That Jeannin was well aware of the disposition prevailing throughout a great part of the commonwealth is certain.  It is equally certain that he represented to his sovereign, while at Paris, that the demand upon his exchequer by the States, in case of the resumption of hostilities, would be more considerable than ever.  Immense was the pressure put upon Henry by the Spanish court, during the summer, to induce him to abandon his allies.  Very complicated were the nets thrown out to entangle the wary old politician in “the grey jacket and with the heart of gold,” as he was fond of designating himself, into an alliance with Philip and the archdukes.

Don Pedro de Toledo, at the head of a magnificent embassy, arrived in Paris with projects of arranging single, double, or triple marriages between the respective nurseries of France and Spain.  The Infanta might marry with a French prince, and have all the Netherlands for her dower, so soon as the childless archdukes should have departed this life.  Or an Infante might espouse a daughter of France with the same heritage assigned to the young couple.

Such proposals, duly set forth in sonorous Spanish by the Constable of Castile, failed to produce a very soothing effect on Henry’s delicate ear.  He had seen and heard enough of gaining thrones by Spanish marriages.  Had not the very crown on his own head, which he had won with foot in stirrup and lance in rest, been hawked about for years, appended to the wedding ring of the Spanish Infanta?  It might become convenient to him at some later day, to form a family alliance with the house of Austria, although he would not excite suspicion in the United Provinces by openly accepting it then.  But to wait for the shoes of Albert and Isabella, and until the Dutch republic had been absorbed into the obedient Netherlands by his assistance, was not a very flattering prospect for a son or daughter of France.  The ex-Huguenot and indomitable campaigner in the field or in politics was for more drastic measures.  Should the right moment come, he knew well enough how to strike, and could appropriate the provinces, obedient or disobedient, without assistance from the Spanish babies.

Don Pedro took little by his propositions.  The king stoutly declared that the Netherlands were very near to his heart, and that he would never abandon them on any consideration.  So near, indeed, that he meant to bring them still nearer, but this was not then suspected by the Spanish court; Henry, the while, repelling as a personal insult to himself the request that he should secretly labour to reduce the United Provinces under subjection to the archdukes.  It had even been proposed that he should sign a secret convention to that effect, and there were those about the court who were not ill-disposed for such a combination.  The king was, however, far too adroit to be caught in any such trap.  The marriage proposals in themselves he did not dislike, but Jeannin and he were both of a mind that they should be kept entirely secret.