to break the bond with him?

Why not?

She was a woman, and a capricious one, too, and of what would not such
a nature be capable? Besides, there was something else. Jamnitzer, the
Nuremberg goldsmith, had intrusted a casket of jewels to Adrian to keep
during his absence. They were intended for the diadems which the Emperor
was to give his two nieces for bridal presents. The principal gems among
them were two rubies and a diamond. On the gold of the old-fashioned
setting were a P and an l, the initial letters of his motto "Plus
ultra." He had once had it engraved upon the back of the star which he
bestowed upon Barbara. His keen eye and faithful memory could not be
deceived--Jamnitzer's jewels had been broken from that costly ornament.

From time immemorial it had belonged to the treasures of his family, and
he had already doubted whether it was justifiable to give it away.

Was it conceivable that Barbara had parted with this, his first memento,
sold it, "turned it into money"?--the base words wounded his chivalrous
soul like the blow of a scourge.

She was a passionate, defiant, changeful creature, it is true, yet her
nature was noble, hostile to baseness, and what a wealth of the purest
and deepest feeling echoed in her execution of solemn songs! This
induced him to reject as impossible the suspicion that she could have
stooped to anything so unworthy.

Still, it was not easily banished. A long series of the sorest
disappointments had rendered him distrustful, and he remembered having
asked her several times for the star in vain.

Perhaps it had been stolen from her, and Jamnitzer had obtained it from
the thief himself or from the receiver. This thought partially soothed
him, especially as, if correct, it would be possible for him to recover
the ornament. But he was an economical manager, and to expend thousands
of ducats for such a thing just at this time, when immense sums were
needed for the approaching war, seemed to him more than vexatious.

Besides, the high price which he had paid for the Saxon's aid rendered
him uneasy. He had ceded two large bishoprics to his Protestant ally,
and this act of liberality, which, it is true, had been approved and
supported by Granvelle, could no longer be undone. Moreover, if he drew
the sword, he must maintain the pretence that it was not done for the
sake of religion, but solely to chastise the insubordinate Protestant
princes, headed by the Elector John Frederick of