"Do not let any regard for me keep you from any step which may be necessary for the vindication of your authority. I have months since spoken to my son, and I know that he has done nothing in this matter of the Princess Carlota since he first mooted it. Still his arrest may serve him as a warning not to meddle in affairs beyond his proper sphere."
"Thanks, Don Roderigo," replied the Viceroy with effusion. "This is a great sacrifice you make to me. I shall order his arrest at once, but to show you that I am actuated by no unfriendly feeling towards yourself I will entrust the examination of his papers to you together with my private secretary."
"That I must beg to decline. I can leave the examination of his papers with entire confidence to anyone whom you may appoint." So saying Don Roderigo took up his hat from a chair near him and rose to go, then adding, "In anything that I can serve you always count upon me, Don Santiago," he went his way.
As Don Roderigo sat alone in his own room that evening, the door opened, and in walked Don Martin Alzaga.
"Now what do you say about our Viceroy, that Liniers?" said he.
"What has he done now?" asked Don Roderigo.
"Do not you know? He has arrested Don Marcelino and seized his papers."
"I knew it," said Don Roderigo quite calmly.
"You know it, and you sit there as if it were a matter of no importance! The news has spread through the city and has caused general indignation."
"So much the better, that was just what I wanted."