"I know it," replied he.
A murmur of doubt was half uttered, but the stranger caught it.
"Do you doubt it?" asked he, in the tone of a man accustomed to control all fears, prejudices, and self-loves.
"We do not doubt it if your highness says it; but if you will permit us to observe—"
"Speak."
"That if it were so we should have had tidings of it."
"How so?"—"By our spies."