My Lady of Orange/Chapter 1

saint am I: nay that is true enough, else had I scarce done my work in the world and lived to sit here at sixty by my own fireside with the children chattering round me and Gabrielle's eyes still looking into mine. 'Tis thirty years ago now, and the joy of my old battles is but a dull memory, and the smoke has rolled away, and the shouts and screams have fallen to silence; but not yet have we forgotten here in Holland the days when Alva coiled himself like an iron serpent round the land, and castle and town sank down together amid blood and fire. I am English born and bred, and quarrels of Dutchman and Spaniard were no work of mine, yet something a man must do in the world, and this was the work that came to my hand: to fight Alva with his own two weapons—the sword and the lie, and with both I beat him, cordieu! with both!

At the first I said I was no saint, and that, it may be, is the reason why first I fought for Alva ere my turn came to meet him fairly in the field. I was true to him; save that at the last I left him for William of Nassau, I was ever true to him, and I fought for him as a man may at Mechlin, and Zutphen, and Harlem sack. Nought did we owe to Alva; it was no little he owed us; may not soldiers of fortune choose their leader? Did we not choose well when we 'chose Orange in Alva's stead? "Ay, ay," you answer, "choose you may; but your choice should be made once." Well, 'twas a mistake, I confess, and all men make mistakes at times—else would victories be few.

Mistake or no mistake, it was ended, and I, John Newstead, rode into Delft, to William of Nassau:

"An Englishman asks audience of the Prince!"

"Ay, ay, English ye call yourself, Spaniard ye look," grumbled the serving-man. I caught him by the collar:

"Cordieu! I a Spaniard, knave? I, John Newstead? 's wounds! Madre Dios! Do I look a Spaniard?" I cried, raising my whip.

"Well, ye swear like one," he answered, and the knave wriggled away.

A moment later I was standing in an inner room, fronting the man who had set himself alone to meet the power of Spain, the man who held out still though all his country lay in the hollow of Alva's hand. In truth, William of Nassau was a man. He sat there behind a table, with a fellow at his elbow who eyed me askance as I entered, and whispered low in his master's ear. The Prince did not answer; his steady dark eyes sought mine, and he sat with his fingers drumming on the table watching me.

"Nay, you look not like an assassin," he said quietly.

"I will cut his heart out who says it!" I cried.

"And so prove his words," said the secretary.

"Enough, Cornput. Your name and your purpose, my friend?"

"My name is John Newstead. I come to take service under your Highness."

"Your name tells me nothing," the Prince answered.

"I have three hundred stout soldiers outside the town."

"Ah! What say you, Cornput?"

"Three hundred? Ay; stout, ay, I doubt it not. How many loyal?" said the secretary.

"Each as loyal as myself!" I answered.

"That may well be," said Cornput, with a sneer. "Numbers, stoutness, loyalty, all on the surety of their commander. Faith, you value yourself too low."

"That seems uncommon in Delft," I said sharply. "For their numbers, your Highness may count them. For their loyalty, try them. For their stoutness—they fought at Harlem." Prince and secretary started.

"At Harlem?" said the Prince slowly. "You are a bold man, my friend."

"You and your men sacked Harlem under Alva?" cried the secretary.

"I said we were stout soldiers," I answered. "There was but one sack of Harlem; we were there."

"And you come here—here?" stammered the secretary.

"Oh, your questions grow wiser!" I cried.

"Why do you come to me?" asked the Prince. 'Twas not too easy to answer. Why did I leave the winning side for one that never had much to give, and now less than little? I know not even now; it was folly—folly twice told—and the world does not think me a fool.

"I lead a free company," I answered; "no money have my men had for months. They have sworn to fight for Alva no more, and so I lead them to William of Orange. And for myself, cordieu! I had rather fight for your Highness than any black Spaniard of them all!" Ay, that, methinks, was my reason; 'tis hard ever to tell why a man's deeds were done. When I think of it, it seems folly, and yet as I spoke the words in the little room at Delft I believed them. Do I believe them now? Well, perhaps. Gabrielle does.

I saw his eyes brighten as I spoke, and even the sneering secretary looked at me with more favour.

"You choose a cause that can give little—and needs much, my friend," said the Prince.

"And I can do much and ask little," I answered.

"And your men?" asked the secretary. It was a home thrust: my men had revolted—deserted—what you will—from Alva because he would not pay them. Were they likely to serve Orange better, who could not?

"My men?" I muttered. "Madre Dios, Alva would not give them their wages—well, they shall take them!"

"Three hundred men from fourteen thousand!" said the secretary coolly.

"Oh, the odds are his; I knew that," I cried, "I knew that or ever I came to Delft."

"Spain against the Netherlands? Philip against Orange?" said the Prince dreamily. "Man against time; iron against God; whose are the odds, my friend?"

I did not answer. I wondered on which side God fought when three thousand men and women were slaughtered at Harlem, for it needed then a greater man than I to believe God was on the side of Orange. Any knave believes it now.

"Desperate tasks are all I can offer," said Orange. "Scant wages if your own efforts fail"—he paused, looking at me for a moment—"scant wages and desperate tasks."

"So only they be not impossible," said I. "For the wages—Alva!"

"The impossible God does every day," he answered. "You have come to me when the clouds are very black, sir. Alva lies before Breuthe: and if Breuthe falls how will you fare?"

I stood silent; if Breuthe fell there was nothing left.

"Will you take the risk?" he said quietly; his steady eyes fixed themselves on me.

"I will take the risk of Alva's worst," I answered slowly. Call it folly if you will, you who never saw William, the first Stadt-holder. I was looking into his eyes.

He smiled.

"Alva lies before Breuthe town; hang on his rear, cut off his convoys, let him never rest. Is that to your liking?"

"I accept," said I.

The Prince wrote for a moment and gave me a parchment.

"I trust your honour," he said.

"And I pledge it," I answered.

And the next morning we rode away from Delft, trusted deserters, three hundred men to fight fourteen thousand. I, John Newstead, captain of lances, came forth to pit myself against Ferdinando of Alva, the greatest soldier in Europe. There was one of us that had cause enough to regret my audience of Orange.