It was a pity that he was such a scoundrel; for, had he been a decent member of society, he might have risen high in the world--for he was clever and undoubtedly brave.
I felt no qualms at having killed him: he was a grave danger to Rudarlia, and also to myself, so my action had been partly in self-defence. It would have been much more unpleasant if I had had to kill a horse or dog.
Upon arriving at the Palace, I immediately sent for Prince Zeula and Count Belen.
Prince Zeula was the first to enter and embraced me affectionately. I waited for Count Belen before saying anything, as I did not wish to have to repeat the tale oftener than I could help.
They were very greatly dismayed, and the Count was almost purple with indignation, especially when he heard that our forts were known. He calmed down a little, however, when I told him that I did not believe much mischief had been done.
As soon as they had been told everything, we set to work to peruse the documentary evidence. At first, we discovered nothing of any importance, for most of the papers dealt with military matters that were known to all people. Then we found one that caused us to squirm, as it contained much information about our reserves of guns and ammunition. Goltz had evidently been a most successful spy, and we could only hope that he had not sent his report to Bornia. We had nearly come to an end of the papers, when I came across a list of some twenty names of men who had been Ivan's friends; against seven of them had been made a cross and the word "accepted."
"Accepted what?" I said, passing the paper to the Prince.
The next sheet explained it, being a letter from Alexis, giving a brief outline of a plot for my dethronement; attached was a list of the same names with a heading in Prince Alexis's writing: "Ivan's friends, sound them."
The three of us looked at each other in silent dismay. That seven out of twenty should have accepted the proposals, which I may justly call infamous, was appalling; we did not know how many had been approached. It might have been that all would have accepted, and they were men who had been treated with absolute leniency and consideration.
"This is in your hands, Prince; it can be nothing but imprisonment, exile would be inadvisable at the present time."