In that strong light Don Rodrigo saw that
the prisoner's hair and beard had turned grey at the roots, and
so received the last proof that he had to do with the basest of
impostures. The fellow had been using dyes, the supply of which
had been cut short by his imprisonment. Don Rodrigo departed
well-satisfied with the results of that surprise visit.
Thereafter Espinosa immediately shaved himself. But it was too
late, and even so, before many weeks were past his hair had faded
to its natural grey, and he presented the appearance of what in
fact he was--a man of sixty, or thereabouts.
Yet the torture to which he was presently submitted drew nothing from
him that could explain all that yet remained obscure. It was from
Frey Miguel, after a thousand prevarications and tergiversations,
that the full truth--known to himself alone--was extracted by the
rack.
He confessed that, inspired by the love of country and the ardent
desire to liberate Portugal from the Spanish yoke, he had never
abandoned the hope of achieving this, and of placing Don Antonio,
the Prior of Crato, on the throne of his ancestors. He had
devised a plan, primarily inspired by the ardent nature of the
Princess Anne and her impatience of the conventual life.
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