CHAPTER XXV
THE HAGUE
At last we passed a distant steeple and large castle, which we were
told belonged to Ryswyk, the castle of the Prince of Orange; then we
went along through long rows of trees, and suddenly emerging from
them we beheld a vast plain, a great wood, and a city crowned with
towers and windmills.
Sir Andrew had been there before, and after showing our passports,
and paying our fare to the boatman, who received it in a leathern
bag, he left the servants to manage the landing of the carriage at
the wharf, and took us through the streets, which were as
scrupulously clean and well-washed, pavement and all, as if they had
been the flags of an English kitchen, and as silent, he said, as a
Sunday morning in Edinburgh. Even the children looked like little
models of Dutchmen and Dutchwomen, and were just as solid, sober, and
silent; and when Sir Andrew, who could speak Dutch, asked a little
boy our way to the street whence my brother had dated his letter, the
child gave his directions with the grave solemnity of a judge.
At last we made out way to the Mynheer Fronk's house, where we had
been told we should find my Lord Walwyn's lodgings. It was a very
tall house, with a cradle for a stork's nest at the top, and one of
the birds standing on a single long thin leg on the ridge of the very
high roof. There were open stalls for cheese on either side of the
door, and a staircase leading up between.
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