however, the monarch was not capable of making up his mind. He knew
very well that the Cardinal was odious and infamous, because he was the
willing impersonation of the royal policy. Philip was, therefore,
logically called upon to abandon the policy or to sustain the minister.
He could make up his mind to do neither the one nor the other. In the
mean time a well-turned period of mock magnanimity had been furnished
him. This he accordingly transmitted as his first answer to a most
important communication upon a subject which, in the words of the
writers, "admitted neither of dissimulation nor delay." To deprive
Philip of dissimulation and delay, however, was to take away his all.
They were the two weapons with which he fought his long life's battle.
They summed up the whole of his intellectual resources. It was
inevitable, therefore, that he should at once have recourse to both
on such an emergency as the present one.

At the same time that he sent his answer to the nobles, he wrote an
explanatory letter to the Regent. He informed her that he had received
the communication of the three seigniors, but instructed her that she was
to appear to know nothing of the matter until Egmont should speak to her
upon the subject. He added that, although he had signified his wish to
the three nobles, that one of them, without specifying which, should come
to Madrid, he in reality desired that Egmont, who seemed the most
tractable of the three, should be the one deputed. The King added, that
his object was to divide the nobles, and to gain time.

It was certainly superfluous upon Philip's part to inform his sister that
his object was to gain time. Procrastination was always his first
refuge, as if the march of the world's events would pause indefinitely
while he sat in his cabinet and pondered. It was, however, sufficiently
puerile to recommend to his sister an affectation of ignorance on a