Espinosa, for greater security, was sent from Valladolid to the
prison of Medina del Campo. He was taken thither in a coach with
an escort of arquebusiers.
"Why convey a poor pastry-cook with so much honour?" he asked his
guards, half-mockingly.
Within the coach he was accompanied by a soldier named Cervatos,
a travelled man, who fell into talk with him, and discovered that
he spoke both French and German fluently. But when Cervatos
addressed him in Portuguese the prisoner seemed confused, and
replied that although he had been in Portugal, he could not speak
the language.
Thereafter, throughout that winter, examinations of the three
chief prisoners--Espinosa, Frey Miguel, and the Princess Anne--
succeeded one another with a wearisome monotony of results. The
Apostolic Commissary interrogated the princess and Frey Miguel;
Don Rodrigo conducted the examinations of Espinosa. But nothing
was elicited that took the matter forward or tended to dispel its
mystery.
The princess replied with a candour that became more and more
tinged with indignation under the persistent and at times
insulting interrogatories. She insisted that the prisoner was Don
Sebastian, and wrote passionate letters to Espinosa, begging him
for her honour's sake to proclaim himself what he really was,
declaring to him that the time had come to cast off all disguise.
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