Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/88

 which I should like to speak. I wish you would send a Jesuit, in whom you can trust, to spy upon the movements of Dr. John Chenoweth of Antwerp. I have reasons for desiring a complaint to be lodged against him to the authorities in that city. It will not answer for me to place a check upon that rascally advocate, Conrad Chenoweth, for he is under the powerful protection of William of Orange.”

“How about the Burgomaster, Van Straalen?” said the Superior, with a touch of sarcasm. “He certainly should be under surveillance. He does not enforce the Edicts as he ought. Or perhaps you will sacrifice a principle for the sake of your mistress?”

“You Jesuits know everything,” replied the Chancellor, in some confusion. “Yes, it is true that for the sake of Hilvardine Van Straalen I should like to let that family slip along as easily as possible.”

“You are inconsistent, my friend,” said Monseigneur. “You spare one heretic and condemn another in the same breath. Remember the motto of your office: ‘Fiat justitia, ruat clum.’”

Then, as though the words were pleasant to his ears, he repeated them in sonorous tones: “Let justice be done, though the heavens fall!”