He then
wrote a note to Vanslyperken, requesting his immediate presence, and
hastened to the morning apartment of Wilhelmina. In a few words, he told
her that he had received timely notice that it was the intention of the
government to seize her father and him as suspected traitors, and throw
them that very night in prison.
Wilhelmina made no reply.
"For your father, my dearest girl, there is no fear: he will be fully
acquitted; but I, Wilhelmina, must depart immediately, or my life is
forfeited."
"Leave me, Edward?" replied Wilhelmina.
"No, you must go with me, Wilhelmina, for more than one reason; the
government have ordered the seizure of the persons to be made in the
night, to avoid a disturbance; but that they will not be able to
prevent; the mob are but too happy to prove their loyalty, when they can
do so by rapine and plunder, and depend upon it that this house will be
sacked and levelled to the ground before to-morrow evening. You cannot
go to prison with your father; you cannot remain here, to be at the
mercy of an infuriated and lawless mob. You must go with me, Wilhelmina;
trust to me, not only for my sake, but for your father's.
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