John de Witt continued, in an uplifted voice—
“‘But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.’”
The Groote Kerk struck four.
With angry curses at the delay, Tichelaer and his men broke across the threshold.
John de Witt laid down the Bible, put on his hat and turned to face the door.
“What do you want?” he asked, and gazed at them with narrowed eyes.
They had all been drinking heavily; they were all roused to the height and very extreme of brutish passions, but they fell back smitten where they stood, their violence turned upon themselves at the sight of John de Witt.
Like a creature of another world, trapped and helpless, yet abashing its hunters, who feared to be laid low by some disguised and hidden god, he stood looking at them, composed, unarmed.
“What do you want?” he repeated.