It seemed hard if he might not enjoy the world a little before separating himself from it for life.
The night before he went, Margaret Van Eyck asked him to take a letter for her, and when he came to look at it, to his surprise he found it was addressed to the Princess Marie, at the Stadthouse in Rotterdam.
The day before the prizes were to be distributed, Gerard started for Rotterdam in his holiday suit, to wit, a doublet of silver-grey cloth, with sleeves, and a jerkin of the same over it, but without sleeves.
From his waist to his heels he was clad in a pair of tight-fitting buckskin hose fastened by laces (called points) to his doublet.

His shoes were pointed, in moderation, and secured by a strap that passed under the hollow of the foot.

On his head and the back of his neck he wore his flowing hair, and pinned to his back between his shoulders was his hat: it was further secured by a purple silk ribbon little Kate had passed round him from the sides of the hat, and knotted neatly on his breast; below his hat, attached to the upper rim of his broad waist-belt, was his leathern wallet.

When he got within a league of Rotterdam he was pretty tired, but he soon fell in with a pair that were more so.

He found an old man sitting by the roadside quite worn out, and a comely young woman holding his hand, with a face brimful of concern.
The country people trudged by, and noticed nothing amiss; but Gerard, as he passed, drew conclusions.