Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/23

 the great lady. After giving the stranger a keen glance, the holy father began to perform the last rites of the Church. Before he had finished his prayers for the passing soul, the Princess Elizabeth was dead. Amid the lamentations and the confusion which the news of the great lady's decease caused her household, the Protestant preacher went unobserved from the palace.

It was only when Monseigneur Ryder's place was taken by other functionaries of the Church, and he was seated in the dead lady's oratory, that the face of the young man returned to his mind.

"That countenance is familiar," he mused. "Where have I met that man? Ah, I have it! It was two years ago when I was sent on a secret mission to Geneva. This young fellow was creating quite a stir with his wonderful oratorical gifts. The Prince of Aremburg and the proscribed preacher Francis Junius are one and the same person."

Father Ryder sprang to his feet and paced the floor in excitement. "May the saints forgive me, if I have unwittingly allowed the most dangerous heretic in all the Netherlands to slip out of my hands."

The priest left the oratory, and made his way with catlike tread to the courtyard, where several guards were lounging. Beckoning one of them into an anteroom, Father Ryder said, "Did you