ver be obliged to open his purse
strings. Besides, music was cultivated in Valladolid, and if Don Luis
introduced him to the clergy there, it might easily happen that they
would avail themselves of his great knowledge and fine ability and
intrust to him the amendment and perhaps, finally, the direction of the
church music.

As Dona Magdalena often spent several months with her brother, the
Marquis Rodrigo de la Mota, Wolf could from time to time be permitted to
visit the Netherlands or Italy to participate in the more active musical
life of these countries.

Wolf listened to this explanation with increasing attention.

The narrow path which buried itself in the sand was becoming a
thoroughfare leading upward. He was glad that he had withheld his
refusal; but this matter was so important that the prudent young man,
after warmly thanking Don Luis for his good opinion, requested some time
for consideration.

True, Quijada could assure him that, for the sake of his wife, Dona
Magdalena de Ulloa, whom from childhood she had honoured with her special
favour, the regent would place no obstacle in the way of his retirement
from her service. But Wolf begged him to have patience with him. He was
not a man to make swift decisions, and nowhere could he reflect better
than in the saddle during a long ride. He would inform him of his
determination by the first messenger despatched from Brussels to the
Emperor. Even now he could assure him that this generous offer seemed
very tempting, since solitude always had far more charm for him than the
noisy bustle of the court.

Quijada willingly granted the requested delay, and, before bidding him
farewell, Wolf availed himself of the opportunity to deliver into his
hands the papers collected by his adopted father, which he had on his
person. They contained the proof that he was descended from the legal
marriage of a knight and a baroness; and Don Luis willingly undertook to
have them confirmed by the Emperor, and his patent renewed in a way
which, if he accepted his proposal, might also be useful to him in Spain.

So Wolf took leave of the major-domo with the conviction that he
possessed a true friend in this distinguished man. If the regent did not
arbitrarily detain him, he would show himself in Villagarcia to be worthy
of his confidence.

On the stairs he met the Emperor's confessor, Don Pedro de Soto. Wolf
bowed reverently before the dignified figure of the distinguished
Dominic