"
"If I come across him, I will bring it to an end, and that
quickly," Rupert said, wrathfully. "At any rate, I think that the
burgomaster ought to take steps to protect the house."
"The council laugh at the idea of danger," Van Duyk said. "To them
the idea that I should be charged with dealing with the enemy is so
supremely ridiculous that they make light of it, and are inclined
to think that the state of things I describe is purely a matter of
my own imagination. If I were attacked they would come as quickly
as they could to my aid; but they may be all too late.
"There is one thing, Rupert. This enemy hates you, and desires your
death as much as he wishes to carry off my daughter, and through
her to become possessed of my money bags. If, then, this work is
his doing, assuredly he will bring it to a head while you are here,
so as to gratify both his hate and his greed at once."
"It is a pity that you cannot make some public statement, that
unless your daughter marries a man of whom you approve you will
give her no fortune whatever."
"I might do that," Van Duyk said; "but he knows that if he forced
her to marry him, I should still give her my money. In the second
place, she has a large fortune of her own, that came to her through
her mother. And lastly, I believe that it is not marriage he wishes
now, for he must be sure that Maria would die rather than accept
him, but to carry her off, and then place some enormous sum as a
ransom on condition of her being restored safe and unharmed to me.
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