Ulrich's labor.

The time for departure was drawing near. The hanging-scaffold, on which
he had lain for months, working on the master's pictures, had been
removed, but there was still something to be done to the walls.

Suddenly the court-artist was ordered to suspend the work, and have
the beams, ladders and boards, which narrowed the space in the
picadero,--[Riding School]--removed.

The large enclosure was wanted during the next few days for a special
purpose, and there were new things for Coello to do.

Don Juan of Austria, the king's chivalrous half-brother, had commenced
his heroic career, and vanquished the rebellious Moors in Granada. A
magnificent reception was to be prepared for the young conqueror,
and Coello received the commission to adorn a triumphal arch with
hastily-sketched, effective pictures.

The designs were speedily completed, and the triumphal arch erected in
a court-yard of the Alcazar, for here, within the narrow circle of the
court, not publicly, before the whole population, had the suspicious
monarch resolved to receive and honor the victor.

Ulrich had again assisted Coello in the execution of his sketches.
Everything was finished at the right time, and Don Juan's reception
brilliantly carried out with great pomp and dignity, through the whole
programme of a Te Deum and three services, processions, bull-fights, a
grand 'Auto-da-fe', and a tournament.

After this festival, the king again resigned the riding-school to the
artists, who instantly set to work. Everything was finished except the
small figures at the bottom of the larger pictures, and these could be
executed without scaffolding.

Ulrich was again standing on the ladder, for the first time after this
interruption, and Coello had just followed him into the picadero, when a
great bustle was heard outside.

The broad doors flew open, and the manege was soon filled with knights
and ladies on foot and horseback.

The most brilliant figures in all the stately throng were Don Juan
himself, and his youthful nephew, Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma.

Ulrich feasted his eyes on the splendid train, and the majestic,
haughty, yet vivacious manner of the conqueror.

Never in his life, he thought, had he seen a more superb youthful
figure. Don Juan stopped directly opposite to him, and bared his head.
The thick, fair hair brushed back behind his ears, hung in wonderfully
soft, waving locks down to his neck, and his features blende