peculiar to men of his profession; “be easy, gentlemen, my
soldiers will not fire a shot; but, on the other hand, you
will not advance by one step towards the prison.”
“And do you know, sir, that we have muskets?” roared the
commandant of the burghers.
“I must know it, by Jove, you have made them glitter enough
before my eyes; but I beg you to observe also that we on our
side have pistols, that the pistol carries admirably to a
distance of fifty yards, and that you are only twenty-five
from us.”
“Death to the traitors!” cried the exasperated burghers.
“Go along with you,” growled the officer, “you always cry
the same thing over again. It is very tiresome.”
With this, he took his post at the head of his troops,
whilst the tumult grew fiercer and fiercer about the
Buytenhof.
And yet the fuming crowd did not know that, at that very
moment when they were tracking the scent of one of their
victims, the other, as if hurrying to meet his fate, passed,
at a distance of not more than a hundred yards, behind the
groups of people and the dragoons, to betake himself to the
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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip
Buytenhof.
John de Witt, indeed, had alighted from his coach with his
servant, and quietly walked across the courtyard of the
prison.
Mentioning his name to the turnkey, who however knew him, he
said, —
“Good morning, Gryphus; I am coming to take away my brother,
who, as you know, is condemned to exile, and to carry him
out of the town.”
Whereupon the jailer, a sort of bear, trained to lock and
unlock the gates of the prison, had greeted him and admitted
him into the building, the doors of which were immediately
closed again.
Ten yards farther on, John de Witt met a lovely young girl,
of about seventeen or eighteen, dressed in the national
costume of the Frisian women, who, with pretty demureness,
dropped a curtesy to him. Chucking her under the chin, he
said to her, —
“Good morning, my good and fair Rosa; how is my brother?”
“Oh, Mynheer John!” the young girl replied, “I am not afraid
of the harm which has been done to him. That’s all over
now.”
“But what is it you are afraid of?”
“I am afraid of the harm which they are going to do to him.”
“Oh, yes,” said De Witt, “you mean to speak of the people
down below, don’t you?”
“Do you hear them?”
“They are indeed in a state of great excitement; but when
they see us perhaps they will grow calmer, as we have never
done them anything but good.”
“That’s unfortunately no reason, except for the contrary,”
muttered the girl, as, on an imperative sign from her
father, she withdrew.
“Indeed, child, what you say is only too true.”
Then, in pursuing his way, he said to himself, —
“Here is a damsel who very likely does not know how to read,
who consequently has never read anything, and yet with one
word she has just told the whole history of the world.”
And with the same calm mien, but more melancholy than he had
been on entering the prison, the Grand Pensionary proceeded
towards the cell of his brother.
Chapter 2
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Dumas, Alexandre – The Black Tulip
The Two Brothers
As the fair Rosa, with foreboding doubt, had foretold, so it
happened. Whilst John de Witt was climbing the narrow
winding stairs which led to the prison of his brother
Cornelius, the burghers did their best to have the troop of
Tilly, which was in their way, removed.
Seeing this disposition, King Mob, who fully appreciated the
laudable intentions of his own beloved militia, shouted most
lustily, —
“Hurrah for the burghers!”
As to Count Tilly, who was as prudent as he was firm, he
began to parley with the burghers, under the protection of
the cocked pistols of his dragoons, explaining to the
valiant townsmen, that his order from the States commanded
him to guard the prison and its approaches with three
companies.
“Wherefore such an order? Why guard the prison?” cried the