"The Duke of Alva," he replied dryly, "gave me official information."
Then seeing that she remained silent and dejected he added peremptorily: "Lenora! how long is it since you have known of this proposed marriage?"
"Only three days," she replied tonelessly. "My father sent for me about a month ago. The Duchess of Medina Coeli was coming over to the Netherlands on a visit to her lord, and I was told that I must accompany her. We started from Laredo in the Esperansa on the 10th of last month and we landed at Flushing a week ago. Oh! at first I was so happy to come ... it is nine months and more since you left Spain and my heart was aching for a sight of you."
"Then ... when did you first hear?"
"Three days since, when we arrived in Brussels. The Duchess herself took me to my father's house, and then he told me ... that he had bade me come because the Lieutenant-Governor had arranged a marriage for me ... with a Netherlander."
Don Ramon muttered an angry oath.
"Did he--your father I mean--never hint at it before?" he asked.
"Never. A month ago he still spoke of you in his letters to me. Had you no suspicions, Ramon?"
"None," he replied.
"It was he of course who obtained for you that command under don Frederic, which took you out of Spain."