anto, a
fresh Tunis, will exclaim with modified gratification--'_There_ spoke
the blood of Charles the Fifth! Not so ill fought for a bastard!'"

Perceiving that the feelings of his highness were chafed, the
courtier, as in vocation bound, assured him he underrated the loyalty
towards him of his fellow countrymen of the Peninsula; and that his
services as governor of the Low Countries were fully appreciated.

"So fully, that I should be little surprised to learn the axe was
already sharpened that is to take off my head!" cried Don John, with
a scornful laugh. "And such being the exact state of my feelings and
opinions, my trusty Gonzaga, I ask you whether I am likely to have
proved a suitable Petrarch for so accomplished a Laura as the sister
of Henry III?"--

"I confess myself disappointed," replied the crafty Italian.--"I was
in hopes that your highness had found recreation as well as glory in
Belgium. During my sojourn at the court of Philip, I supported with
patience the somewhat ceremonious gravity of the Escurial, in the
belief that your highness was enjoying meanwhile those festal
enlivenments, which none more fully understand how to organize and
adorn."

"If such an expectation really availed to _enliven_ the Escurial,"
cried Don John recklessly, "your friendship must indeed possess
miraculous properties! However, you may judge with your own eyes the
pleasantness of my position; and every day that improves your
acquaintance with the ill blood and ill condition of this accursed
army of the royalists, ill-paid, ill-disciplined, and
ill-intentioned, will inspire you with stronger yearnings after our
days of the Mediterranean, where I was master of myself and of my
men."

"And all this was manifested to Margaret, and all this will serve to
comfort the venomous heart of the queen mother!"--ejaculated Gonzaga,
shrugging his shoulders.

"Not a syllable, not a circumstance! The Queen of Navarre was far too
much engrossed by the manoeuvres of her own bright eyes, to take heed
of those of my camp."

"Your highness is perhaps less well aware than might be desirable, of
how many things a woman's eyes are capable of doing, at one and the
same time!"--retorted the Italian.

"I only wish," cried Don John impatiently, "that instead of having
occasion to read me those Jeremiads, you had been here to witness the
friendship you so strangely exaggerate! A ball, an excursion on the
Meuse, a boar hunt in the forest of Mar