saw the old,painted,wooden figure that used to frighten me so much in the church of St.

Laurence of Rotterdam.'

Gerard laughed,though he could not help inwardly acknowledging the justness of the comparison.He was resolved,however,as far as he could,to check his niece's inclination to ridicule the ugliness of her intended bridegroom,although he was not a little pleased to observe that she appeared totally exempt from that mysterious dread of the stranger which,he could not disguise it from himself,considerably affected him,as also his pupil Godfrey Schalken.

Early on the next day there arrived,from various quarters of the town,rich presents of silks,velvets,jewellery,and so forth,for Rose;and also a packet directed to Gerard Douw,which,on being opened,was found to contain a contract of marriage,formally drawn up,between Wilken Vanderhausen of the Boom-quay,in Rotterdam,and Rose Velderkaust of Leyden,niece to Gerard Douw,master in the art of painting,also of the same city;and containing engagements on the part of Vanderhausen to make settlements upon his bride,far more splendid than he had before led her guardian to believe likely,and which were to be secured to her use in the most unexceptionable manner possible--the money being placed in the hands of Gerard Douw himself.

I have no sentimental scenes to describe,no cruelty of guardians,or magnanimity of wards,or agonies of lovers.The record Ihave to make is one of sordidness,levity,and interest.In less than a week after the first interview which we have just described,the contract of marriage was fulfilled,and Schalken saw the prize which he would have risked anything to secure,carried off triumphantly by his formidable rival.

For two or three days he absented himself from the school;he then returned and worked,if with less cheerfulness,with far more dogged resolution than before;the dream of love had given place to that of ambition.

Months passed away,and,contrary to his expectation,and,indeed,to the direct promise of the parties,Gerard Douw heard nothing of his niece,or her worshipful spouse.The interest of the money,which was to have been demanded in quarterly sums,lay unclaimed in his hands.He began to grow extremely uneasy.

Mynher Vanderhausen's direction in Rotterdam he was fully possessed of.After some irresolution he finally determined to journey thither--a trifling undertaking,and easily accomplished--and thus to satisfy himself of the safety and comfort of his ward,for whom he entertained an honest and strong affection.

His search was in vain,however.No one in Rotterdam had ever heard of Mynher Vanderhausen.

Gerard Douw left not a house in the Boom-quay untried;but all in vain.No one could give him any information whatever touching the object of his inquiry;and he was obliged to return to Leyden,nothing wiser than when he had left it.

On his arrival he hastened to the establishment from which Vanderhausen had hired the lumbering though,considering the times,most luxurious vehicle which the bridal party had employed to convey them to Rotterdam.From the driver of this machine he learned,that having proceeded by slow stages,they had late in the evening approached Rotterdam;but that before they entered the city,and while yet nearly a mile from it,a small party of men,soberly clad,and after the old fashion,with peaked beards and moustaches,standing in the centre of the road,obstructed the further progress of the car-riage.The driver reined in his horses,much fearing,from the obscurity of the hour,and the loneliness of the road,that some mischief was intended.

His fears were,however,somewhat allayed by his observing that these strange men carried a large litter,of an antique shape,and which they immediately set down upon the pavement,whereupon the bridegroom,having opened the coach-door from within,descended,and having assisted his bride to do likewise,led her,weeping bitterly and wringing her hands,to the litter,which they both entered.It was then raised by the men who surrounded it,and speedily carried towards the city,and before it had proceeded many yards the darkness concealed it from the view of the Dutch charioteer.

In the inside of the vehicle he found a purse,whose contents more than thrice paid the hire of the carriage and man.

He saw and could tell nothing more of Mynher Vanderhausen and his beautiful lady.This mystery was a source of deep anxiety and almost of grief to Gerard Douw.

There was evidently fraud in the dealing of Vanderhausen with him,though for what purpose committed he could not imagine.

He greatly doubted how far it was possible for a man possessing in his countenance so strong an evidence of the presence of the most demoniac feelings,to be in reality anything but a villain;and every day that passed without his hearing from or of his niece,instead of inducing him to forget his fears,on the contrary tended more and more to exasperate them.