Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/448

 428 CHAPTER LXI. THE ALENgOX MARRIAGE. THE hesitation of Elizabeth, was less unreasonable than her more eager advisers believed. The sus- picions entertained of Philip were as yet without found- ation. The universal impression in Europe was that sooner or later he would be forced into an invasion of England ; but it is equally certain that he limited his wishes to the reduction of his own heretical subjects. So long as there was a Catholic to succeed her, he was willing to wait till ( God should call his sister-in-law.' Escobedo, whose unlucky letters had precipitated the second revolt, was assassinated on his return to Madrid by Philip's order. 1 Money which had been promised to Don John was withheld lest he should make a danger- ous use of it. The fate of the Reformation was to be decided in the end by a duel between the representative chiefs of the two faiths ; but the principals hesitated 1 Philip himself would have said that Escohedo was privately exe- cuted. He was held to have for- feited his life, and a public trial would have led to inconvenient dis- closures.