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Don't consider an arrangement of our affairs desperate.

I hope for better things." Soon after his return he was waited upon one Sunday evening, late in October--being obliged to keep his house on account of continued indisposition--by a certain solicitor named Nordlingen and informed that the Prince was about to make a sudden visit to Leyden at four o'clock next morning.
Barneveld knew that the burgomasters and regents were holding a great banquet that night, and that many of them would probably have been indulging in potations too deep to leave them fit for serious business.
The agitation of people's minds at that moment made the visit seem rather a critical one, as there would probably be a mob collected to see the Stadholder, and he was anxious both in the interest of the Prince and the regents and of both religious denominations that no painful incidents should occur if it was in his power to prevent them.
He was aware that his son-in-law, Cornelis van der Myle, had been invited to the banquet, and that he was wont to carry his wine discreetly.

He therefore requested Nordlingen to proceed to Leyden that night and seek an interview with van der Myle without delay.