Their Majesties' return was announced for the 30th of July, and Prince Carlos and D. John went three leagues from the town to receive them. The King and D. John had not met since the latter's prank, and the interview promised to be embarrassing. But good Queen Isabel's prudence and cleverness, however, gave it a more pleasant turn, for, as soon as she saw D. John, she made him approach, and, without giving him time to say anything or make any sign, she asked him, with a sly smile, if the Turks of Malta had seemed brave to him. The would-be champion became as red as a poppy, and answered bitterly that, to his great sorrow, he had not been able to find out. At this D. Philip laughed, and affectionately embraced his brother, whispering to him to have patience, that very shortly the armada would be ready to go against the pirates of the Mediterranean, of which he had already decided to make D. John Generalissimo. CHAPTER VI This adventure made D. John the fashion, as we should say now, a thing which existed in the sixteenth century without being so called. He became the spoilt child of the Court and the idol of the people, to such a degree that many of them wished him to be the heir to the crown, in default of D. Carlos. D. John's good looks had much to do with this; he was then only nineteen, but was already perfectly developed. He was of a good height, slim and altogether graceful, because neatness was as much a part of him as flexibility is of fine-tempered steel. He had fair hair, brushed up to the left in the form of a toupee, a fashion made common by his imitators and called "à la Austriaca"; his beard, the same colour as his hair, was thin; his complexion pale, but rather sunburnt, which gave him a pleasing, manly appearance; big blue eyes, always clear and bright, which could be smiling and loving or grave and severe, as he wished. He was debonair and very nice in his person, and ostentatious in his dress, which was always in the extreme of fashion, as may be seen in some of his pictures. That which radiated from him and made him so irresistible was that "je ne sais quoi" belonging to very superior men, which attracts, enchants, and subjugates, and, according to a very profound writer, consists in the mysterious combination of grace, talent, and desire to please. Such was the attractive figure of D. John when he began to be a real personage at the much-discussed Court of his brother. Certainly that Court was not then, if it ever was, the gloomy, austere convent, represented to us by those who believe, or seem to believe, in an awesome legendary Philip II, surrounded by holocausts and gallows, and Inquisitors and friars. Nor was it either the united family of devout maidens and saintly matrons, venerable old men and immaculate pages, which those make out who would, in all good faith, imprison the colossal Philip II in the rickety form of a devout monk.