John, of Austria, 1547-1578; Spain -- History -- Philip II, 1556-1598
Then followed another hundred of halberdiers of
the German Guard wearing the same colours and devices, and then another
hundred of the Spanish Guard with their captain the Conde de Feria at
their head.
The square burst into joyful cries. The brother got down quickly and
wished the boy to do so too; between curiosity to see and fear of
falling he clung anxiously to the ladder, but he still had time to look
at a handsome, fair young man of twenty-six with his beard cut into a
point, who came slowly by himself into the square, and from the back of
a beautiful horse, caparisoned with velvet and gold, smiled and bowed to
the crowd. On his right, at a respectful distance, Jeromín also saw the
gentleman with the hooked nose and long beard who had been the cause of
his imprisonment the night before, wearing brilliant orders on his
embroidered dark grey doublet and riding a horse with green velvet
trappings and a cloth embroidered in silver.
Jeromín could see no more, the brother made him come down. Once on the
ground the boy walked up and down the sacristy in a rage, with his
little fists clenched, like a lion cub from whom has been taken some
dainty morsel. Through the open window he could hear the measured tread
of the horses, and the cries of the people greeting the brilliant suite
which closed the triumphal march.
He looked at the brother and thought him hideous; he went to the
cloister and thought it a horrible place; he thought of the older man
with the long beard and of the young one with the short beard, to try
and find some defect in them, but could not. What business had these
people to prevent him looking at the soldiers?
CHAPTER III
The Infanta Doña Juana arrived in Valladolid as Governess of the Kingdom
very soon after D. Philip left, and four days later Charles Prevost came
unexpectedly to the convent to fetch Jeromín to continue his journey.
They arrived at Medina de Rioseco in two stages, and slept that night at
an inn in the outskirts. The next day, late in the morning, they set out
by the main road to Toro, and after half an hour's journey they could
descry standing against the horizon of vast plains a great castle,
flanked by four towers, a large village, and two churches lying at its
feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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