He had, he said, fled the country at the Restoration for political reasons, a price having been set upon his head.  (I smiled grimly at this, knowing only too well why his head was thus valued.)  He had served as a soldier of fortune on the Rhine and in the Low Countries, finally joining the army of the States of Holland and rising to his present rank; though, in justice to the Dutch be it said, he was never allowed to take up arms against his own countrymen.