There was something in the woman's eye, which staggered the Chamberlain.
"You would not dare!" he exclaimed aghast.
"I dare everything! You have challenged me and now your coward soul quails before the issue!—You would have me recede,—go! I've done with you!"
"Not yet," Benilo replied, with his sinister drawl—edging nearer the woman. "I have something else to say to you! Your words are but air! You have measured your strength with mine and failed! Go to your old time love! Tell him you found a conscience,—tell him where you found it,—and see if he allows you leisure to confess all your other peccadilloes, trifling though they be! Still—the risk is equal. I have a mind to take the chance! Once more, Theodora,—confess yourself defeated,—acknowledge that the champion is beyond your reach—be mine—and the wager shall be wiped out!"
She recoiled from him, raising her hands in unfeigned horror and cried:
"Never—never."
Benilo shrugged his shoulders.
"As you will!"
"Then you would have me make him untrue to his vows? You would have me add this sin too, to my others?"
He laughed sardonically, while he feasted his eyes on her great beauty.