Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/80

 him, and he seeks a powerful protector for his family.”

“It is a fearful price to pay for safety,” replied Conrad with set teeth. “To think of that pure young girl mated with that vile debauchee. Angels might well weep at such a terrible sacrifice!”

Madam Van Straalen delivered to the young man a parcel which Hilvardine had sent him. He could hardly wait until he reached home before he untied the precious bundle. It contained a beautifully embroidered kerchief, wrought in rich orange and blue silks. The orange symbolized the Fatherland, while the blue of the heavens was the color adopted by the Dutch Calvinists. Within the folds of the kerchief Conrad found a slip of paper on which was inscribed a stanza of a popular song:

The morning for Conrad's departure from Antwerp he awoke with a heavy heart. He saw not the glory of the rising sun. He saw nothing poetic about the flash of the distant cathedral spires against the roseate clouds, and his ears heard no sweetness in the cooing of the gray doves as the