The most he could now say to the dwarf would be that he could give no answer and would act as carefully as possible.

For the rest, the letter contained nothing treasonable, and was not at all what he had expected and believed it to be.

It appeared to be written in a friendly spirit, and with the exception of his own brother and Mendoza, he was not aware that he had an enemy in Spain, in which he was almost right.

Nevertheless, bold and frank as he was by nature, he knew enough of real warfare to distrust appearances.

The writer was attached to the King's person, or the letter might have been composed, and even written in an assumed hand, by the King himself, for Philip was not above using the methods of a common conspirator.