The narrow path which buried itself in the sand was becoming a thoroughfare leading upward.  He was glad that he had withheld his refusal; but this matter was so important that the prudent young man, after warmly thanking Don Luis for his good opinion, requested some time for consideration.

True, Quijada could assure him that, for the sake of his wife, Dona Magdalena de Ulloa, whom from childhood she had honoured with her special favour, the regent would place no obstacle in the way of his retirement from her service.  But Wolf begged him to have patience with him.  He was not a man to make swift decisions, and nowhere could he reflect better than in the saddle during a long ride.  He would inform him of his determination by the first messenger despatched from Brussels to the Emperor.  Even now he could assure him that this generous offer seemed very tempting, since solitude always had far more charm for him than the noisy bustle of the court.

Quijada willingly granted the requested delay, and, before bidding him farewell, Wolf availed himself of the opportunity to deliver into his hands the papers collected by his adopted father, which he had on his person.  They contained the proof that he was descended from the legal marriage of a knight and a baroness; and Don Luis willingly undertook to have them confirmed by the Emperor, and his patent renewed in a way which, if he accepted his proposal, might also be useful to him in Spain.

So Wolf took leave of the major-domo with the conviction that he possessed a true friend in this distinguished man.  If the regent did not arbitrarily detain him, he would show himself in Villagarcia to be worthy of his confidence.

On the stairs he met the Emperor’s confessor, Don Pedro de Soto.  Wolf bowed reverently before the dignified figure of the distinguished Dominican, and the latter, as he recognised him, paused to request curtly that he would give him a few minutes the following day.

“If I can be of any service to your Reverence,” replied Wolf, taking the prelate’s delicate hand to kiss it; but the almoner, with visible coldness, withdrew it, repellently interrupting him:  “First, Sir Knight, I must ask you for an explanation.  Where the plague is raging in every street, we ought to guard our own houses carefully against it.”

“Undoubtedly,” replied Wolf, unsuspiciously.  “But I shall set out early to-morrow morning with her Majesty.”

“Then,” replied the Dominican after a brief hesitation, “then a word with you now.”

He continued his way to the second story, and Wolf, with an anxious mind, followed him into a waiting room, now empty, near the staircase.

The deep seriousness in the keen eyes of the learned confessor, which could look gentle, indulgent, and sometimes even merry, revealed that he desired to discuss some matter of importance; but the very first question which the priest addressed to him restored the young man’s composure.