I wish you to
beware of him."
He spoke with a sudden softness of tone that touched Robert, and there
could be no doubt that his meaning was good. They were still walking
in the most casual manner, their faces bent to the driving snow, and
almost hidden by the collars of their cloaks.
"What can Adrian Van Zoon and I have in common?" asked Robert.
"Lad, I bid thee again to beware of him! Look to it that you do not
fall into his treacherous hands!"
His sudden use of the pronoun "thee," and his intense earnestness,
stirred Robert deeply.
"Friends seem to rise around me, due to no merit of mine," he
said. "Willet has always watched over me. Tayoga is my brother.
Jacobus Huysman has treated me almost as his own son, and
Master Benjamin Hardy has received me with great warmth of heart. And
now you deliver to me a warning that I cannot but believe is given
with the best intent. But again I ask you, why should I fear Adrian
Van Zoon?"
"That, lad, I will not tell you, but once more I bid you beware of
him. Think you, I'd have taken such a risk to prepare you for a
danger, if it were not real?"
"I do not. I feel, Chevalier de St. Luc, that you are a friend in
truth.
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