"No!" he exclaimed fiercely. "You are not to disturb them. Better that they should starve."
Beverly was sufficiently subdued. As they drew nearer the city gates her heart began to fail her. This man's life was in her weak, incapable hands and the time was nearing when she must stand between him and disaster.
"Where are these vaunted soldiers of yours?" he suddenly asked, infinite irony in his voice.
"My soldiers?" she said faintly.
"Isn't it rather unusual that, in time of trouble and uncertainty, we should be able to approach within a mile of one of your most important cities without even so much as seeing a soldier of Graustark?"
She felt that he was scoffing, but it mattered little to her.
"It is a bit odd, isn't it?" she agreed.
"Worse than that, your highness."
"I shall speak to Dangloss about it," she said serenely, and he looked up in new surprise. Truly, she was an extraordinary princess.
Fully three-quarters of an hour passed before the coach was checked. Beverly, looking from the windows, had seem the lighted windows of cottages growing closer and closer together. The barking of roadside dogs was the only sound that could be heard above the rattle of the wheels. It was too dark inside the coach to see the face of the man beside her, but something told her that he was staring intently into the night, alert and anxious. The responsibility of her position swooped down upon her like an avalanche as she thought of what the next few minutes were to bring forth. It was the sudden stopping of the coach and the sharp commands from the outside that told her probation was at an end. She could no longer speculate; it was high time to act.