"No, Merira, I will not put you to death."
"You will forgive me like Tuta?" Merira said, with a smile that looked like a grimace of disgust. He had spoken with his eyes on the ground; suddenly he raised them and said looking straight into the king's eyes:
"Do what you like, but remember, Uaenra, that if you don't kill me, I will...."
He did not finish, but the king understood 'I will kill you.'
He put both hands on Merira's shoulders, and, also looking straight into his eyes, said, with a gentle smile:
"Remember, you too, Merira: whatever happens, I love you."
V
The king was the last to learn that Princess Makitatona was with child. She confessed it to him herself, but did not say who the man was and so implored him not to ask her that he had pity and reassured her: