“For the sake of our sovereign lord, I will not fail,” replied Quijada.  “So far as she herself is concerned, she is one of those women whose beauty I acknowledge, but to whom I am indifferent.  More modest manners please me better.”

“You are thinking of Dona Magdalena de Ulloa,” observed the Queen, “you poor loyal widower, while the loveliest of wives still lives.  Certainly this German bears so little resemblance to her——­”

“That I most humbly entreat your Majesty,” interposed Quijada with haughty decision, “not to compare these two women, even by way of contrast.”

“B-r-r!” said the regent, extending her hands toward him as if to repel an assault.  “Yet I like you in this mood, Luis.  You are a true Castilian!  So we will leave Dona Magdalena in her Villagarcia, and only permit myself to admire the self-sacrifice of a woman who grants a husband like you so long a leave of absence.  As to the Ratisbon maiden——­”

“I should be very glad to know,” Quijada began, this time in a submissive tone, “by what sign your Majesty’s penetration discovered this young creature’s ambition.”

“That is soon told,” replied the regent kindly.  “She specially mentioned her distinguished relatives in the city and in Landshut, and when I advised her to show due respect to the marquise, who, in spite of everything, is a woman of high rank and certainly an old lady, before whose gray hairs Scripture commands us to rise, something hovered around her lips—­they are ripe for kisses—­something which it is not easy to find exactly the right words to describe:  a blending of repugnance, self-assertion, and resistance.  She suffered it to remain on her beautiful face only a few minutes, but it gave me reason enough to urge you to sound a warning if his Majesty’s late love should render him more yielding than is desirable.”

“The warned man will heed what prescient wisdom enjoins upon him,” the major-domo protested, with his hand upon his heart.  “But if I know his Majesty, his strong and well-warranted sense of imperial dignity will render my attentive solicitude needless.  The moment that the singer assails it will put a speedy end to my royal master’s love.”

The Queen shook her head, and answered doubtfully:  “If only you do not undervalue the blind boy-god’s power!  Yet it must be owned that your theory has a certain degree of justification.”  She went to the window as she spoke, and added:  “Karlowitz, the minister of Duke Maurice of Saxony, is leaving the house.  He looks pleased, and if he has come to an agreement with the Bishop of Arras, that will also help to put the Emperor in a pleasant mood—­”

“And all of us!” exclaimed Quijada, grasping his sword hilt.  “If this energetic young prince, with his military ability and his army, joins us, why, then——­”

“Then there will be war,” interrupted the Queen, completing the sentence; “then there will be great joy among you younger, belligerent Castilians!  What do you care for the tears of mothers and the blood of husbands and sons?  Both will flow in streams, and, even if we were certain of victory—­which we are not—­what will the gain be?”