Marie rose to her feet.
“It is false,” she declared. “My brother is a patriot, and he has taken the oath of allegiance to the King. I pledge my word for his that he will keep that oath.”
A murmur of blank amazement was followed by a dead silence. Gourdolis was speechless. The King looked around him, sternly.
“Have I by chance stumbled upon a conspiracy?” he asked. “What do you say, Taverner, and you, Valgrosse? Did you come here prepared to listen to such a proposition as this?”
“Indeed, your Majesty,” Taverner answered, hastily, “I did not.”
“Nor I!” Valgrosse echoed.
“What about you, Doxis?” the King asked.
The old Baron, who, for many years had been chairman of the House of Laws, rose slowly to his feet.
“Your Majesty,” he said, “I will admit that I alone of those present here had some knowledge of this proposal. I hope that your Majesty will not look upon my presence here as disloyal or unseemly. Only in my heart is deep engraven the love of my country and her people, and the one dread of my life has been the coming of the Turk. Your Majesty, no one has been a more sincere admirer than myself of the wise and careful manner in which you have ruled this country. Young though you are, you have more than fulfilled our most sanguine expectations. Only I fear that unaided we may as well hope to stem the tide of the mighty Danube as repel this Turkish invasion.”