"Oh, my brother is not afraid!" the princess hastened to say.
"I did not mean that. Until your fears are over. I have some practice in poisonings and their remedies. I am ready to baffle them in whatever shape they are presented; but allow me to say, madame, that all fears for the king might be removed if he were willing."
"Oh, what must be done for that?" intervened a voice, not the Lady Elizabeth's, and which, by its emphatic and ringing tone, made Gilbert turn.
It was the queen, and he bowed.
"Has the queen doubted the sincerity of my offers?"
"Oh, sir, so many heads and hearts have turned in this tempestuous wind, that one knows not whom to trust."
"Which is why your majesty receives from the Feuillants Club a Premier shaped by the Baroness de Stael?"
"You know that?" cried the royal lady, starting.
"I know your majesty is pledged to take Count Louis de Narbonne."