John de Witt very slightly smiled.
“I thank your Noble Highness for so much,” he said.
William coloured in response to the tone of it.
“Have you ever held such worthy opinions of me,” he asked, “that I should bear warm testimony to your virtues? Your policy is not my policy.”
“You have saved Holland; with you rests the glory of her deliverance, as with me the odium of her fall; but I would no less have saved her had hatred given me time to speak or malice allowed me space to act—I still, Highness, defend my policy.”
He rested his eyes full on the Prince’s face, but William kept his eyes averted.
“I would do justice to you, Mynheer—had I known you in any capacity save that of gaoler I might have loved you.… I always hated speech, and am not skilled at explanations.… If I have been ungracious let circumstances be my excuse.…”
John de Witt answered ardently.
“If you love your country I will forgive you that you hate me,—nay, if my fall be of advantage to the State in raising up a stronger protector, one that the people trust and love, I am thankful for it.… They trusted me once, and shouted for Cornelius when we rode our galiots in the Thames.… Beware of popularity, my noble lord.”