While in France Gerard could rest neither by day nor
night, so tormented was he by the desire of accomplishing his project,
and at length he obtained permission, upon the death of the Duke, to
carry this important intelligence to the Prince of Orange. The
despatches having been intrusted to him, he travelled post-haste to
Delft, and, to his astonishment, the letters had hardly been delivered
before he was summoned in person to the chamber of the Prince. Here was
an opportunity such as he had never dared to hope for. The arch-enemy to
the Church and to the human race, whose death would confer upon his
destroyer wealth and nobility in this world, besides a crown of glory in
the next, lay unarmed, alone, in bed, before the man who had thirsted
seven long years for his blood.
Balthazar could scarcely control his emotions sufficiently to answer the
questions which the Prince addressed to him concerning the death of
Anjou, but Orange, deeply engaged with the despatches, and with the
reflections which their deeply important contents suggested, did not
observe the countenance of the humble Calvinist exile, who had been
recently recommended to his patronage by Villers. Gerard had, moreover,
made no preparation for an interview so entirely unexpected, had come
unarmed, and had formed no plan for escape.
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