Part 47 (2/2)
”Well done. That should have been burnt as soon as it was written.”
It was not long before Hendrick began to regret his rash promise. The French army was advancing toward Amsterdam again, delayed only by the mopping up of quite ill-fortified places that could have done little harm. It was as if Louis XIV's l.u.s.t for conquest made it impossible for him not to place his seal on everything in his path for miles around. At Utrecht he had celebrated with ceremonial reviews of his troops and banquets while, according to rumors that sped around, quite ignoring the advice of his generals to take Holland swiftly and crush it instantly under his heel. Hendrick knew that if Amsterdam fell there could only be one outcome for Francesca and he himself dreaded coming face to face with Ludolf again.
He was seized with anxiety when he heard the sounds of a joyful reunion in the reception hall and came from his study to see that Pieter was there. The young man and Francesca were locked in a kiss, she being twirled around in his arms, her petticoats swirling.
She turned to Hendrick, her face radiant. ”Remember your promise, Father! Pieter has something important to ask you.”
Hendrick felt cornered and he played for time, holding up a hand. ”First of all I have a question to put to Pieter.” His gaze had taken in Pieter's travel-worn clothes, the dust on his boots and in his hair. ”It looks to me as if you have come straight from the fighting.”
”I have, mijnheer.”
”Then tell me this in an honest manner. Are we going to drive the French from Dutch soil?”
”We are indeed.” Pieter spoke with total confidence. ”It's not going to be easy and we may have many hard years ahead, but a tidal wave of loyalty and support for the Prince is rising on all sides. He is meeting it wherever he goes now. Things have changed a great deal since the city of Utrecht kept its gates closed against him because they were preparing to welcome the French. More and more volunteers are joining our forces every day. Our ultimate freedom is not in doubt.”
”In that case,” Hendrick stated, reluctant already to dash the look of joyous hope from Francesca's face, ”you may marry my daughter.”
”I'm honored!” In high spirits Pieter bowed, but he had another request to make. ”Would you let the marriage take place today? This afternoon?”
Hendrick bl.u.s.tered, caught off guard. ”So soon! There's no need to rush matters.”
”There is.” Pieter was insistent. ”Tomorrow at dawn I have to leave again.”
There was something in the young man's eyes that conveyed a message of its own to Hendrick. It said that time and life itself might be running out. It was not hard to guess that when Pieter left Amsterdam in the morning some dangerous mission awaited him.
”Very well,” Hendrick agreed. ”You had better get the necessary papers from the Town Hall and present them to the minister at the Zuider Church. The ceremony should take place there.”
For the ceremony Francesca wore the same silk gown in which she had received her masters.h.i.+p. She picked some roses from the courtyard flower beds and made them into a chaplet for her head. Pieter changed into clothes kept at his Amsterdam house. Hendrick escorted the bride to her groom and only Maria and Griet witnessed the ceremony. Summer suns.h.i.+ne filled the church, s.h.i.+ning through the high clear windows, and the scent of the roses hung lightly in the still air.
The repast afterward was the best Griet could produce at short notice and Hendrick provided the finest wine from his cellar. In the early evening Pieter and Francesca left her home to go to his house together. They had it to themselves, for he had given his housekeeper time off to stay with her daughter. Before leaving, the woman had placed flowers in their bedchamber.
When they reached the room Pieter took the chaplet of roses from Francesca's hair. She held him lightly by the wrists as he lowered the flowers. ”Tell me where you are going tomorrow. I want to know.”
He placed the chaplet down on a chest and put his arms lightly around her.
”Tomorrow I take command of troops who will be arriving in Amsterdam at dawn. Our task will be to defend the castle at Muiden from the French.”
She knew the castle. It was only two hours from Amsterdam and occupied a strategic location on the Vecht River. All the s.h.i.+ps that went to and from Amsterdam via the Zuider Zee had to pa.s.s under the guns of the castle. Equally important was the fact that the princ.i.p.al sluices by which the land around Amsterdam could be flooded were at Muiden. If the castle fell into French hands it would be a catastrophe.
