CHAPTER VII
HENDRIK BRANT HAS A VISITOR
Nine months had gone by, and for more then eight of them Lysbeth hadbeen known as the Countess Juan de Montalvo. Indeed of this there couldbe no doubt, since she was married with some ceremony by the Bishop inthe Groote Kerk before the eyes of all men. Folk had wondered much atthese hurried nuptials, though some of the more ill-natured shruggedtheir shoulders and said that when a young woman had compromisedherself by long and lonely drives with a Spanish cavalier, and was inconsequence dropped by her own admirer, why the best thing she could dowas to marry as soon as possible.
So the pair, who looked handsome enough before the altar, were wed,and went to taste of such nuptial bliss as was reserved for them inLysbeth's comfortable house in the Bree Straat. Here they lived almostalone, for Lysbeth's countrymen and women showed their disapprovalof her conduct by avoiding her company, and, for reasons of his own,Montalvo did not encourage the visiting of Spaniards at his house.Moreover, the servants were changed, while Tante Clara and the girlGreta had also disappeared. Indeed, Lysbeth, finding out the falsepart which they had played towards her, dismissed them both before hermarriage.
It will be guessed that after the events that led to their union Lysbethtook little pleasure in her husband's society. She was not one of thosewomen who can acquiesce in marriage by fraud or capture, and even learnto love the hand which snared them. So it came about that to Montalvoshe spoke very seldom; indeed after the first week of marriage she onlysaw him on rare occasions. Very soon he found out that his presence washateful to her, and turned her detestation to account with his usualcleverness. In other words, Lysbeth bought freedom by parting with herproperty--in fact, a regular tariff was established, so many guildersfor a week's liberty, so many for a month's.
This was an arrangement that suited Montalvo well enough, for in hisheart he was terrified of this woman, whose beautiful face had frozeninto a perpetual mask of watchful hatred. He could not forget thatfrightful curse which had taken deep root in his superstitious mind, andalready seemed to flourish there, for it was true that since she spokeit he had never known a quiet hour. How could he when he was hauntednight and day by the fear lest his wife should murder him?
Surely, if ever Death looked out of a woman's eyes it looked out ofhers, and it seemed to him that such a deed might trouble her consciencelittle; that she might consider it in the light of an execution, and notas a murder. Bah! he could not bear to think of it. What would it beto drink his wine one day and then feel a hand of fire gripping at hisvitals because poison had been set within the cup; or, worse still,if anything could be worse, to wake at night and find a stiletto pointgrating against his backbone? Little wonder that Montalvo slept aloneand was always careful to lock his door.
He need not have taken such precautions; whatever her eyes might say,Lysbeth had no intention of killing this man. In that prayer of hers shehad, as it were, placed the matter in the hand of a higher Power, andthere she meant to leave it, feeling quite convinced that althoughvengeance might tarry it would fall at last. As for her money, he couldhave it. From the beginning her instinct told her that her husband'sobject was not amorous, but purely monetary, a fact of which she soonhad plentiful proof, and her great, indeed her only hope was that whenthe wealth was gone he would go too. An otter, says the Dutch proverb,does not nest in a dry dyke.
But oh! what months those were, what dreadful months! From time to timeshe saw her husband--when he wanted cash--and every night she heard himreturning home, often with unsteady steps. Twice or thrice a week alsoshe was commanded to prepare a luxurious meal for himself and some sixor eight companions, to be followed by a gambling party at which thestakes ruled high. Then in the morning, before he was up, strange peoplewould arrive, Jews some of them, and wait till they could see him, orcatch him as he slipped from the house by a back way. These men, Lysbethdiscovered, were duns seeking payment of old debts. Under such constantcalls her fortune, which if substantial was not great, melted rapidly.Soon the ready money was gone, then the shares in certain ships weresold, then the land and the house itself were mortgaged.
So the time went on.
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