“Out on the treaty!” cried Alva. “Your Highness, I trust, will little regard its terms. Once wedded to the Queen of England, the country will be under your control. This the Emperor well knew, or he would have spurned the conditions proposed to him by the wily Gardiner. Bind you as they may, the council cannot hold you fast, and ere long you will have supreme sway. In two years’ time England will be as much a province of Spain as the Netherlands is now. Then you will reap abundantly the harvest you are sowing. Moreover, by that time the crown of Spain and the imperial diadem may grace your brow.”
“Why do you think so, Alva?” demanded Philip, quickly. “My father suffers much from gout; but gout, physicians tell me, keeps off all other ailments, and those afflicted with it live long in consequence. When he last wrote to me, the Emperor reported himself in good case.”
“Saints keep him so!” cried the Duke. “Yet, as I have just said, ere two years are over, your Highness will surely be King of Spain and Emperor of Germany.”
“What means this prediction?” inquired Philip looking inquiringly at him.
“It means that the Emperor your father, tired with the cares of government, designs to surrender his kingdoms to you.”
“Has he said aught of his intent to you, Alva?—or is it mere surmise on your part?” demanded the Prince, unable to disguise the interest he took in the question.
“Your Highness will excuse me if I decline to state how I obtained the information,” rejoined the Duke; “but I will stake my life on its correctness.”
Philip said nothing more, but remained for some time with his hand upon his lips, absorbed in thought. The flush that overspread his cheeks showed he was much excited. Alva kept his keen eye fixed upon him, and seemed to read what was passing in his breast. After a while, Philip broke the silence.
“It may be as you say,” he remarked; “yet I do not think my father will part lightly with his crown. In a moment of weariness he may talk of abdicating in my favour—but when the fit is over, the design will pass away with it. How would he spend his days if not employed by state affairs?”
“In retirement and holy meditation—in preparation for eternity. Such is his Majesty’s intent.”