”Let me come with you. The officers have their wives there, don't they?”
”Yes, but that's only because it's a peacetime token force that is still in charge. No more wives will be going there. In any case, be practical. You don't ride, do you?”
”No, but I could travel in an army wagon.”
”That's forbidden. We have to be ready for action against the French at all times.”
”But they are not so near yet.”
”I fear they are. There could be advance parties anywhere now. My duty at the castle will be to await any order from the Prince to open the sluices and let in the sea to make an island of Amsterdam for its protection if the worst should come.”
”Then we would be separated until the war ends! I'd be marooned here away from you!”
He reasoned with her. ”Why do you think I wanted you out of Delft and here in Amsterdam? It was because I knew of the defenses that had been planned for the city.”
”But I'd be as safe in the castle with other wives once the land was flooded.”
”In that event I would be relegating command of the garrison to someone else and returning to fight in the Prince's company. You'd still be marooned away from me.”
”Yet we would have had a little more time together.”
”No, my darling, no!” The set of his chin showed her that he would not alter his decision. She made one last effort. ”If there should be any wives traveling with the troops tomorrow, then would you let me go too?”
Since he was full of mounting desire for her and knew he could agree to that request without any chance of it being fulfilled, he gave a nod. ”On that condition only.” His arms tightened about her and his mouth found hers, silencing all talk except that of love.
Their night together with the windows open to the soft air and a sky full of stars was all the more tender and pa.s.sionate through the imminence of their parting on the morrow. He made love to her in a variety of ways, constantly aroused by her loving, often erotic response. They exulted in each other's bodies, intoxicated by love, and no less pleasurable were the quiet, drowsy times when they lay entwined smiling and whispering until one slept and then the other, only to become simultaneously stirred by pa.s.sion as each remembered again the swift pa.s.sing of the minutes that would fade the stars and bring the dawn.
When the hour came they left the bed together, bathed together and dressed and ate some breakfast all without leaving each other. Then it was time for him to go from the house. He buckled on his sword, put on his orange-plumed hat and took up his riding gloves to tuck them into his orange sash. Then he held her to him and kissed her once more.
”I love you so much,” he said softly. ”Pray G.o.d this war will not keep us apart for too long.”
They went out into the warm, clear morning, collected his horse and reached Dam Square shortly before a column of fifty men marched into view. He was concerned to see how tired they were and questioned the young officer in charge.
”Did you not camp outside the city as ordered?” he demanded.
”No, Captain. We were delayed and I had to march the men all night to get here.”
”See that they're fed and let them rest for an hour. Then we must move, and quickly.”
A coach, dusty from the summer roads, had drawn up in the wake of the soldiers, not far from where Francesca was standing. She could see a large, sensible-looking woman inside, wearing a white-collared dark gown and a white cap. Her gold eardrops and the rings on her fingers as she wielded a silver-handled fan suggested she was the wife of a well-to-do burgher. The coachman was already giving the horses water and the woman leaned out to address him.
”How long is it to be before we move on again?”
He stepped to one side where he could see her, still holding a leather bucket for the nearest horse. ”About an hour and a half, I reckon, mevrouw, by which time the soldiers will have had a rest and their food.”
”Is there a hostelry nearby?”
”Yes, I can see one on the corner.” He left the horse to open the coach door and lower the step for her. As she alighted, Francesca went forward.
”Your pardon, ma'am, but are you going to Muiden too?”
The woman looked surprised that Francesca should know her destination. ”Yes, I am. I have special permission to visit my daughter at the castle. She is there with her husband and is shortly to give birth.”
”I'm the wife of Captain van Doorne, who is taking command of the castle. Would you allow me to travel with you?”
”With pleasure. I'll be glad of your company. I'm Vrouw Vreeburg. Will you join me for breakfast at the hostelry?”
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