CHAPTER XVII.
The burgomaster's promise.
While events of such moment were transpiring in Antwerp, Conrad Chenoweth was busily employed in the interests of the Prince of Orange. As a panacea for a troubled mind, he had flung himself heart and soul into his work, and with a resolute hand he had put away the thought of Hilvardine Van Straalen. The young advocate had a sense of honor unusual for this age. Other young men would have considered it right to steal the girl from her father's house, but Conrad Chenoweth would never ask any woman to become his wife without honorably gaining the consent of her parents.
One evening business matters called him abroad at a late hour. The streets of Brussels were practically deserted.
When the advocate had transacted his business, he returned to his rooms by the broad thoroughfare which led him past the regent's palace and the stately cathedral. It has been said that the "flippant tread of Fate doth leave no print upon the
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