Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/292

 insult to the memory of the noble man whose death the Netherlanders sought to avenge."

After tea the reunited household gathered on the piazza. The air was spicy and fragrant with the perfume of a thousand blossoms. The sun was fast nearing the horizon, a red disk in an amber sky.

Conrad had just been speaking of the grief of the people at the death of their beloved leader, and saying that in Delft, when the calamity became known, the little children cried in the streets.

"What was the secret of our Prince's greatness?" inquired Katharine Van Straalen.

Different opinions were expressed, extolling his love of freedom, his spirit of self-abnegation, his charity for the opinions of others, and his faith in God.

"I think these qualities can all be summed up in one sentence," said Madam Chenoweth. "I can express myself no better than by appropriating the strong Saxon phrase of the ancient apostle. The quality which the Silent Prince possessed, and which was the foundation of all his eminent virtues was, 'the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'"

"The people of Holland have lost their Father," said Conrad, "and the human race a devoted champion of liberty. God be praised that our fallen