A murmur of approval went round the table. Clémence alone was silent. She was old and feeble, perhaps she had seen more than one bold coup fail, and terrible reprisals follow such failures; but Laurence was full of eagerness and enthusiasm. "It cannot fail," he asserted vehemently. "Are there not two thousand men in the city who are devoted to your Highness heart and soul, and who are ready to give their lives for your cause? Two thousand, and within three days there will be five! more than enough for such a bold coup. It will and must succeed! One lucky hazard, and we may win all that we have fought for, lived for, died for, for over a century." "It cannot fail!" came with fervent conviction from every one of the others. "Ghent can do what Brüges hath done!" they affirmed. "With the tyrant a prisoner in our hands, we can dictate terms as Brüges did an hundred years ago." "Well said, seigniors," rejoined William of Orange, "and your approval--you who know this city so much better than I do--hath given me further encouragement. And now," he added with serious earnestness, "you will want to know why I convened this meeting, which by Mevrouw van Rycke’s graciousness I have been able to do, and you will wish to hear what role hath been assigned to each of you in the great event which we are preparing." "Let me but offer my life..." interposed Laurence eagerly. "Nay! not your life, I hope, Messire," quoth the Prince with a smile, "your forethought and prudence and your united co-operation are what we want. Ye are risking your lives, seigniors, in this enterprise, that I’ll not deny--but ye are men and know which you value most, your life or the very existence of your nation which is threatened with complete destruction." "For Orange, for faith and for liberty!" said one of the men simply, and the others merely murmured: "Tell us what we must do." "You must be wary and alert above all things, seigniors, for I have chosen you for a very arduous task in connection with this enterprise, and you must recognise that however carefully we organise it, there will always be one weak link in the chain which we are forging for the capture of that abominable tyrant, the Duke of Alva." "One weak link?" "Yes. We do not and cannot know for certain on which date Alva proposes to come to Ghent. The dates of his visits to Flemish towns are always kept a secret until the very moment of departure." "He dreads assassination," interposed one man with a sneer. "On the last occasion of the Duke’s visit to Ghent," said Clémence van Rycke, "my husband was only apprised of it by courier two hours before his arrival. The courier had started from Brussels a bare half-hour before the Lieutenant-Governor and his cortège left the city."