“I am not his affianced bride, Nicholas,” she answered. “That was an idle ceremony. It was true we drank together of the King’s cup, but its history was unknown to him.”
He eyed them both with a fierce scorn.
“God alone knows of what cup you have drunk together,” he cried, bitterly. “How often have you found it necessary to seek him here in the solitude of his chamber? How often have you used this infernal passage?”
“To seek the King, never,” she answered firmly. “I used it when I found Brand here. If I had not, Theos might to-day have been a Russian State.”
He pointed with unshaking finger to the opening in the wall.
“Pass away, Marie!”
She hesitated.
“It is the truth which I have told you, Nicholas,” she said.
He thrust before her eyes a piece of paper.