Flower o' the lily: A romance of old Cambray

by Baroness Emmuska Orczy Orczy

'In selling the city!' The words appeared to have whipped up her spirit as with a lash. She looked at him, wrathfully, boldly, with a still unspoken challenge lurking in her eyes. 'You do not believe that——'

'That traitors have engineered her perdition?' he broke in rapidly. 'I do!'

'But——'

'The disturbance in the crowd ... the panic ... the deserters ... those abominable agitators! In a few hours the Spaniards will be inside the city—and Cambray lost!'

'Cambray lost! Impossible!'

'With no discipline, no leaders.... She cannot resist——'

'Then you must lead her,' she said firmly.

'I?'

'Yes! You!'

She had taken the mask from off her face and confronted him now with a glowing challenge in her eyes.