The Prince replied rather wearily—
"I have proclaimed my motives again and again, Excellency. I have explained myself at every German Court, before England, before France—I fight Alva and the Spanish rule over the Netherlands."
"You fight King Philip," answered the Landgrave, "though you keep up a fiction of loyalty; and who do you think will unite with you against Spain, who is half the old world and all the new?"
William smiled again.
"Let him keep his new world and his old, I but want the Netherlands. Ah, Excellency," he added, "it is in your power to refuse me help and to turn your back on me—it is not in your power to discourage me nor hold me back."
The Landgrave rose impatiently with a rough gesture.
"You are madmen, you and your brothers, and will meet with the fate of madmen."
The Prince thought of Adolphus, and winced.
"It may well be," he said quietly; "believe that we counted that cost before we undertook our tasks."
"It is useless to speak any more!" exclaimed the Landgrave angrily.