"Yes, to-night, after Chapel, in my boudoir;" and so they separated.
The King had left the salon.
A Court courier had arrived from Brussels, and together with Don Renard he had withdrawn to his own rooms.
There they hastily examined the messenger's portfolio, and that business being transacted the Ambassador entered upon other matters.
King Philip was a hard master! Great statesmen and famous warriors knew that it behoved them to walk warily in their dealings with him. Eminent service and a long discharge of duty would not save them from the prison cell, and even the block, if they thwarted their imperious master.
Don Renard knew this full well.
At this moment he was the King's most trusted servant—none knew England and the English as he did, and Philip placed great reliance on his astute counsels. To-night he felt the extreme difficulty of the course he was pursuing.
He knew that the King was violently offended by Ralph's attack upon a Royal officer; that, moreover, he had a suspicion that this was a Protestant plot and that the offender himself was a kind of "Hot Gospeller!"
He must walk very warily to-night.
He had a communication from the Council of the City of London to lay before the King.