Dr. Mathys complains; but you know well enough how that
is.

"Three days have passed since I began this letter. You are aware of most
of what concerns your beloved master; now for my husband.

"He has never had service so arduous as here, for the grand prior, Don
Luis de Avila, is nothing to his Majesty except a dear old brother in
arms, with whom he is fond of talking about the past. Everything rests on
my poor husband. He said, a short time ago, that he would no longer
endure playing the host to everybody who comes to San Yuste, being agent
for everybody in Spain who desires anything from the Emperor Charles, and
at the same time constantly caring for the person of the sick sovereign.
This life, he thinks, may suit a person who has taken leave of his
property and the world, but he still clings to both, and especially to
me, the poor wife who has been parted from him so long. He has served the
Emperor twenty-five years, and during this time he lost all his brothers
in the war. The estates came to him, and how long they have already been
deprived of the master's eye!

"Don Luis told the Emperor Charles all this, yet he refused him leave of
absence to go to Villagarcia. Instead, I was obliged to move near my
husband, and am now living with Geronimo, in the wretched village of
Cuacos, which is easily reached from San Yuste. There I finally arrived
with the boy whom the Virgin, in her inexhaustible mercy, gave to me, a
poor, childless woman, to make me happy, although on his account I
wronged my lord and husband by a sinful suspicion.

"Here I must begin my letter for the third time.

"It was fortunate that Geronimo left Massi and Leganes, for he was
allowed to grow up there like a little savage. Before learning to obey,
he was permitted to command.--No one opposed him, so in Villagarcia the
first thing necessary was to accustom him to discipline, obedience, and
the manners of the nobles. The trouble was not great, and how richly the
boy rewarded it! He is now in his twelfth year, and how your good wife
would stare, Adrian, if she could see her nursling again! Do not suppose
that it is blind partiality when I say that few handsomer lads could be
found in all King Philip's dominions. His figure is slender and only
slightly above middle height; but how erect and noble is his bearing, how
symmetrically his pliant form is developing! His delicately cut features
and large blue eyes glow with the bold courage which fills his