Chapter 3 - Page 2

therefore, he
rejoined on the Alderman, with that sort of freedom, that the sturdy
Hollanders never failed to use to all offenders, regardless alike of rank
or personal qualities.

"Der wind-gall and Aldermen!" he growled, in the dialect of the country;
"I should be glad to see the boat in York-bay that can show the Milk-Maid
her stern! The Mayor and council-men had better order the tide to turn
when they please; and then as each man will think of his own pleasure, a
pretty set of whirlpools they will give us in the harbor!"

The schipper, having delivered himself of his sentiments, to this effect,
resumed his pipe, like a man who felt he deserved the meed of victory,
whether he were to receive it, or not.

"It is useless to dispute with an obstinate man," muttered the Alderman
making his way through vegetable baskets, butter-tubs, and all the
garniture of a market-boat, to the place occupied by his niece, in the
stern-sheets. "Good morrow to thee Alida dear; early rising will make a
flower-garden of thy cheeks, and the fresh air of the Lust in Rust will
give even thy roses a deeper bloom."

The mollified burgher then saluted the cheek whose bloom had been deepened
by his remark, with a warmth that showed he was not without natural
affection; touched his hat, in return for a low bow that he received from
an aged white man-servant; in a clean but ancient livery; and nodded to a
young negress, whose second-hand finery sufficiently showed she was a
personal attendant of the heiress.

A second glance at Alida de Barbérie was scarcely necessary to betray her
mixed descent. From her Norman father, a Huguenot of the petite noblesse,
she had inherited her raven hair, the large, brilliant coal-black eyes, in
which wildness was singularly relieved by sweetness, a classical and
faultless profile, and a form which was both taller and more flexible than
commonly fell to the lot of the damsels of Holland. From her mother, la
belle Barbérie, as the maiden was often playfully termed, had received a
skin, fair and spotless as the flower of France, and a bloom which
rivalled the rich tints of an evening sky in her native land. Some of the
em bon point, for which the sister of the Alderman had been a little
remarkable, had descended also to her fairer daughter. In Alida, however,
this peculiarity did not exceed the fullness which became her years,
rounding her person and softening the outlines of her form, rather than
diminishing its ease and grace These personal advantages were embellished
by a neat but modest travelling habit, a little beaver that was shaded by
a cluster of drooping feathers, and a mien that, under the embarrassment
of her situation