“No, sir.”
“This is Count Piper’s cabinet,” replied Karl, with a look of confusion.
“He has been lecturing your Majesty?”
The blood rushed up under the King’s fair skin.
“He spoke to me of the Czar of Muscovy, but I do not rightly recall all he said.”
The Baroness advanced a little; all that there was of light in the dull, small apartment seemed to be gathered in her brilliant figure.
“I also have come to speak of the Czar of Muscovy, your Majesty.”
Karl looked at her doubtfully.
“Oh, yes, Count Piper sent me,” she added, “but I do not come on his errand, but on my own.”
The red still showed in the King’s strange face; he glanced at his clothes.