There were some gentry, on foot and on horse, but the great number were burghers, traders, and apprentices belonging to the seven great guilds of Brussels.
Rénèe following in the wake of this crowd climbed the hill again, left the towers of Ste Gudule below, and came out on the heights above the town where stood the parks and mansions of the great nobles, and the Brabant palace which was the residence of the Regent.
As she passed the palace Rénèe caught sight of the spare figure and excited face of the skryer Duprès, as he pushed his way through the crowd.
Rénèe was disgusted to think the man was still in Brussels; she had hoped that he would find it wise to leave the Netherlands, or at least the town; but probably he had given up his dangerous occupation of rhetoric player and, with the spoils of the Nassau mansion, had established himself as a respectable Papist.
Now a great movement shook the crowd, a low hum rose from the throats of the men, and the women began to tiptoe excitedly and to lift their little children to their shoulders.
Rénèe was at the back and could see nothing, but two men who had a point of vantage on the steps of a mansion near by gravely helped her up beside them.
One asked her if she was a Fleming?
"My father was hanged for a heretic in Ghent," answered Rénèe, "and I am in the service of the Prince of Orange."
It gave her pleasure to mention the Prince and not his wife; and it was truly his service in which she was.
The two men took off their caps to her.