“Neither are you the man to carry out this quest. I will go myself.”
Chapter Four.
The Doctor’s eyes.
For some moments the trio remained kneeling and staring up at the King in absolute wonderment; for in a few brief words he had swept away, as by the touch of a magician’s wand, the gathering feeling of jealous annoyance which was forming in each breast. Leoni was the first to find the use of his tongue; but it was in a hesitating way quite foreign to his usual speech that he faltered out:
“You go, Sire?”
“Yes, I said so,” said the King sharply.
“But it is impossible, Sire. You could not stoop to do such a thing as this.”
“Then what’s the use of being a king,” cried Francis, “if one cannot do what one likes?”