She looked at him for a moment as though stricken with a sudden blow. To her the idea was heresy, rank and foul. A storm of indignant passion swept through her.
“It is impossible,” she cried, fiercely. “There is not a lady of Theos who would attend your Court. Do you think that I—Marie of Reist, would kiss the hand of this Van Decht woman—I, or any of the others? Oh, it is madness.”
“Countess,” he said, quietly, “we will choose another time for the discussion of this matter. You must forgive me if I beg that you will leave me.”
“Another time,” she answered. “Oh, listen! You depend at this moment on the loyalty of Theos to defend your throne. Do you believe that you could command it if this were known? In the mountains the Turks are gathering a great army, in the city there is treachery. Ah, you start, but my words are true. If the words which you have spoken to me had been spoken from the balcony there your throne would have been lost forever.”
He looked at her curiously—not altogether unimpressed. Treachery! What did she mean by that? She moved a step nearer to him. Underneath her loose gown her bosom rose and fell quickly. Her face was flushed and her eyes brilliant.
“Your Majesty,” she said, “do you know that by all the traditions of Theos you are betrothed to me—that the people of Theos wait day by day for the announcement?”
He looked at her in blank amazement. He was bereft of words. Her eyes flashed fire upon him.
“It is an insult—this purpose of yours,” she cried. “You and I have drunk together from the King’s cup. It has been the betrothal ceremony in the royal House of Theos for generations. You a stranger, who owe your very throne to us, have dared to ignore it—you, who propose to raise to the throne of the most ancient kingdom of Europe a woman of unknown birth. It is an infamy.”
“Countess,” he answered, “you know quite well that I was ignorant of your custom, of the history of that cup.”
“There are times,” she said, fiercely, “when ignorance is worse than crime. No man yet, even a king, has lived to break faith with the House of Reist.”