"Everything I said beneath the royal oak."
"I did not lose a syllable."
"And when your majesty heard me, you were able to think I had abused your credulity."
"Credulity; yes, indeed you have selected the very word."
"And your majesty did not suppose that a poor girl like myself might possibly be compelled to submit to the will of others."
"Forgive me," returned the king; "but I shall never be able to understand that she, who of her own free will could express herself so unreservedly beneath the royal oak, would allow herself to be influenced to such an extent by the direction of others."
"But the threat held out against me, sire."
"Threat! who threatened you—who dared to threaten you?"
"They who have the right to do so, sire."
"I do not recognize any one as possessing the right to threaten in my kingdom."