Then the King asked Jeromín many questions, which the boy answered brightly with much modest composure, but without shyness. Then he went with Quijada towards the oak spinney, leaving the boy alone with the man with the hooked nose and long beard who Quijada had said was the Duque de Alba. The huntsmen had taken the horses, and were waiting at a respectful distance.
Jeromín felt shy at finding himself alone with the grave magnate who stood respectfully at his side, with his cap in his hand. This seemed very odd to Jeromín, as the King had gone away and was even lost to sight among the trees, and this humble attitude in so great a personage worried him.
The Duque at last broke this embarrassing silence, asking Jeromín after Doña Magdalena de Ulloa, and saying much in praise of her talents and virtues; which so pleased the child that the ice was at once broken and sympathy established between the famous commander and the innocent boy.
Meanwhile D. Philip was getting detailed information about Jeromín's character and qualities from Quijada, and was confiding to him and asking his advice about some of his plans for the child.
It was his intention to acknowledge him publicly as the Emperor's son and his own brother, and to give him the rank of Infante at Court without the name, and for him to be addressed only as Excellency. He had already formed an household with this object, and thought of educating him with his son D. Carlos and his nephew Alexander Farnese, in order that the good qualities of Alexander and Jeromín might arouse emulation in the weak and not over well-disposed nature of D. Carlos.
But for all this the help of Luis Quijada and his wife was necessary, because it was certain that the abrupt change of fortune might be the ruin of Jeromín, if he had not at his side to advise and correct him the same persons who had so happily guided his first steps. For this reason D. Philip wished that Quijada should go as his tutor to Court with Jeromín to look after him and his house, and that Doña Magdalena should go, too, to love and watch over him as a mother; a charge, said D. Philip, which would be neither recognised at, nor rewarded by, the Court, but which God and the King would thank them for and repay with bountifulness. And to make a still greater link between Jeromín and D. Carlos, and that the latter should benefit by the moral advantages the former had enjoyed, the King also wished Quijada to accept the office of Master of the Horse to the Prince; and to warrant this office and also to help with his expenses, the King offered him to have the Commandery of Morals of the Order of Calatrava very shortly, and to give him at once the post of Councillor of State and of War. Delighted, Quijada accepted everything which fulfilled all his expectations, and also the wishes of Doña Magdalena, as if the King had consulted them beforehand. D. Philip was also pleased, and giving way to his excessive love of details, he gave Quijada a paper on which were the names of the people who were to form Jeromín's household, and gave him entire liberty to make any observations that occurred to him, because the King was ready to modify, or even to change completely, anything that Quijada and Doña Magdalena judged necessary for the well-being of the child.
These were the names of the household:
Luis Quijada, Tutor and Master of the Household.
The Conde de Priego D. Fernando Carrillo, Lord Steward.
D. Luis de Cordóba, Master of the Horse.