“My lords of the council, you are dismissed.”
Then, turning to the two white men, she murmured, in a voice so low that only they two caught the words:
“My lords Dick and Earle, give me the favour of your company to my own apartments. I desire to consult with ye both.” And, accepting the support of Dick’s proffered hand, she passed out of the Council Chamber through the doorway by which she had entered, and, followed by her retinue, made her way to the small but beautiful chamber where she and her grandfather had first received the two white men.
Arrived here, she seated herself on a daïs at the upper end of the apartment and, directing her ladies to retire to the other end of the room, where they would be out of earshot, she rested her chin upon her hand, as though in deep thought, and so remained for the space of nearly five minutes.
Then, raising her eyes, she glanced first at Dick and then at Earle, who stood respectfully before her, and said:
“My lords, I am in a strait, and desire the benefit of your advice. Ye are from the great world without, and have doubtless mingled freely with the teeming millions of whom ye have spoken to the late king, my beloved grandfather. Ye have told him of the marvellous doings of those millions, of their wonderful enterprises and inventions, and of the rivalry that exists between them; and I doubt not that, mingling with them, as ye must have done, ye have acquired wisdom, beside which the wisdom of the wisest of us in Ulua will seem foolishness.
“You did right, my Lord Dick, in ordering Sachar’s arrest for his arrogant and insulting speech, but I doubt whether I should have had the courage to take so bold a step. For I know that it will mean war between him and me—a war of plotting and scheming, if not of actual bloodshed—and I now wish to know whether, in the contest which I feel to be inevitable, I may depend upon your advice and, if necessary, your active co-operation?”
“You may, your Majesty,” answered Dick and Earle in the same breath.
“I thank you with all my heart,” returned the queen, glancing up at them with a bright smile. “I feel,” she continued, “that in the struggle which I foresee, I shall have to rely upon you almost entirely, for I believe that the members of my council will, with very few exceptions, be against me. Go, therefore, and consult together as to the steps which ye would recommend me to take; and then come to me again.”
She presented her hand, which Dick and Earle bent over and kissed respectfully before retiring from the presence.