“The news of the battle of Solebay heartened them?” suggested Florent, mentioning the one success that had attended the Dutch flag since the beginning of this disastrous war.
“A little—but the issue lies on land—His Highness was not enthusiastic.”
“Ah, M. de Witt was with the Fleet!”
“Exactly. It was a victory for the Republic not for the Orange flag, and His Highness does not love M. de Ruyter, both because he is a friend to the MM. de Witt and because he is of common birth.”
“Why—does that trouble him?”
Jerome Beverningh rose.
“Be not deceived by simple manners,” he said. “His Highness is the very proudest man I have ever met, and if he does not flaunt it in the Tamerlane fashion of his Christian Majesty, it strikes root the deeper for that.”
As he spoke he put his papers into his writing-case and locked it.
“We will see if His Highness has not returned from Amersfoort … it were better if you could give him M. Fagel’s letter before M. de Witt’s envoys arrive.”