"Where did you learn that?" Granvelle interrupted in a startled tone, and
Barbara held her breath and listened with twofold attention.

"From his Majesty himself," was the reply. "He intended his son for the
monastery. He longs to see him again, because he is said to be
developing magnificently; but he wished to know whether it would not be
safer to remove him from the world before his arrival, for, if necessary,
he could give up meeting him. If be should discover his father's
identity, it might easily fill him with vanity, and in Villagarcia he was
learning to prize knightly achievements above the service of the Most
High. It would not do to leave him in the world; unpleasant things might
come from it. As King Philip's sole heir was the sickly Don Carlos----"

"His son Geronimo might aspire to the crown," interrupted Granvelle.
"He expressed the same doubts to me also. What I heard of the child
induced me to plead that he might be allowed to grow up in the world
untrammelled. If any one understands how to defend himself against
unauthorized demands, it is Don Philip."

"So I, too, think, and advised," replied Viglius. "Poor boy! His father
of late holds on to thalers more than anxiously and, if I am correctly
informed, the education of his son has hitherto cost his Majesty no more
expense than the maintenance of the mother. Wise economy, your Eminence!
Or what shall it be called?"

"As you choose," replied the bishop in an irritated tone. "What do you
know about the boy's mother?"

"Nothing," replied the Frieslander, "except what my friend Mathys told
me lately. He said that before she lost her voice she was a perfect