sfaction against Vasquez, assuring him that since,
himself, he could forgive the injuries against us both, I could easily
forgive those I had received myself, and finally begging his permission
to resign my office and retire.

Anne had contributed to this. She had sent for me, and in tears had
besought me to make my peace with Vasquez since the King desired it,
and this was no time in which to attempt resistance to his wishes. I
remained with her some hours, comforting her, for she was in the very
depths of despair, persuaded that we were both ruined, and inconsolable
in the thought that the blame of this was all her own.

It may be that I was watched, perhaps more closely than I imagined. It
may be that spies were close about us, set by the jealous Philip, who
desired confirmation or refutation of the things he had been told, the
rumours that were gnawing at his vitals.

I left her, little dreaming that I was never to see her again in this
life. That night I was arrested at my house by the Court alcalde upon an
order from the King. The paltry reason advanced was my refusal to make
my peace with Vasquez, and this when already the King was in possession
of my letter acknowledging my readiness to do so; for the King was in
Madrid, unknown to me. He came, it seems, that he might be present at
another arrest effected that same night. From the porch of the Church
of Santa Maria Mayor, he watched his alguazils enter the house of the
Princess of Eboli, bring her forth, bestow her in a waiting carriage
that was to bear her away to the fortress of Pinto, to an imprisonment
which was later exchanged for exile to Pastrana lasting as long as life
itself.

To sin against a Prince is worse, it seems, than to sin against God
Himself. For God forgives, but princes, wounded in their vanity and
pride, know nothing of forgiveness.

I was kept for four months a prisoner by the alcalde, no charge being
preferred against me. Then, because my health was suffering grievously
from confinement and the anxiety of suspense, I was moved to my own
house, and detained there for another eight months under close guard. My
friends besought the King in vain either to restore me to liberty or
to bring me to trial. He told them the affair was of a nature very
different from anything they deemed, and so evaded all demands.

In the summer of 1580, Philip went to Lisbon to take formal possession
of the crown of Portugal, which he had inherited. I sent m