"Is a man's character to be ruined by a lie?" said Felix.
"It often is," Father Bertrand answered quietly; "and Mademoiselle does not seem able to decide whether it was all a lie. How far this doubt influences her in her determination, I am unable to say, but her first thought, her only thought indeed, is her country. Do you follow me?"
"You use over-many words, it seems to me," said the Count irritably. "The position is simple. Those who deny my right to the throne are traitors. An ocean of words cannot alter that fact."
"Nor the fact that without help you are at this moment as powerless as any man in Vayenne," said de Bornais.
There was a pause, during which the Countess laid her hand gently on Felix's arm to keep him silent.
"We now come to Mademoiselle's last argument," said the priest. "That the people have shown themselves ready to admit a claim through the female line, a claim which has never been put forward until now in the whole history of Montvilliers, seems to her a proof that the claim of a woman herself will be recognized, and under certain conditions, seeing that the country is in jeopardy, she is determined to make that claim."
"Become Duchess!" Felix exclaimed. "I——"
"Would it not be well to hear the conditions, Count?" said Father Bertrand.
"Pardon. I appear to be in the hands of my friends," Felix answered sneeringly.
"Believing that your coming to the throne would be the cause of further difficulties and dissensions," the priest went on, "believing also that she is beloved by the people, Mademoiselle agrees to marry you, and reign with you, equal to you in authority in all things. The state shall have, in fact, two heads instead of one, and no order or paper shall be valid without the signature of the Duchess as well as that of the Duke."