Believing that the Armada was
certain to be crowned with success, and that he should ere long be
restored to his estates in Ireland, he had, upon his first coming
to Spain, spent his money freely. His outfit for the expedition
had made a large inroad upon his store, and his resources were now
nearly at an end.
"What is one to do, Geoffrey? I don't want to take a commission in
Philip's army, though my friends could obtain one for me at once;
but I have no desire to spend the rest of my life in the Netherlands
storming the towns of the Dutch burghers."
"Or rather trying to storm them," Geoffrey said, smiling; "there
have not been many towns taken of late years."
"Nor should I greatly prefer to be campaigning in France," Gerald
went on, paying no attention to the interruption. "I have no love
either for Dutch Calvinists or French Huguenots; but I have no
desire either to be cutting their throats or for them to be cutting
mine. I should like a snug berth under the crown here or at Cadiz,
or at Seville; but I see no chance whatever of my obtaining one.
I cannot take up the trade of a footpad, though disbanded soldiers
turned robbers are common enough in Spain. What is to be done?"
"If I am not mistaken," Geoffrey said with a smile, "your mind is
already made up. It is not quite by accident that you are in the
gardens of the Retiro every evening, and that a few words are always
exchanged with a certain young lady as she passes with her duenna.
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