“You will not save them,” replied Wibisma in a calmer tone. “You will push those tottering on the verge of the abyss completely over the precipice, and go to destruction with them.”
“We are pilots. Perhaps we shall bring deliverance, perhaps we shall go to ruin with those for whom we are ready to die.”
“You say that, and yet a young, blooming wife binds you to life.”
“Baron, you have crossed this threshold as complainant to the burgomaster, not as guest or friend.”
“Quite true, but I came with kind intentions, as monitor to the guiding head of this beautiful, hapless city. You have escaped the storm once, but new and far heavier ones are gathering above your heads.”
“We do not fear them.”
“Not even now?”
“Now, with good reason, far less than ever.”
“Then you don’t know the Prince’s brother—”
“Louis of Nassau was close upon the Spaniards on the 14th, and our cause is doing well—”