Chapter 29 - Page 2

hand
and led her to a chair, scarce knowing what to say to relieve her mind. All
this time, her eye never turned from mine, as if she hoped to learn the
truth by the aid of the sense of sight alone. How anxious, jealous,
distrustful, and yet beseeching was that gaze!

"Will he be tortured?" She rather whispered huskily, than asked aloud.

"I trust, by God's mercy, not. They have taken my slave, Jaap, also; and it
is far more probable that _he_ would be the victim, in such a case, than
Mr. Ten Eyck--"

"Why do you call him Mr. Ten Eyck? You have always called him Guert of
late--you are his friend--you think well of him--you cannot be less his
friend, now that he is miserable, than when he was happy, and the pride of
all human eyes, in his strength and manly beauty!"

"Dear Miss Wallace, compose yourself, I do entreat of you--no one will
cling to Guert longer than I."

"Yes; I have always thought this--always _felt_ this. Guert cannot be
low, or mean in his sentiments, while an educated gentleman, like Corny
Littlepage, is his friend. I have written to my aunt, and we must not be
too hasty in our judgments. The spirit and follies of youth will soon be
over, and then we shall see a shining character in Guert Ten Eyck. Is not
this true, Anneke?"

Anneke knelt at the side of her friend, folded her in her arms, drew the
quivering head down upon her own sympathising bosom, and held it there a
moment, in the very attitude of protecting, solacing love. After a brief
pause, Mary Wallace burst into tears, and I have ever thought that that
relief, under God's mercy, saved her reason. In a few minutes, the sufferer
became more calm, when she retired into herself, as was her wont, leaving
Anneke and me to discuss the subject.

After turning all the chances and probabilities in our minds, I promised my
companions not to lose a moment, but to use immediate means of ascertaining
all that could be ascertained, in Guert's behalf, and of doing everything
that could be done, to save him.

"You will not deceive me, Corny," whispered Mary Wallace, pressing my hand
at leave-taking, in both her own. "I know I can depend on _you_, for he
_boasts_ of being your friend."

Anneke's painful smile added force to this request, and I tore myself away
unwilling to quit such a sufferer, yet unable to remain. Herman Mordaunt
was seen conversing with Susquesus, in the court, and I joined him at once,
determined to lose no time.

"I was speaking to the Trackless on this very subject," answered Herman
Mordaunt, as soon as I had explained my purpose, "and am now waiting for
his answer. Do you think it, then, safe to