At this moment the noise in the square below was heard to roar with increasing fury. Tilly was parleying with the burghers.
“Well, well,” said Cornelius, “you are a very skilful pilot, John; but I doubt whether you will as safely guide your brother out of the Buytenhof in the midst of this gale, and through the raging surf of popular hatred, as you did the fleet of Van Tromp past the shoals of the Scheldt to Antwerp.”
“With the help of God, Cornelius, we’ll at least try,” answered John; “but, first of all, a word with you.”
“Speak!”
The shouts began anew.
“Hark, hark!” continued Cornelius, “how angry those people are! Is it against you, or against me?”
“I should say it is against us both, Cornelius. I told you, my dear brother, that the Orange party, while assailing us with their absurd calumnies, have also made it a reproach against us that we have negotiated with France.”
“What blockheads they are!”
“But, indeed, they reproach us with it.”
“And yet, if these negotiations had been successful, they would have prevented the defeats of Rees, Orsay, Wesel, and Rheinberg; the Rhine would not have been crossed, and Holland might still consider herself invincible in the midst of her marshes and canals.”
“All this is quite true, my dear Cornelius, but still more certain it is, that if at this moment our correspondence with the Marquis de Louvois were discovered, skilful pilot as I am, I should not be able to save the frail barque which is to carry the brothers De Witt and their fortunes out of Holland. That correspondence, which might prove to honest people how dearly I love my country, and what sacrifices I have offered to make for its liberty and glory, would be ruin to us if it fell into the hands of the Orange party. I hope you have burned the letters before you left Dort to join me at the Hague.”
“My dear brother,” Cornelius answered, “your correspondence with M. de Louvois affords ample proof of your having been of late the greatest, most generous, and most able citizen of the Seven United Provinces. I rejoice in the glory of my country; and particularly do I rejoice in your glory, John. I have taken good care not to burn that correspondence.”
“Then we are lost, as far as this life is concerned,” quietly said the Grand Pensionary, approaching the window.
“No, on the contrary, John, we shall at the same time save our lives and regain our popularity.”
“But what have you done with these letters?”
“I have entrusted them to the care of Cornelius van Baerle, my godson, whom you know, and who lives at Dort.”
“Poor honest Van Baerle! who knows so much, and yet thinks of nothing but of flowers and of God who made them. You have entrusted him with this fatal secret; it will be his ruin, poor soul!”
“His ruin?”
“Yes, for he will either be strong or he will be weak. If he is strong, he will, when he hears of what has happened to us, boast of our acquaintance; if he is weak, he will be afraid on account of his connection with us: if he is strong, he will betray the secret by his boldness; if he is weak, he will allow it to be forced from him. In either case he is lost, and so are we. Let us, therefore, fly, fly, as long as there is still time.”
Cornelius de Witt, raising himself on his couch, and grasping the hand of his brother, who shuddered at the touch of his linen bandages, replied—
“Do not I know my godson? have not I been enabled to read every thought in Van Baerle’s mind, and every sentiment in his heart? You ask whether he is strong or weak. He is neither the one nor the other; but that is not now the question. The principal point is, that he is sure not to divulge the secret, for the very good reason that he does not know it himself.”
John turned round in surprise.
“You must know, my dear brother, that I have been trained in the school of that distinguished politician John de Witt; and I repeat to you, that Van Baerle is not aware of the nature and importance of the deposit which I have entrusted to him.”
“Quick then,” cried John, “as there is still time, let us convey to him directions to burn the parcel.”
“Through whom?”
“Through my servant Craeke, who was to have accompanied us on horseback, and who has entered the prison with me, to assist you downstairs.”
“Consider well before having those precious documents burnt, John!”
“I consider, above all things, that the brothers De Witt must necessarily save their lives, to be able to save their character. If we are dead, who will defend us? Who will have fully understood our intentions?”
“You expect, then, that they would kill us if those papers were found?”
John, without answering, pointed with his hand to the square, whence, at that very moment, fierce shouts and savage yells made themselves heard.
“Yes, yes,” said Cornelius, “I hear these shouts very plainly, but what is their meaning?”
John opened the window.
“Death to the traitors!” howled the populace.
“Do you hear now, Cornelius?”
“To the traitors! that means us!” said the prisoner, raising his eyes to heaven and shrugging his shoulders.
“Yes, it means us,” repeated John.
“Where is Craeke?”
“At the door of your cell, I suppose.”
“Let him enter then.”
John opened the door; the faithful servant was waiting on the threshold.
“Come in, Craeke, and mind well what my brother will tell you.”
“No, John; it will not suffice to send a verbal message; unfortunately, I shall be obliged to write.”
“And why that?”
“Because Van Baerle will neither give up the parcel nor burn it without a special command to do so.”
“But will you be able to write, poor old fellow?” John asked, with a look on the scorched and bruised hands of the unfortunate sufferer.
“If I had pen and ink you would soon see,” said Cornelius.
“Here is a pencil, at
