"No one could be bold enough to"--

"One has been bold enough."

"One?"

"The Hegumen of my Brotherhood."

The Princess was very pale.

"It is cruel--cruel!" she exclaimed. "What ought I to do?"

"Treat the safeguard as a discovery of to-day, and have it removed while
the people are all present." She looked at him searchingly. On her
forehead between the brows, he beheld a line never there before. More
surprising was the failure of self-reliance observable in her request
for counsel. Heretofore her courage and sufficiency had been remarkable.
In all dealings with him she had proved herself the directress, quick
yet decided. The change astonished him, so little was he acquainted with
the feminine nature; and in reply he spoke hastily, hardly knowing what
he had said. The words were not straightforward and honest; they were
not becoming him any more than the conduct suggested was becoming her;
they lingered in his ear, a wicked sound, and he would have recalled
them--but he hesitated.

Here a voice in fierce malediction was heard up at the pavilions,
together with a prodigious splashing of water. Laughter, clapping of
hands, and other expressions of delight succeeded.

"Go, Sergius, and see what is taking place," said the Princess.