“Affect me, Mr. Bergwyn? They cannot affect me.”
“Your eyes and ears have been dulled by the conditions and restrictions of the Court life. What I tell you is now for your hearing alone. The army will declare against the family of which you are a member, and will change the succession to the Throne. When that moment comes it will be fraught with peril to you in common with all the Obrenovics.”
“No, no, the army is loyal. I have heard whispers of some such treachery; but there is no ground for them.”
“That I know is the Court view—mine is the true one.” I spoke as deliberately and impressively as I could.
“This very question has been discussed at the Palace within the last few days, a warning to the same effect was conveyed to the King and Queen; but they have made wide and searching inquiries; and we know there is no ground whatever to doubt the army’s loyalty. You have been misinformed.”
“If there were any reason to doubt it, I should not speak positively, Princess; but there is none.”
“Why do you wish to frighten me?”
“I wish only that you shall know the truth.”
“But if all you say were true, do you realise what my position would be and what my duty would be?”
“It is because I realise the peril that encircles you that I speak so plainly. All the parties concerned—the Court, the army and the Russian—are struggling for their own objects; and however that struggle may end, you stand to lose all. If the Court wins, you will be set aside; if the Russian, you might gain the throne for a while, but the country would be convulsed by a revolution; if the army win, then as a possible Obrenovic claimant to the Throne, you would be an obstacle in their path and can judge what your position might then be.”