Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-05-25

II they escaped the clutches OF q tyfan-
meal government, would they be safe in
| the times that were coming from the VIC
lence of an i'll paid soldiery? The answer
was doubtful, or rather 1t was too certain.
sometimes wondered how he could pa
tiently forescc such possibilities and take
10 steps, whatever the risk, to prevent
them. At first 1 thought his patience
| sprang from the Dutch character. Later I
traced its deeper roots to simplicity Of
faith end o deep religious feeling. which
either did not at that time exist In Eng
land or existed only among people with
whom had never come into contact.
Here they seemed common enough and
| real enough. These folks faith sustained
them 1t was part of their lives-a bull
wark against the fear that otherwise
would have overwhelmed them. And to
an extent, too, which then surprised me,
found, as time went Oh, that the duchess
and Master BERTHE shared this enthusiasm,
although with them it took less obtru
| sive form.
was led at the time to think q good
deal about this, and just a word may say
| of myself and of those days spent on the
Rhine island-that whereas before had
| taken but alukewarm interest in religious
questions, and while clinging instructive
| ~ to the teaching of my childhood had
| conformed with light heart rather than
annoy my uUcle, l came to think some
what differently now, differently and
more seriously. And so have continued
| to think since, though have never be-
como a bigot, a fact I owe perhaps to
| Mistress Dymphna, in whose tender heart
| there was room for charity as well as faith,
| for she was my teacher.
OF necessity, since no other of our party
| could communicate with her, / became
more or less the Dutch girls companion.
| l would often Of an evening join her on a
| wooden bench which stood under an elm
| ON little spit of grass looking toward the
| city and at some distance from the house.
Here, when the weather was warm, she
would watch for her fathers return, and
here one day, while talking with her,
had the opportunity of witnessing sight
| unknown in England, but which year by
| year was to become more common in the
| Netherlands. more heavily fraught with
| menace in Netherland eyes.
We happened to be SO deeply engaged in
| watching tho upper end of the reach at
the time in question, where we expected
each moment to sec Master Lindstrom's
| boat round the point, that we saw nothing
of a boat coming the other way until the
| Tapping of it's sails as it tackled drew our
| eyes toward it. Even then in the boat it.
self saw nothing strange, but in its pas
| sengers l did. They were swarthy, mus
tachioed men, who in the hundred poses
| they assumed, rs they lounged on deck or
leaned over the side, never lost peculiar
air of bravado. AS they drew nearer to us
the sound of their loud voices their oaths
and laughter reached us plainly and
seemed to jar on the evening stiffness.
| Their bold, fierce eyes, raking the banks
increasingly, reached us at last. The girl
by my side uttered q cry of alarm and rose
as If to retreat. But she sat down again,
for behind us was an open stretch Of turf,
and to escape unseen was impossible. Al
ready score of eyes had marked her
beauty, and as the boat drew abreast of us
/ had to listen to the ribald jests and
laughter CT those on board. My ears tin
gled and my checks burned. But could
do nothing. could only glare at them
and grind my teeth.
''Who arc they?" muttered. 1.-THE
cowardly knaves!"
"Oh, hush! hush!" the girl pleaded.
She had retreated behind mo. And indeed
l need not have put my question, fOr
though had never seen the Spanish sol.
diery had heard enough about them to
r cognize them now. In the year 1856
treis reputation was at its height. Their
| fathers had overcome the Moors after a
contest of centuries, and they themselves
had overrun Italy and lowered the pride
OF France. AS result, they had many
| military virtues and all the military vices
Proud, bloodthirsty and liccntious every.
where, it may be imagined that in the
subject Netherlands, with their pay al
ways in arrcar, they were indeed people tt
be feared. 1t was seldom that even theil
commanders dared to check their excuses
Yet when the first flush of my angel
had subsidized looked after them, odd a:
it may seem, with mingled feelings. Will
all their faults they were few against
many, conquerinG race in foreign
land. They could boast of blood and dc
scent They were proud to call themselve:
the soldiers and gentlemen of Europe.
was against them, yet l admired then
with boy s admiration for the strong an,
reckless.
OF course said nothing of this to my
companion. Indeed, when she spoke t.
me, did not hear her. My thoughts hat
flown far from the bursher's daughter sit
ting by me and were with my grandmoth
er's people. l saw, in imagination, tn,
up;ands of Old CASTLE, as had Otter
heard them described, hot in summer ant
bleak in winter. 1 pictured the dark
frowning walls of Toledo, with its hun
dred Moorish trophies. the castles tina
crowned the hills around the gray div,
groves and the box clad slopes. I saw Pa
. lencia, where my grandmother, PctrOnill;
de Vargas, was born; Palencia, dry ant
brown and sun baked, lying squat an.
low on its plain, the caves Of its Cathcdra
a mans height from the ground. All thi
I saw. suppose the Spanish blood in IN
awoke and asserted itself at sight of thos
other Spaniards. And then-then forgo
it all as heard behind me an alien voice
and I vurned and found Dymphna ha,
stolen from me and was talking to
stranger.