Gaspard Fagel seemed troubled.
“If you continue to oppose the Prince,” he said bluntly, “you will scarcely be safe at the Hague.”
“Are you trying to frighten me?”
“I am warning you. Join with the Prince, or resign and leave the Hague.”
The Grand Pensionary replied firmly—
“Neither one nor the other, Mynheer. I will not forsake the policy I have adhered to all my life, nor will I leave my post until I am relieved of it.”
M. Fagel bit his forefinger. He had a sincere regard for M. de Witt, and his conscience troubled him because the Grand Pensionary had given him this secretaryship he now held, and did not utter a word of reproach.
“It is like a great storm,” he said, “sweeping everything before it; they who fling themselves down may escape, but they who remain erect are certainly carried away—and perish.”
John de Witt gazed at him steadily.