And with it all that wonderful virility and vigour, that joy of life and delight in gaiety and laughter which lent to the grave face at times a spark of almost boyish exuberance; that mad, merry, proud insouciance, which throughout his life made him meet every danger--aye! every sorrow and disgrace--with the same bright smile on his lips. Scheyfne, in his letters to the emperor, Charles V, says of the Duke of Wessex that he was insufferably conceited--"il est tres orgueilleux de sa beauté personelle, laquelle certes est plus que médiocre." Noailles, too, speaks of him as "moult fatueux et vaniteux de sa personne." But it was hardly likely that these foreign delegates, each bent upon their own schemes, would look with favour upon His Grace. His only merit in their eyes was that same characteristic indolence of his, which caused a man of his great wealth and boundless influence to abstain from politics. Certes no one could accuse him of intriguing for his own political advancement. Mary Tudor's own avowed penchant for him was so well known, that he had but to say the word and the crown of England would be his, to share with the Queen. Yet since the death of Edward VI he had not been seen at Court. Small wonder, therefore, that at sight of the Duke all four men seemed amazed. "His Grace of Wessex!" they ejaculated in one breath. But already Lord Everingham had put up his sword and gone to Wessex with hands outstretched. "Wessex!" he said with unmistakable delight. "By Our Lady, this is a joyful surprise!" The other two Englishmen also shook the Duke warmly by the hand. "I did not know you were in England, my lord," said the one. "Right glad are we to welcome you back," added the other. "Well, Harry, my friend," quoth the Duke gaily, "methinks you and I are not to be spiked after all." Harry Plantagenet, however, was looking doubtfully at the young Spaniard, who had remained somewhat in the background, regarding the first effusions of his friends with a certain ill-concealed impatience. With almost human intelligence the dog seemed to understand that here was a person who was inimical to his master, and in his faithful eyes there came that unmistakable furtive look and blink, with which dogs invariably show their mistrust and dislike. But Don Miguel de Suarez was above all a diplomatist. Capricious and fond of adventure, not over-scrupulous as to the choice of his pleasures, yet he never allowed his dearest whim to interfere with political necessities. A few seconds' quick reflection soon made it clear to him that a quarrel with the Duke of Wessex would, at this juncture, greatly endanger his own popularity at the English Court, and thereby minimize his chances of carrying through the negotiations entrusted to him by King Philip of Spain. Under the leadership of His Eminence the Cardinal de Moreno he certainly hoped to bring about the marriage of Philip with the Queen of England.