Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/151



was in a frightful tumult when the noise of battle proclaimed the fact that the valiant band of Protestants had been betrayed. Conrad Chenoweth, feeling that his first duty was in Antwerp caring for his mother, became identified with the crowd that watched the progress of the conflict from the walls of the city.

Prominent upon this coign of vantage was the young wife of Marnix Thoulouse. With pale face and tearless eyes she followed the movements of one beloved form. She listened to the commands which rang out clear and incisive from that beloved voice. When she saw him pressed on all sides and menaced with death, she became like one distraught. Running wildly from street to street, she besought the burghers to help her husband.

The sympathies of a large part of the citizens were with the young wife of Thoulouse, and in a short time ten thousand men were assembled, armed with axes, pikes, arquebuses and any implement which could be obtained on the spur of the 143