for some
parts of the story than for others. There is nothing very improbable in
the supposition that Carlos--whose thoughts, as we have seen, lay very
near the surface--should have talked, in the wild way reported of him,
to his attendants. But that he should have repeated to others what had
been drawn from him so cunningly by the prior, or that this appalling
secret should have been whispered within earshot of the attendants, is
difficult to believe. It matters little, however, since, whichever way
we take the story, it savors so much of downright madness in the prince
as in a manner to relieve him from moral responsibility.

By the middle of January, 1568, the prince's agent had returned,
bringing with him a hundred and fifty thousand ducats. It was not more
than a fourth of the amount he had demanded. But it answered for the
present, and the remainder he proposed to have sent after him in bills
of exchange.[1447] Having completed his preparations, he communicated
his intentions to his uncle, Don John, and besought him to accompany him
in his flight. But the latter, after fruitlessly expostulating with his
kinsman on the folly of his proceeding, left Madrid for the Escorial,
where he doubtless reported the affair to the king, his brother.

On the seventeenth, Carlos sent an order to Don Ramon de Tassis, the
director-general of the posts, to have eight horses in readiness for
him, that evening. Tassis, suspecting all was not right, returned an
answer that the horses were out. On the prince repeating his orders in a
more peremptory manner, the postmaster sent all the horses out, and
proceeded himself in all haste to the Escorial.[1448]

[Sidenote: HIS ARREST.]

The king was not long in taking his measures. Some days previous, "this
very religious prince," says the papal nuncio, "according to his wont,
had caused prayers to be put up, in the different monasteries, for the
guidance of Heaven in an affair of great moment."[1449] Such prayers
might have served as a warning to Carlos. But it was too late for
warnings. Philip now proceeded, without loss of time, to Madrid, where
those who beheld him in the audience-chamber, on the morning of the
eighteenth, saw no sign of the coming storm in the serenity of his
countenance.[1450] That morning, he attended mass in public, with the
members of the royal family. After the services, Don John visited Carlos
in his apartment, when the prince, shutting the doors, demanded of his