his master, so that he subsequently rose to be a thriving and respectable
advocate at the tribunals of Holland.

The Stadholder, when informed of the escape of the prisoner, observed,
"I always thought the black pig was deceiving me," making not very
complimentary allusion to the complexion and size of the lady who had
thus aided the escape of her husband.

He is also reported as saying that it "is no wonder they could not keep
Grotius in prison, as he has more wit than all his judges put together."




CHAPTER XXIII.

Barneveld's Sons plot against Maurice--The Conspiracy betrayed to
Maurice--Escape of Stoutenburg--Groeneveld is arrested--Mary of
Barneveld appeals to the Stadholder--Groeneveld condemned to Death--
Execution of Groeneveld.

The widow of Barneveld had remained, since the last scene of the fatal
tragedy on the Binnenhof, in hopeless desolation. The wife of the man
who during a whole generation of mankind had stood foremost among the
foremost of the world, and had been one of those chief actors and
directors in human affairs to whom men's eyes turned instinctively from
near and from afar, had led a life of unbroken prosperity. An heiress in
her own right, Maria van Utrecht had laid the foundation of her husband's
wealth by her union with the rising young lawyer and statesman. Her two
sons and two daughters had grown up around her, all four being married