Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/326

298 great Relief of Leyden. The day was always set apart as one of feasting and general  thanksgiving, and a holiday air pervaded the  city. But in the Cornellisen home were preparations of quite another character,—for it was the wedding day of Jacqueline. Grown into a fair and noble womanhood was this  same Jacqueline of splendid promise, who  had so bravely discharged what seemed to  her the highest duty, in the days of the memorable siege. She was going to marry loyal, true-hearted Pieter de Witt who had  learned to love her in the terrible days when  they tended the starving and plague-stricken  together. Patiently had he waited and watched her grow to be a sweet, unselfish  woman. Then he had courted and won her, and to-night she stood ready to become his  wife.

No prettier bride could have possibly been imagined than Jacqueline as she stood  robed in her wedding-garments. Vrouw Voorhaas hovered over her lovingly, giving