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could have brought to your family if you had become the most important man in Spain.'
    'I feared they had not made a monk of you, Bernardin. Tell me, what advantages should a good Franciscan hope for from the most important man in Spain?'
    'You don't expect an answer to such a stupid question. Any man would hope for the highest honours. Whom should an Archbishop honour if not his own family?'
    'Is this my brother speaking?'
    'Don't be an old hypocrite!' burst out Bernardin. 'Do you think you can hide your true feelings from me ? You've refused this, have you not? Why? So that you can be pressed more strongly. You'll take it. And then, when you see what power is yours, perhaps you'll give a little something to a needy fellow Franciscan who also happens to be your own brother.'
    'I should prefer you to leave me,' said Ximenes. 'I do not like the way you talk.'
    'Oh, what a fool I have for a brother!' wailed Bernardin. His expression changed suddenly. 'You have forgotten, have you not, that there are so many wrongs that you can put right. Why, even within our own Order there is much that you dislike. Some of our fellows love luxury too much. You would like to see us all tormenting our bodies with our hair shirts; you would like to see us all using planks as our pillows; starvation should be our lot. Well, it is in your power to bring all these discomforts to us, oh holy brother.'
    'Get you gone,' cried Ximenes. 'You are no brother of mine ... nay, even though our mother bore us both and you wear the habit of the Franciscans.'
    Bernardin bowed ironically. 'Even though you are a hypocrite, even though you are so holy that you will not take the honours which would enable you to help your family, it is not a bad thing to be the brother of Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros. Men already are wary how they treat me, and seek my favour.' Bernardin came closer to his brother and whispered: 'They all know that in good time you will not beable to resist this honour. They all know that I, Bernardin de Cisneros, will one day be the brother of the Archbishop of Toledo.'
    'They shall not have that gratification,' Ximenes told him.
    Bernardin laughed slyly and left his brother. When he was alone Ximenes fell to his knees and began to pray. The temptation was very great.
    'Oh Lord,' he murmured, 'if I accepted this great honour there are so many reforms I could bring about. I would work in Thy name. I would work for Thy glory and for that of Spain. Might it not be my duty to accept this honour?
    'No, no,' he admonished himself. 'It is temporal power which you are seeking. You want to wear the robes of the Archbishop, to see the people kneel before you.'
    But that was not true.
    What did he want? He did not know.
    'I will never accept the Archbishopric of Toledo!' he said aloud.
    It was but a few days later when he was summoned to the Queen's apartment.
    Isabella received him with a gracious smile which held a hint of triumph.
    She put a document into his hand. 'It is for you, Fray Francisco Ximenes,' she said. 'You will see it is from His Holiness and addressed to you.'
    Once more the Pope had addressed Ximenes as Archbishop of Toledo, and this document contained direct instructions from Rome.
    There must be no more refusals. Alexander VI wrote from the Vatican that Fray Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros was henceforth Archbishop of Toledo, and any refusal on his partto accept the post would be regarded as disobedience to the Holy See.
    The decision had been made for him.
    Ximenes wondered whether the feeling he experienced was exultation. The Kingdoms of the world were no longer merely shown to him. He was forced by the Holy Father himself to accept his destiny.

    Isabella sat with her children. Whenever she could spare the time from her state duties she liked to be with them, and it was comforting to know that they enjoyed this intimacy as she did.
    Juan put a shawl about her shoulders. 'There is a draught coming from the window, dear Mother.'
    'Thank