"To the Netherlands to avenge the insolence of the heretics."
"And he in the midst?"
"That was the Duke of Alva. They all have money and pay well. If I can catch up with the camp to-night I shall have enough to pay me for my journey."
So he and his mules, laden with fruit and vegetables and skins of wine, disappeared into the misty depths of the forest.
The charcoal-burner dragged his sleepy children out of the foxglove bed and returned to his hut where his wife, who was not interested in the passing army at all, was already putting the bread and milk on the table; and before they ate, the man made them all thank God that they were not heretics in the Netherlands.
That day Alva crossed the frontier; that night he slept within the provinces. Scouts brought him news that Count Egmont was riding forth to Tirlemont to welcome him; he received the news with his usual cold stare.
Inside his plain doublet were many precious documents written by the hand of Philip; among them were the warrants for the deaths of Egmont, Hoorne, and the Prince of Orange.
PART III
THE HOUSE OF NASSAU
"Pro libertate Patriæ agere aut pati fortiora."—Legend on an
Orange Medal.