A communication from Malfalconnet appeared to claim his whole attention, until the Bishop of Arras announced that the captain had received his instructions and was ready to set out for Flushing and Valladolid.
The monarch listened with a slight shake of the head, and expressed his hesitation about intrusting so important a message to a man of such advanced age; but Malfalconnet, in a tone of good-natured anxiety, called to the captain, "One may be the father of a nightingale, my brave hero, and yet miss the way to the south without a guide." "True, true," the Emperor assented.

"So we will give our gallant friend a travelling companion who understands Castilian, and on whom we can also rely.

Besides, affairs of so much moment are better cared for by two messengers than by one.

What is the name of the cavalier, Malfalconnet, who spoke to you of the friendship which unites him to this brave old champion of the faith ?" "Wolf Hartschwert, your Majesty," was the reply.
"The musician," said the monarch, as if some memory was awakened in his mind.

"A modest fellow, whose reliability my sister praised .-- And now, my vigorous friend, a prosperous journey! Your daughter, whom the favour of Heaven has so richly endowed with beautiful gifts, has found, I have heard, a maternal guardian in the Marquise de Leria.