"Listen then," resumed the Duke curtly, "but let no false hopes lure ye the while. Ye are rebels and are under the ban of the law. Nothing but unconditional surrender can win mercy for your city." "Nothing but humility can save thee from the wrath of God," retorted Mark boldly. "We are unconquered, Magnificence! and ’tis thou who askest to parley--not we." "I do not ask," retorted Alva loudly, "I demand." "Then since ’tis the vanquished who demand, let us hear what they wish to say." "To-morrow is Sunday, rebel, hadst forgotten that?" "No, tyrant, I had not. God hath forbidden us to work on that day, but not to fight against oppression." "He hath also enjoined us to attend Mass on His day. Are ye heretics that ye care naught for that?" "We care for the Lord’s Day as much as Spaniards do." "Yet will ye prevent His people from praying in peace!" "We’ll pray for those whom thy tyranny keeps locked up within thy castle walls." "Not so," exclaims Alva, "my men are free to go: they will attend Mass in the churches of this city. Will you butcher them whilst they are at prayer?" There was no immediate reply to this taunt, but from the insurgents’ ranks there came a loud, warning call: "Do not heed him, van Rycke! Remember Egmont and Horne! Do not fall into the tyrant’s trap! There’s treachery in every word he says." Alva waited in silence until the tumult had subsided. He knew what he wanted and why he wanted it. A few hours’ respite would mean salvation for him ... a few hours! ... and the garrison of Dendermonde would be on its way to Ghent. He wanted to stay the hand of time for those few hours and had invented this treacherous means to gain that end. "’Tis no wonder," he said quietly as soon as the clamour on the Orangist side was stilled, "that ye who are traitors should seek treachery everywhere. What I propose is loyal and just and in accordance with God’s own decrees. If ye refuse, ye do so at the peril of thousands of immortal souls." "We know not yet what it is ye ask," said van Rycke quietly. "We demand a truce until the evening Angelus to-morrow--the Lord’s Day which is also the feast of the Holy Redeemer. We demand the right to attend Mass in peace ... and in exchange we’ll agree not to molest you whilst ye pray and whilst ye bury your dead." "A truce until the evening Angelus," broke in Mark hotly, "so that ye may send for reinforcements to the nearest garrison town. We refuse!" "You refuse?" retorted Alva. "For two days and a night ye have raised your arms against your lawful King. If you fight to-morrow you will add sacrilege to your other crimes." "And thou, treachery to thine!" said van Rycke boldly. "Whence this desire to keep holy the Sabbath day, tyrant? Wouldst thou have ceased to destroy, to pillage or to outrage this day if we had not raised our arms in our own defence?" "Well said, van Rycke!" cried the Orangists.