Burt reddened.
“Madame,” he said, “I am unaccustomed to having my veracity doubted, more especially by a lady.”
“It is given to me the power to read men’s minds. Again I declare you speak false. My false friend would never give up the diamond.”
“You admit you long regarded Stolburst as a friend?”
“Yes; did he not show me how great the world is?”
“You do not intend to return to Abyssinia?” said Burt.
“Not for years, at least.”
“Then why do you sacrifice the friendship of this gentleman because he may have had something to do with the desecration of a heathen shrine?”
“Because I am true to my faith, if not to my people.”
Burt wondered that, with all the opportunities Stolburst had, he did not succeed in converting the princess to Christianity.