not born to obey all his life, and allow
himself to be turned to account, worn out, and abused for the benefit of
another. He, too, might lay claim to the right of governing a kingdom of
his own as its ruler, benefactor, and Mehrer.

After Lepanto, the crowns of the Morea and Albania had been offered to
him. Then, after he had conquered Tunis for his brother Philip, he had
wished to reign over that country as its king. Had it been ceded to him,
large provinces would have been taken from the infidels. This, it might
have been supposed, was sufficient reason for Philip to intrust it to his
government. But although the Holy Father in Rome and other rulers had
recognised the justice of these wishes, his royal brother could not be
persuaded to grant his just demands, and destroyed these hopes with cruel
coldness. He had not even been induced to recognise him as Infant, as a
lawful member of his family.

With trivial pretexts, and promises which he never intended to fulfil,
the hypocritical, selfish, niggardly man had repulsed, delayed, and put
him off.

So his life had been spoiled by the most cruel disappointments, by a
succession of the bitterest wrongs. Since Lepanto, no pure happiness had
bloomed again for him. He was a miserable, disappointed, ill-treated man,
who could never regain his former happiness until he obtained, on his own
account, what he himself called greatness, honour, glory, and power. The
gifts, no, the more than well-earned payments for which he was indebted
to the King, were only a bodiless shadow, a caricature of these lofty
gifts of Heaven.

His mother, alarmed, cried in terror, "What an ambition!"

But Don John, with increasing excitement, exclaimed: "Yes, mother! I am
so ambitious that, if I knew there was another man who more ardently
desired renown and honour, I would throw myself out of this window. 'Who
does not struggle ward, falls back!' has long been my motto, and I am
struggling upward and know the goal."

A startling suspicion seized Barbara, and with anxious caution she
whispered:

"Do I see aright? You have learned from Flanders and Brabant how bitterly
King Philip is hated there, and you now hope to contend with him for the
crown of the Netherlands? The victory you, my hero, my general, you would
surely attain--" But here she was interrupted.

Don John cut short her words with the cry, "Mother!" and then went on
indignantly: "If any one else had given me this advice, I would de