There was a hoarse exclamation of satisfaction and a confused murmur of voices for a moment or two. Then de Vargas spoke: "It was a bold venture, Monseigneur," he said. "This truce, you mean?" retorted Alva. "Well! not quite so bold as it appeared. Those Netherlanders are such mighty fools that it is always easy to make them believe anything that we choose to tell them: do they not always fall into our traps? I had only to swear by my immortal soul that we had not sent for reinforcements and the last of their resistance was overcome." Lenora could hear her father’s harsh laugh after this and then del Rio said blandly: "Van Rycke did not believe in that oath." "Perhaps not at first," Alva said, "but it was so finely worded and spoken with such solemnity, it was bound to carry conviction in the end." "You were not afraid, Monseigneur," queried de Vargas, "this morning ... in the crowd ... after Mass ... that the rebels would break the truce and fall upon our men?" "No," replied the Duke curtly, "were you?" There came no answer from de Vargas, and to the listeners it seemed as if by his silence he was admitting that he did not believe the Orangists capable of such abominable treachery. A fine tribute that--Lenora thought--from her father who hated and despised the Netherlanders! But he and Alva would even now call such loyalty and truth the mere stupidity of uncultured clowns. "Anyhow it was worth the risk," de Vargas resumed after awhile, with that cold cynicism which will sacrifice friends, adherents, kindred for the furtherance of political aims. "Well worth the risk," asserted Alva, "we have gained the whole of to-day. If these rebels had rushed the Kasteel this morning, I verily believe that we could not have held it: I might have fallen into their hands and--with me as their hostage--they would by now have been in a position to dictate their own terms before reinforcements reached us--always supposing that they did not murder us all. Yes," he reiterated with obvious satisfaction, "even if treachery had been in the air it was still well worth the risk." "And in the meanwhile..." suggested del Rio. "In the meanwhile Bracamonte is on his way here.... He must have started well before noon ... he might be here before nightfall...." "With at least five thousand men, I hope," added de Vargas. "Night may see us masters of this city once more, seigniors," rejoined Alva, "and by God we’ll punish those rebels for the fright they have given us. Ghent will be envying Mons and Mechlin...."