Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/59

 the name. We will contend with the Inquisition, but remain loyal to the King, even till compelled to wear the beggar's sack.”

The shibboleth was invented. For the first time, from these reckless and debauched nobles rose the cry, “Vivent les Gueulx! Long live the Beggars!” The beggar's wallet and the wooden bowl became the symbol of Protestantism in the Netherlands. The enemies of freedom had provided a watchword for the discontented nation, and the shout, “Vivent les Gueulx!” was soon to prove powerful enough to find an answering voice from palace and hovel, through the forest or on the sea; and the deeds of savagery perpetrated by these “wild beggars,” “forest beggars” and the “beggars of the sea,” convinced even Philip the Slow of the character of the nation which he had driven to madness.

It was not till one morning in May that Conrad Chenoweth found himself in old Antwerp. He was very fond of the picturesque town, with its cupolated water-gates, its busy wharves, its canals, its drawbridges and its windmills. The air was cool and fragrant with all the delicate freshness of May. Nature under the exquisite touch of Spring was irresistible. There was a pleasant undercurrent of sound in the air: the drowsy hum of bees, the musical tinkle of childish laughter, and the cheerful twitter of birds. The landscape was rich in color. The rose-red roofs, trees in first leaf, richly-tinted