I also met Anna Holstein, to whom I related
my adventures; nor did I conceal from her that my worldly condition was
not yet sufficiently improved to warrant my making formal proposals for
her hand in marriage.
My mother pronounced my appearance much improved, when she heard of my
attachment to Anna she declared me to be a fit mate for any lady in the
land.
"Of a truth, Peter," she said, "thou art become a proper man, like thy
father was before thee, and in my day a young man of spirit chose his
wife where he would. My own parents made objections to my being married
to your father without some payment to them in goods or money, to
compensate for the expense of my upbringing. But Abel Van Bu, thy
father, came to our house one June morning and bade me make ready to
marry him that very day, a clerk in holy orders being come to Urk to
mate together those islanders who were willing to be wed according to
the rites of the Church, and Abel's manner was so masterful that
neither I nor my parents dared say him nay. This is how I came to marry
your father, my son, and were I a man such as thou, art, I would take
the girl of my choosing, in the same manner as thy father did.
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