CHAPTER VIII
“TRANQUIL AMID RAGING BILLOWS”
JACQUELINE was not at home when Gysbert arrived hot and breathless. She had been out all morning with Dr. de Witt on their usual errand of mercy, and Vrouw Voorhaas declared with much sullen complaining, that she could not be expected for an hour yet. So the boy was compelled to fret and wander about idly till she appeared. When she came she looked desperately tired, but she ascended cheerfully to the dove-cote with her brother, which place he chose as the safest and most secluded in which to impart his secret.
“I had the greatest adventure this morning, Jacqueline!” he began. And while she listened eagerly, petting the smooth head of her finest pigeon and coaxing him with a lit-
