noon
The rain made anxiety grow as rapidly in the hearts of many citizens , as the young blades of grain in the fields . Conversations , that sounded anything but hopeful , took place in many tap-rooms -- in others men were even heard declaring resistance folly , or loudly demanding the desertion of the cause of the Prince of Orange and liberty . Whoever in these days desired to see a happy face in Leyden might have searched long in vain , and would probably have least expected to find it in the house of Burgomaster Van der Werff . Three days had now elapsed since Peter 's departure , nay the fourth was drawing towards noon , yet the burgomaster had not returned , and no message , no word of explanation , had reached his family . Maria had put on her light-blue cloth dress with Mechlin lace in the square neck , for her husband particularly liked to see her in this gown and he must surely return to-day . The spray of yellow wall-flowers on her breast had been cut from the blooming plant in the window of her room , and Barbara had helped arrange her thick hair . It lacked only an hour of noon , when the young wife 's delicate , slender figure , carrying a white duster in her hand , entered the burgomaster 's study .