"Would he give him the command at Althea if he were to ask for it?"
"Then he must ask for it and get it. Then I will talk to him if you find him so difficult. These are not times for neutrality. He must be for the King or against the King. With the Althean passes unguarded for an hour the thing is done. Then there can be as much intervention as you like. Theos will be ours."
Domiloff stood silent, with knitted brows and downcast eyes.
"The scheme is good," he said, "but I fear very much whether Reist will consent."
"He will have to," Hassen answered, coolly. "He is your man, is he not? He has already committed himself too deeply to draw back. You can show him that it is for the salvation of Theos."
"You shall show him yourself," Domiloff answered. "I will take you to him. You will understand then the mood of the man with whom we have to deal."
"You forget," he said. "The Duke of Reist and I are ancient enemies. I was in command when we raided the frontier ten years ago. Perhaps my men were a little rough to their prisoners--I forget the circumstances now, but there was trouble between us."
"So was I his enemy a short time ago," he answered. "It is barely a month since the name of a Russian was like poison to him. But those things are forgotten now. Reist is ours--absolutely. Our friends must be his friends, and our enemies his. So I shall take you to him. Believe me, it will be best."
Even then Hassen hesitated. The memory of Reist's outburst in London was still before him. But Domiloff had already opened the door.
"Come," he said, softly, "I know that Reist is alone."
It seemed to Reist that this was the supreme moment of his indignity. He stood before the two men, white-faced, hollow-eyed, speechless. And Marie, who had joined their councils, watched him anxiously.
"Nicholas," she said, "this may sound to you a terrible thing. Indeed, I myself wish that there were another way. But there are many things to be considered. It will save bloodshed, and it will end the war. With Theos lost, Ughtred and the Solika army must surrender. After that----"
"Aye, after that," Reist interrupted, fiercely. "Let me hear what Domiloff has to say. After that!"
"The rest is simplicity itself," Domiloff said, coolly. "A meeting of the House of Laws shall be called, and the Turkish army shall be withdrawn across the frontier. Sentence of banishment shall be passed upon Ughtred of Tyrnaus, and you, Nicholas of Reist, shall be proclaimed King. Then there shall be peace in Theos--peace, and I hope, prosperity. We have gone over all this before, Reist. You must trust us. Our alliance is useless if every few minutes you lose faith."