He had heard a story, he said, which he felt bound to communicate to his Majesty, although he did not himself implicitly believe it.

He felt himself the more bound to speak upon the subject because it tallied exactly with intelligence which he had received from another source.

The story was that one of these seigniors (the Cardinal did not know which, for he had not yet thought proper to investigate the matter) had said that rather than consent that the King should act in this matter of the bishoprics against the privileges of Brabant, the nobles would elect for their sovereign some other prince of the blood.

This, said the Cardinal, was perhaps a fantasy rather than an actual determination.

Count Egmont, to be sure, he said, was constantly exchanging letters with the King of Bohemia (Maximilian), and it was supposed, therefore, that he was the prince of the blood who was to be elected to govern the provinces.