“If the other gentlemen wish it,” said Dirk, modestly, “though my apartment is but a poor place for such company.” “Of course we wish it,” replied the three as with one voice, and the hour for meeting having been fixed they parted, the Heer Brant walking with Dirk to the door of his lodging. “I was going to call on you to-morrow,” he said, “to bring to you a letter of introduction from my father, though that should scarcely be needed as, in fact, we are cousins—second cousins only, our mothers having been first cousins.” “Oh! yes, Brant of The Hague, of whom my mother used to speak, saying that they were kinsmen to be proud of, although she had met them but little. Well, welcome, cousin; I trust that we shall be friends.” “I am sure of it,” answered Brant, and putting his arm through Dirk’s he pressed it in a peculiar fashion that caused him to start and look round. “Hush!” muttered Brant, “not here,” and they began to talk of their late companions and the game of cards which they had played, an amusement as to the propriety of which Dirk intimated that he had doubts. Young Brant shrugged his shoulders. “Cousin,” he said, “we live in the world, so it is as well to understand the world. If the risking of a few pieces at play, which it will not ruin us to lose, helps us to understand it, well, for my part I am ready to risk them, especially as it puts us on good terms with those who, as things are, it is wise we should cultivate. Only, cousin, if I may venture to say it, be careful not to take more wine than you can carry with discretion. Better lose a thousand florins than let drop one word that you cannot remember.” “I know, I know,” answered Dirk, thinking of Lysbeth’s supper, and at the door of his lodgings they parted. Like most Netherlanders, when Dirk made up his mind to do anything he did it thoroughly. Thus, having undertaken to give a dinner party, he determined to give a good dinner. In ordinary circumstances his first idea would have been to consult his cousins, Clara and Lysbeth. After that monstrous story about the sleighing, however, which by inquiry from the coachman of the house, whom he happened to meet, he ascertained to be perfectly false, this, for the young man had some pride, he did not feel inclined to do. So in place of it he talked first to his landlady, a worthy dame, and by her advice afterwards with the first innkeeper of Leyden, a man of resource and experience. The innkeeper, well knowing that this customer would pay for anything which he ordered, threw himself into the affair heartily, with the result that by five o’clock relays of cooks and other attendants were to be seen streaming up Dirk’s staircase, carrying every variety of dish that could be supposed to tempt the appetite of high-class cavaliers.