Then his wife spoke again. "This day our friends
are assembled to celebrate the anniversary of the birth
of our little Catherine, and who knows but this new
guest may have been sent to certify you that it is the
will of Heaven to invest you with that crown of which
you have long been unjustly deprived by Spain ? For
my part, I regard it as a happy presage that he comes
on such a day." Turning to her attendants, she
ordered them to bring into the Duke's presence the
little daughter to whom he was so devoted. She took
the child in her arms, and made her kiss her father,
and she said softly, "How can you find it in your
heart to refuse to confer on this child the rank of
a king's daughter?" It is curious to reflect that, but
for Catherine's own unconscious intervention, her life s
history would never have been written as Queen of
England. As the daughter of the Duke of Bragança
she was no match for royalty. Her baby kiss turned
the scale that made her a king's daughter; for her
father instantly declared that he was willing to accept
the proposals of the revolutionary party, and to place
his life, his fortune, and his happiness at the service
of his country. Dom Caspar Coutigno at once left
Villa Viçosa, travelling over the fine roads where the
bullock carts—unaltered in shape since the Roman
occupation—grated on their united wheels and axles
with a horrible sound, supposed by their drivers to
scare away the devil. The rains of the winter weeks
had not yet begun. He travelled swiftly to Lisbon.
The plot was now complete in every particular.
On the morning of December 1 a pistol shot was fired as a signal. The assembled conspirators burst into the royal palace of Lisbon, drawing their swords, and shouting with one voice, "Liberty and Dom Joao the Fourth, King of Portugal!" They rushed through the rooms unresisted, beating back the Swiss guard and the Spaniards of the household. Vasconcellos, the Vice-Queen's secretary, urged by the officers and servants of the palace, fled before the approaching
