physician, and had
in many ways been treated with such favor by the kalif, Abd-el-Rhaman,
that people had begun to shake their heads and ask themselves whether
the ruler of Leon was doing all in his power for the good of
Christendom. After the great success of Gonzalez at Pedrahita, where the
Saracen invader Abu Alaxi suffered signal defeat, there was greater
dissatisfaction than ever with this do-nothing policy, and the Count of
Castile was hailed on every hand as the greatest of the Christian
warriors. Her jealousy aroused, Dona Teresa now resolved upon desperate
measures, ready to stop at nothing in her mad desire to overthrow
Gonzalez. On her advice, the count was summoned to Sancho's capital,
Oviedo, for a general conference in regard to matters of Christian
defence, and to Oviedo Gonzalez came, little suspecting the trap which
had been laid for him there. Dona Teresa knew that Gonzalez had lately
lost his wife, and she found opportunity during his stay, after many
words of fulsome flattery, in which she was no novice, to counsel him to
seek the hand of her niece, Dona Sancha, daughter of King Garcia of
Navarre. She even undertook to arrange this marriage for him and
promised to send her messengers on ahead, that the Navarrese court might
be ready to receive him in case he thought best to go at once to press
his suit. Gonzalez, at this moment a living example of Gay's couplet,

"And when a lady's in the case,
You know all other things give place,"

all inflamed by the glowing descriptions of Dona Sancha's beauty, and at
the same time fully aware of the political advantage which might follow
from this alliance with the powerful house of Navarre, was only too
eager to go on the moment, as the cunning Dona Teresa had supposed; and
he set out at once, leaving Oviedo amidst the sound of martial music,
with banners flying, and the populace cheering lustily and in all good
faith, for they loved this doughty hero. Dona Teresa had kept her word,
in that she had sent on her messengers ahead to announce his coming, but
the reception that she was preparing for him was far different from the
one which he had imagined. King Garcia was informed by his crafty sister
that Gonzalez was coming with an impudent demand for his daughter's
hand, and that for the general safety he should be seized and put into
one of the castle dungeons as soon as he appeared. Dona Sancha, the
prospective bride of his ardent imagination, was no p