“And your Majesty did her the honour to feel her teeth?”—­[A German phrase meaning to sound a person’s intentions.—­TR.]—­queried Quijada.

“Feel her teeth?” replied the Queen.  “It might have been worth while, for those that glitter between her rosy lips are white and beautifully formed.  But I did even more—­I tested the girl’s heart and mind.”

“And the result?”

“H’m!” said the Queen.  “Very favourable.  Yet no.  If I must be honest, that is saying too little.  She stood it very, surprisingly well.  Her intellect is anything but limited; nay, her comprehension is so swift that she can be sure of not trying his Majesty’s patience unduly.  Her manners, too, are not amiss for a German; but what is the main point—­she is pious, firm in the faith, and ardent in her hatred of the foes of the Holy Church.  My life upon it! all this is as genuine as the diamond in my ring, and so the white raven is complete.  That she has returned the Emperor Charles love for love by no means sullies her plumage.  In my eyes, it only shines the more brightly, since one so great as he permits her, though only for a short distance, to share his glorious flight.  This Barbara is certainly a rare bird.  But in the chase, and as regent of a restless nation, one’s sight becomes keen—­”

“And now,” cried Quijada, “comes the ‘but.’”

“It does come,” replied the regent firmly, “and I will point it out to you.  I only found the trail; but you, Luis, as a good sportsman and a loyal friend of his Majesty, will keep a sharp watch upon it.  This girl is obstinate to the verge of defiance, vain, and unusually ambitious.”

“She has already shown us the obstinacy,” observed the Castilian.

“When she wheeled her horse to escape you?” asked the Queen.

“But there she was perfectly right.  What a heedless, inconsiderate masculine idea, to usher a woman directly from a horseback ride into a company of gentlemen to sing before the Emperor!  As to the vanity, I do not find much fault with that.  It would be far worse if she lacked it.  One can not imagine a genuine woman without it.  It has been called pride in charms which we do not possess, but it also serves to place actual charms in a brighter light, and that I expect from this fair one.  If she knows how to avoid extravagance, it will willingly be indulged.  But her ambition, Luis; perils may arise from that.  If it begins to stir too covetously, remember your duty as watcher—­sound the horn and set the packs upon her.”

“For the sake of our sovereign lord, I will not fail,” replied Quijada.  “So far as she herself is concerned, she is one of those women whose beauty I acknowledge, but to whom I am indifferent.  More modest manners please me better.”

“You are thinking of Dona Magdalena de Ulloa,” observed the Queen, “you poor loyal widower, while the loveliest of wives still lives.  Certainly this German bears so little resemblance to her——­”