the place
this very night. Some cases are so apparent that I need not dissemble.
I know you will immediately send to the Duke of Arcos to march to the
Carthusian convent and meet him there with the body of horse under your
command."

The earl further offered, in the same apparent spirit of frankness, to
show Mahony all his troops and artillery, as well as the large resources
he had upon the sea, which was only six miles off. Mahony was entirely
deceived by the manner of the man he regarded as a relative, and
laughingly acknowledged that he had, in case of necessity, intended to
fall back with his cavalry upon the Duke of Arcos. The interview ended
by Mahony retiring to the town, agreeing to send back an answer in half
an hour. At the end of that time he sent out a capitulation by a Spanish
officer.

Had Peterborough's scheme ended here he would not have exceeded the
bounds of what is regarded as a fair method of deceiving an enemy,
but his subsequent proceedings were absolutely indefensible, and are,
indeed, almost incredible on the part of the man who in some respects
carried the point of honor almost to an extreme. His notion, no doubt,
was to paralyze the action of the enemy by exciting suspicions of
treachery among their leaders, but the means which he took to do so were
base and unworthy in the extreme.

He began with the Spanish officer who had brought the capitulation,
giving him a garbled account of his interview with Mahony, and then
endeavoring to bribe him to desert to the Austrian cause, insinuating
that he had succeeded by this means with Mahony. As the earl expected,
he failed to induce the Spaniard to desert, but he succeeded in his
purpose of filling his mind with suspicions of treachery on the part of
Mahony.

Mahony had conducted the negotiations in a manner worthy of a loyal
and skillful officer; he had stipulated not to leave the town till one
o'clock in the morning, and that Peterborough should not pass the river
until that hour.

This he had arranged in order to allow the Duke of Arcos time to reach
the plains, where he was to be joined by the horse from Murviedro. But
Peterborough's machinations had been effectual; the Spanish officer, on
his return, informed his countrymen that Mahony had betrayed them, and
the troops and populace became enraged against the unfortunate Irishman
and threatened his life. Peterborough, who, in spite of his perverted
notions of honor, would not on any account