of paper half a foot thick.

The news of the arrest of Don Carlos made a great sensation in Spain. The
wildest rumors were set afloat. Some said that he had tried to kill his
father, others that he was plotting rebellion. Many laid all the blame on
the king. "Others, more prudent than their neighbors, laid their fingers
on their lips and were silent." The affair created almost as much
sensation throughout Europe as in Spain. Philip, in his despatches to
other courts, spoke in such vague and mysterious language that it was
impossible to tell what he meant, and the most varied surmises were
advanced.

Meanwhile, Carlos was kept rigorously confined, so much so that he was not
left alone day or night. Of the two nobles in his chamber at night, one
was required to keep awake while the other slept. They were permitted to
talk with him, but not on political matters nor on the subject of his
imprisonment. They were ordered to bring him no messages from without nor
receive any from him. No books except devotional ones were allowed him.

If it was the purpose of Philip to end the life of his son by other means
than execution he could not have taken better measures. For a young man of
his high spirit and fiery temper such strict confinement was maddening. At
first he was thrown into a frenzy, and tried more than once to make way
with himself. The sullenness of despair succeeded. He grew daily more
emaciated, and the malarial fever which had so long affected him now
returned in a severe degree. To allay the heat of the fever he would
deluge the floor of his chamber with water, and walk for hours with bare
feet on the cold floor. He had a warming-pan filled with ice and snow
brought him, and kept it for hours at night in his bed. He would drink
snow-water in immoderate draughts. In his eating he seemed anxious to
break down his strength,--now refusing all food for days together, now
devouring a pasty of four partridges at a sitting, washing it down with
three gallons or more of iced water.

That he was permitted to indulge in such caprices seems to indicate that
Philip wished him to kill himself. No constitution, certainly not so weak
a one as that of Carlos, could long withstand these excesses. His stomach
refused to perform its duty; severe vomiting attacked him; dysentery set
in; his strength rapidly failed. The expected end came on the 24th of
July, six months after the date of his imprisonment, death releasing the
prince fro