"Promise me one thing more, my brother!" she begged. "If again we should hear that cry ringing through the squares, promise me that you will not fail them. We have had enough of strangers in Theos. It is those who have lived here all their lives, to whom every stone of the place is dear, who should control her destinies."
"I am the faithful servant of Ughtred of Tyrnaus," he answered, slowly, "while he serves the State wisely and well. But if that should come to pass which we have spoken of, the evil must fall upon his own head. Listen!"
There was some commotion without. A servant threw open the door.
The King followed hard upon the footsteps of his seneschal, and neither Reist nor Marie was wholly at ease in the first moments of greeting. It was the latter to whom the King addressed himself.
"My visit, Countess," he said, "is to you. I am fortunate in finding you at home."
"Your Majesty is very kind!" Marie answered.
"I have come," he continued, "to demand an explanation from you--or rather to beg for it. You have been absent from all our gatherings at the palace lately. I came to assure myself that we had not unwittingly offended you, or to ask you how we can render them sufficiently attractive to insure your presence."
Marie was taken unawares both by the King's visit and by the directness of his questioning. It was Nicholas who answered for her.
"Your Majesty," he said, "my sister does not enjoy the best of health. I was even now endeavouring to persuade her to spend a few weeks at the castle. The mountain air is always good for her."
"Your sister's appearance, then," the King replied, "much belies her condition. I have never seen her looking better."
"Nevertheless, my brother is right, your Majesty," Marie said. "I have decided to leave Theos for a while."
"It is not amongst my prerogatives to question the movements of my subjects," he said, gravely, "but you must forgive me if I remember that you and your brother are my earliest and best friends here. I shall venture to ask you therefore if ill-health is your only reason for desiring to absent yourself from the Court?"
Nicholas intervened. He rose and held back the curtains which led into another suite of rooms. Marie understood, and with a quick courtesy rose from her seat.