We all started and turned to find the Duke himself had come out.
"What is this lie which threatens ruin to everything, sir?" he asked very sternly, after a pause.
Colonel Katona drew himself up.
"It is right that I should tell it to you. It was for you and your family that the lie was planned; that you might have the Throne when the time came; and it was continued that this man—your son—might succeed you. Your son, who has rewarded me for my fidelity to your house by stealing my child. It was for you and yours that I consented to dishonour my friend—this lady's father; and have kept the secret inviolate through years of remorse and sorrow."
"Enough of yourself," said the Duke, with a contemptuous wave of the hand. "Speak plainly."
"The scheme has failed, and through this villain's dastardly conduct. The man whom Colonel von Dreschler was accused of having murdered, and whose death would have cleared the way for you and yours to the Throne—Count Stephen—is living, a close prisoner in my house."
"Thank God for that!" I cried, fervently, understanding all now.
Then a gasp of pain, or rage, or fear, or of all three, escaped the Duke's pallid lips. He staggered so that his Excellency put out his hand to help him.
"Is this true?" fell in a whisper from the Duke, his eyes on his son's face, now as white and tense as his own.
There was no answer, and in the silence, I heard the door behind me opened softly, and Gareth came out.