"It is His Highness?" he asked timidly.
"I am William of Orange," answered the Prince, and as he spoke he felt that it was the name of the most unfortunate of men.
As the man seemed to need further encouragement, William added, "It was he you wished to see?"
"I have come all the way from Holland to see Your Highness," was the simple reply.
"From Holland? Alone?"
"Yes, Your Highness. It is a long way, and the Duke of Alva's army was often in my way—otherwise I would have been with Your Highness sooner," he added, in a tone of deprecating apology.
The Prince looked keenly at the quiet-looking individual who had undertaken with such simplicity a journey which meant risking his life a thousand times.
"Who are you, my friend?" he asked gently.
The man raised his eyes which under this gaze he had kept abased, and William was instantly conscious of a resolute and fearless spirit looking out of the plain insignificant face.
"I am an Anabaptist preacher, Your Highness; I have a little congregation of poor outcasts in Holland—we mostly live in hiding, and meet secretly to worship. There are not so many of us as there were, for the persecutions have been very fierce and we are quite defenceless.