"What is to be done?"
"The Duke is a broken man. The knowledge of his favourite son's guilt; the break-up of his plans; the bitterness of the loss of virtually everything he cared for in life has completely unstrung him. He has sent Katona to take Count Stephen to him; he has given Gustav the option of voluntary exile or public exposure; and he has reinstated Karl in his position as elder son and his heir."
"It is only right. I am glad," I said.
"Glad?" he echoed, with a meaning glance.
"Yes, very glad."
"Your tone is very confident. You know what it carries with it—for you, I mean?"
"I do not care what it means to me. It is right."
"The Duke is very bitter against you, Christabel."
"He would scarcely be human if he were not. In a sense this is all my doing. I have brought it about, that is. But he cannot harm me, nor prevent my dear father's memory from being cleared. True, it seems he can influence Count Karl."
His Excellency smiled with deliberate provocation. "Possibly; yet Karl, although not a Patriot, is still a rebel."