"It has been a pretty game of love for you and the excellent Baldos. You
have deceived those who love you best and trust you most. What will the
princess say when she hears of last night's merry escapade? What will
she say when she learns who was hostess to a common guardsman at the
midnight hour? It is no wonder that you look terrified. It is for you to
say whether she is to know or not. You can bind me to silence. You have
lost Baldos. Take me and all that I can give you in his stead, and the
world never shall know the truth. You love him, I know, and there is but
one way to save him. Say the word and he goes free to the hills; decline
and his life is not worth a breath of air."
"And pretending to believe this of me, you still ask me to be your
wife. What kind of a man are you?" she demanded, scarcely able to speak.
"My wife?" he said harshly. "Oh, no. You are not the wife of Baldos," he
added significantly.
"Good God!" gasped Beverly, crushed by the brutality of it all. "I would
sooner die. Would to heaven my father were here, he would shoot you as
he would a dog! Oh, how I loathe you! Don't you try to stop me! I shall
go to the princess myself. She shall know what manner of beast you are."
She was racing up the steps, flaming with anger and shame.
"Remember, I can prove what I have said. Beware what you do. I love you
so much that I now ask you to become my wife. Think well over it. Your
honor and his life! It rests with you," he cried eagerly, following her
to the door.
"You disgusting old fool," she hissed, turning upon him as she pulled
the big brass knocker on the door.
"I must have my answer to-night, or you know what will happen," he
snarled, but he felt in his heart that he had lost through his
eagerness.
She flew to Yetive's boudoir, consumed by rage and
mortification. Between sobs and feminine maledictions she poured the
whole story, in all its ugliness, into the ears of the princess.
"Now, Yetive, you have to stand by me in this," announced the narrator
conclusively, her eyes beaming hopefully through her tears.
"I cannot prevent General Marlanx from preferring serious charges
against Baldos, dear. I know he was not in your room last night. You did
not have to tell me that, because I saw you both at the balcony rail."
Beverly's face took on such a radiant look of rejoicing that Yetive was
amply paid for the surprising and gratifying acknowledgment of a second
period of eavesdropping. "You may depend upon me to protect you from
Marlanx. He can make it very unpleasant for Baldos, but he shall pay
dearly for this insult to you. He has gone too far."