"I do not know her."
"No! She knows you."
"Indeed? It is an honor to be known by a princess."
"I have it from her own lips that she is responsible for your presence in the palace."
"Then surely there is no need to interview me on the subject." He was thoroughly my equal in this play-of-words.
"She was told in my presence that you were dead. Would you not like to hear what she said in reply?" I asked him.
"If you care to tell me."
"She said that it was better so; that if you lived you would have betrayed all your friends—including her; that in fact you were more fool than knave."
"She is not complimentary; but as I do not know her, it makes no difference." Nothing could have been more composed than Morét's manner was.
"You will not discuss her?"