"I am not ashamed of them," she said. Her hand clung to him and she lifted her eyes to his face. "You will listen to me?" she whispered in a glow.
He drew back chilled. If only she had kept the feminine in abeyance! But sex was her only weapon.
"I have listened," he said quietly. "And I thank you."
"But you will not be counselled?"
"In the last issue one must be one's own counsellor."
Her face flamed. "If you were but that!" she tossed back at him.
The taunt struck him full. He knew that he should have let it lie; but he caught it up in spite of himself.
"Madam!" he said.
"I should have appealed to our sovereign, not to her servant!" she cried, dashing into the breach she had made.
He stood motionless, stunned almost. For what she had said was true. He was no longer the sovereign: the rule had passed out of his hands.