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Juan de Mesa set out for Aragon on a mission concerned with the administration of some property of the Princess of Eboli's. Rubio, Insausti, and Enriquez were each given an ensign's commission, bearing the King's own signature, and ordered to join the armies in various parts of Italy; the first was sent to Milan, the second to Sicily, and the last to Naples. Bosque went back to Aragon.
King Philip's hands strained at the arms of his great chair, and he half rose, as if to command silence; and Don John, suddenly pale, had half risen, too, stretching out his open hand in a gesture of deprecation, while the Queen watched him with timidly admiring eyes, and the dark Princess of Eboli's dusky lids drooped to hide her own, for she was watching him also, but with other thoughts.
The Princess of Eboli's red lips curled scornfully as she listened, and unnoticed she exchanged a meaning glance with Antonio Perez; for he and she were allies, and often of late they had talked long together, and had drawn sharp comparisons between the King and his brother, and the plan they had made was to destroy the King and to crown Don John of Austria in his place; but the woman's plot was deeper, and both were equally determined that Don John should not marry without their consent, and that if he did, his marriage should not hold, unless, as was probable, his young wife should fall ill and die of a sickness unknown to physicians.
Philip looked at her attentively, mentally comparing her with his young Queen's placidly dull personality and with the Princess of Eboli's fast disappearing and somewhat coarse beauty. For the Princess had changed much since Titian had painted his very flattering picture, and though she was only thirty years of age, she was already the mother of many children.
There were documents to be conned and signed, and the matter took some days, for Eboli's possessions were not only considerable, but scattered, and his widow displayed an acquired knowledge of affairs and a natural wisdom that inspired her to probe deeply. To my undoing, she probed too deeply in one matter. It concerned some land a little property at Velez.
To the victory of Lepanto, which had made him illustrious as a soldier, he had added, in '73 the year of Eboli's death the conquest of Tunis, thereby completing the triumph of Christianity over the Muslim in the Mediterranean. Success may have turned his head a little. He was young, you know, and an emperor's son.
Of the three, Perez alone may have guessed the truth, but though it was degrading enough, he would not let it stand in the way of his advancement; and in the end it was he who escaped, leaving her to perish, the victim of the King's implacable anger, Dolores could not help shaking her head in answer to the Prince of Eboli's speech. "People are very unjust to Perez," he said.
We had gone to the play together more than once; she had been present with me at a bull-fight on one occasion, and it was matter of common gossip, as I was to learn, that I was a too frequent visitor at her house. Another visitor there was Escovedo when in Madrid. Have I not said that in his early days he had been one of Eboli's secretaries?
Impossible! KING. The Princess Eboli's. MARQUIS. Then, it was true, what the queen's page confessed, Not long since that he brought this key and letter. Marquis! I see that I'm in dreadful hands. This woman I confess it 'twas this woman Forced the queen's casket: and my first suspicions Were breathed by her. Who knows how deep the priest May be engaged in this? I am deceived By cursed villany.
ALVA. Then be it so. The QUEEN, DON CARLOS, DUKE ALVA. How! naked swords? Prince Carlos! Pardon, duke! Your pardon, sir! Forget, forgive it all! ALVA. By heaven, 'tis strange! A word with you, Duke ALVA. The PRINCESS EBOLI's apartment. The PRINCESS in a simple, but elegant dress, playing on the lute. Are you alone? I wonder much He is not here already; but he must Be here upon the instant.
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