The noon sun
He did not look particularly emaciated , for many a grain of the doves ' food had been secretly added to his scanty ration of meat . Wilhelm showed that he felt both surprised and honored by Frau Van der Werff 's visit , and even promised to grant her request , though it was evident that the `` saying yes '' was by no means easy for him . The young wife went out on the balcony with him , and he showed her in the south , where usually nothing but a green plain met the eye , a wide expanse over which a light mist was hovering . The noon sun seemed to steep the white vapor with light , and lure it upward by its ardent rays . This was the water streaming through the broken dyke , and the black oblong specks moving along its edges were the Spanish troops and herds of cattle , that had retreated before the advancing flood from the outer fortifications , villages and hamlets . The Land-scheiding itself was not visible , but the Beggars had already passed it . If the fleet succeeded in reaching the Zoetermere Lake and from thence .