"Yet will ye prevent His people from praying in peace!"
"We'll pray for those whom thy tyranny keeps locked up within thy castle walls."
"Not so," exclaims Alva, "my men are free to go: they will attend Mass in the churches of this city. Will you butcher them whilst they are at prayer?"
There was no immediate reply to this taunt, but from the insurgents' ranks there came a loud, warning call:
"Do not heed him, van Rycke! Remember Egmont and Horne! Do not fall into the tyrant's trap! There's treachery in every word he says."
Alva waited in silence until the tumult had subsided. He knew what he wanted and why he wanted it. A few hours' respite would mean salvation for him ... a few hours! ... and the garrison of Dendermonde would be on its way to Ghent. He wanted to stay the hand of time for those few hours and had invented this treacherous means to gain that end.
"'Tis no wonder," he said quietly as soon as the clamour on the Orangist side was stilled, "that ye who are traitors should seek treachery everywhere. What I propose is loyal and just and in accordance with God's own decrees. If ye refuse, ye do so at the peril of thousands of immortal souls."
"We know not yet what it is ye ask," said van Rycke quietly.
"We demand a truce until the evening Angelus to-morrow--the Lord's Day which is also the feast of the Holy Redeemer. We demand the right to attend Mass in peace ... and in exchange we'll agree not to molest you whilst ye pray and whilst ye bury your dead."
"A truce until the evening Angelus," broke in Mark hotly, "so that ye may send for reinforcements to the nearest garrison town. We refuse!"