airs of superiority which pierced daily more and more decidedly through
the conventional exterior of the Cardinal. Granvelle, on the other hand,
entertained a gentle contempt for Egmont, which manifested itself in all
his private letters to the King, and was sufficiently obvious in his
deportment. There had also been distinct causes of animosity between
them. The governorship of Hesdin having become vacant, Egmont, backed by
Orange and other nobles, had demanded it for the Count de Roeulx, a
gentleman of the Croy family, who, as well as his father, had rendered
many important services to the crown. The appointment was, however,
bestowed, through Granvelle's influence, upon the Seigneur d'Helfault, a
gentleman of mediocre station and character, who was thought to possess
no claims whatever to the office. Egmont, moreover, desired the abbey of
Trulle for a poor relation of his own; but the Cardinal, to whom nothing
in this way ever came amiss, had already obtained the King's permission
to, appropriate the abbey to himself Egmont was now furious against the
prelate, and omitted no opportunity of expressing his aversion, both in
his presence and behind his back. On one occasion, at least, his wrath
exploded in something more than words. Exasperated by Granvelle's
polished insolence in reply to his own violent language, he drew his
dagger upon him in the presence of the Regent herself, "and," says a
contemporary, "would certainly have sent the Cardinal into the next world
had he not been forcibly restrained by the Prince of Orange and other
persons present, who warmly represented to him that such griefs were to
be settled by deliberate advice, not by choler." At the same time, while
scenes like these were occurring in the very bosom of the state council,
Granvelle, in his confidential letters to secretary Perez, asserted
warmly that all reports of a want of harmony between himself and the
other seignors and councillors were false, and that the best relations
existed among them all. It was not his intention, before it should be
necessary, to let the King doubt his ability to govern the counsel