ere many persons down before the prison."

"Yes, my brother, there are."

"But then, to come here to me----"

"Well?"

"How is it that they have allowed you to pass?"

"You know well that we are not very popular, Cornelius," said the Grand
Pensionary, with gloomy bitterness. "I have made my way through all
sorts of bystreets and alleys."

"You hid yourself, John?"

"I wished to reach you without loss of time, and I did what people will
do in politics, or on the sea when the wind is against them,--I tacked."

At this moment the noise in the square below was heard to roar with
increasing fury. Tilly was parleying with the burghers.

"Well, well," said Cornelius, "you are a very skilful pilot, John; but I
doubt whether you will as safely guide your brother out of the Buytenhof
in the midst of this gale, and through the raging surf of popular
hatred, as you did the fleet of Van Tromp past the shoals of the Scheldt
to Antwerp."

"With the help of God, Cornelius, we'll at least try," answered John;
"but, first of all, a word with you."

"Speak!"

The shouts began anew.

"Hark, hark!" continued Cornelius, "how angry those people are! Is it
against you, or against me?"

"I should say it is against us both, Cornelius. I told you, my dear
brother, that the Orange party, while assailing us with their absurd
calumnies, have also made it a reproach against us that we have
negotiated with France."

"What blockheads they are!"

"But, indeed, they reproach us with it."

"And yet, if these negotiations had been successful, they would have
prevented the defeats of Rees, Orsay, Wesel, and Rheinberg; the Rhine
would not have been crossed, and Holland might still consider herself
invincible in the midst of her marshes and canals."

"All this is quite true, my dear Cornelius, but still more certain
it is, that if at this moment our correspondence with the Marquis de
Louvois were discovered, skilful pilot as I am, I should not be able to
save the frail barque which is to carry the brothers De Witt and their
fortunes out of Holland. That correspondence, which might prove to
honest people how dearly I love my country, and what sacrifices I have
offered to make for its liberty and glory, would be ruin to us if it
fell into the hands of the Orange party. I hope you have burned the
letters before you left Dort to join me at the Hague."

"My dear brother," Cornelius answered, "your correspondence with M. de
Louvois affords