place as Secretary of State, thus becoming all but the
supreme ruler of Spain. I do not believe that there was ever in Spain
a Minister so highly favoured by the reigning Prince, so powerful as
I became. Not Eboli himself in his halcyon days had been so deeply
esteemed of Philip, or had wielded such power as I now made my own.
All Europe knows it--for it was to me all Europe addressed itself for
affairs that concerned the Catholic King.

And with my power came wealth--abundant, prodigious wealth. I was housed
like a Prince of the blood, and no Prince of the blood ever kept greater
state than I, was ever more courted, fawned upon, or t flattered. And
remember I was young, little more than thirty, with all the strength and
zest to enjoy my intoxicating eminence. I was to my party what Eboli had
been, though the nominal leader of it remained Quiroga, Archbishop of
Toledo. On the other side was the Duke of Alva with his following.

You must know that it was King Philip's way to encourage two rival
parties in the State, between which he shared his confidence and sway.
Thus he stimulated emulation and enlightened his own views in the
opposing opinions that were placed before him. But the power of my party
was absolute in those days, and Alva himself was as the dust beneath our
feet.

Such eminences, they say, are perilous. Heads that are very highly
placed may at any moment be placed still higher--upon a pike. I am all
but a living witness to the truth of that, and yet I wonder would it so
have fallen out with me had I mistrusted that slumbering passion of
mine for Anne. I should have known that where such fires have once been
kindled in a man they never quite die out as long as life endures. Time
and preoccupations may overlay them as with a film of ashes, but more
or less deeply down they smoulder on, and the first breath will fan them
into flame again.

It was at the King's request I went to see her in her fine Madrid house
opposite Santa Maria Mayor some months after her husband's death. There
were certain matters of heritage to be cleared up, and, having regard
to her high rank, it was Philip's wish that I--who was by now Eboli's
official successor--should wait on her in person.

There were documents to be conned and signed, and the matter took some
days, for Eboli's possessions were not only considerable, but scattered,
and his widow displayed an acquired knowledge of affairs and a natural
wisdom that inspired her