alderon bowed with the deepest reverence; and, placing a large fauteuil
before the stranger, seated himself on stool, at a little distance.

The new comer was of sallow complexion; his gorgeous dress sparkled with
prodigal jewels. Boy as he was, there was a yet a careless loftiness,
a haughty ease, in the gesture--the bend of the neck, the wave of the
hand, which, coupled with the almost servile homage of the arrogant
favourite, would have convinced the most superficial observer that he
was born of the highest rank. A second glance would have betrayed,
in the full Austrian lip--the high, but narrow forehead--the dark,
voluptuous, but crafty and sinister eye, the features of the descendant
of Charles V. It was the Infant of Spain that stood in the chamber of
his ambitious minion.

"This is convenient, this private entrance into thy penetralia,
Roderigo. It shelters me from the prying eyes of Uzeda, who ever seeks
to cozen the sire by spying on the Son. We will pay him off one of these
days. He loves you no less than he does his prince."

"I bear no malice to him for that, your highness. He covets the smiles
of the rising sun and rails at the humble object which, he thinks,
obstructs the beam."

"He might be easy on that score: I hate the man, and his cold
formalities. He is ever fancying that we princes are intent on the
affairs of state, and forgets that we are mortal and that youth is the
age for the bower, not the council. My precious Calderon, life would be
dull without thee: how I rejoice at thy return, thou best inventor of
pleasure that satiety ever prayed for! Nay, blush not: some men despise
thee for thy talents: I do thee homage. By my great grandsire's beard,
it will be a merry time at court when I am monarch, and thou minister!"

Calderon looked earnestly at the prince, but his scrutiny did not serve
to dispel a certain suspicion of the royal sincerity that ever and anon
came across the favourite's most sanguine dreams. With all Philip's
gaiety, there was something restrained and latent in his ambiguous
smile, and his calm, deep, brilliant eye. Calderon, immeasurably above
his lord in genius, was scarcely, perhaps, the equal of that beardless
boy in hypocrisy and craft, in selfish coldness, in matured depravity.

"Well," resumed the prince, "I pay you not these compliments without
an object. I have need of you--great need; never did I so require your
services as at this moment; never was there so great d