"As His Majesty now writes that all officers and servants, with no exception, must subscribe to this oath, or be discharged from his service, I must consider myself of the latter number, and will retire for a time until His Majesty comes to these provinces himself to obtain a true judgment of affairs.
"Therefore, I pray Your Highness, send some gentleman to me with proper papers of dismissal, to whom I may deliver my commission, assuring you at the same time that I will never fail in my service to this country for the good of this land."
So with words that were gentle and courteous, as habitual with him, he phrased his resolution.
"No longer Philip's servant, no longer his servant," he said to himself as he sealed the letter; "and now, what next?"
Himself, he did not know. His resignation of his offices left him almost a ruined man, but it left him free.
He sighed like a man from whose shoulders a burden has been lifted, locked away his letter, rose and went down to the castle grounds.
He could see the little town clustered round the great church; the winding river with low horse-burdened bridge, all grey in the grey air and lashed by the March wind.
He leant against one of the ramparts which rose up, forming a wall to the garden, and his keen grave eyes rested on the church.
Free of Philip's service—what of Philip's faith? The House of Nassau was Protestant; he had assumed the Romish Faith to please the Emperor, but he had been born and educated in the Reformed Faith.