knows our royal master's nature. He will listen calmly
to you, whom he loves, or to me, who was permitted to remain at his side
as a page, or probably to the two Granvelles, Malfalconnet, and others
whom he trusts, when they venture to warn him--"

"And yet keep on in his mad career," interrupted Queen Mary with an angry
gesture of the hand.

"Plus ultra--more, farther--is his motto," observed Quijada in a tone of
justification.

"Forward ceaselessly, for aught I care, so long as the stomach and the
feet are sound!" replied the Queen, raising her hand to the high lace
ruff, which oppressed the breathing of one so accustomed to the outdoor
air. "But when, like him, a man must give up deer-stalking and at every
movement makes a wry face and can scarcely repress a groan--it might move
a stone to pity!--he ought to choose another motto. Persuade him to do
so, Quijada, if you are really his friend."

The smile with which the nobleman listened to this request plainly showed
the futility of the demand.

The Queen noticed it, threw her arm aloft as if she were hurling a
hunting spear, and exclaimed "I'm not easily deceived, Luis. Whether you
could or not, the will is lacking. You shun the attempt! Because you are
young yourself, and can still cope with the bear and wild boar, you like
the motto, which will probably lead to new wars, and thereby to fresh
renown. But, alas! my poor, poor brother, who--how long ago it is!--could
once have thrown even you upon the sand, what can he do, with this
accursed gout? And besides, what more can the Emperor Charles gain, since
there is no chance of obtaining the sovereignty of the world, of which he
once dreamed? He must learn to be content! Surely at his age! It is easy
to calculate, for his life began with the century, and this is its
forty-sixth year. Of course, with you soldiers the years of warfare count
double, and he--Duke Alba said so--was born a general. One need not be
able to reckon far in order to number how many months he has spent in
complete peace. And then he attained his majority at fifteen, and with
what weighty cares the man of the 'plus ultra' has loaded his shoulders
since that time! You, and many others at the court, had still more to do,
but, Luis, one thing, and it is the hardest burden, you were all spared.
I know it. It is called responsibility. Compared with this all others are
mere fluttering feathers. Its weight may become unendurable when the weal
and woe