"I took the throne by right of birth, mademoiselle, you forget that. Why should I trouble to explain away Maurice's claim when his cousin Felix had had him buried in St. Etienne?"
"But I do not know for certain that he is alive. Surely I am a better Duke than Felix?"
"You used kinder language, mademoiselle, when you chose to accept my service."
"Like others I have played into your hands," she answered. "I fail to see the use in prolonging this interview."
"Mademoiselle, I came to explain certain things to you."
"You can force me to listen to you, but there is no explanation I will willingly hear."
"Trust me, there shall be no explanation that you do not willingly listen to," said Herrick. "You compel me to silence, you drive me to harsh measures. Your enmity lends strength to these nobles who refuse to submit to my rule. They await their opportunity to rebel, but alone they are powerless. Their only hope of success is to bring a foreign nation into Montvilliers to help them, and already there are rumors that such negotiations are taking place. I may fall, but with me falls the independence of Montvilliers, and the fault will lie at the door of the woman who has so loudly professed her love for her country--your door, mademoiselle."
"Montvilliers is in the hands of a foreigner now," she answered quietly.
"If you believe that, you know little of your country's history," Herrick answered; "but you do not believe it. I have a claim, and you know it, whether it is a good one in your eyes or not. If there is one man necessary to the state at the present moment, I am that man; and if there is one person who has it in her power to ruin the state, you are that person; therefore you are confined to the castle. Some day, mademoiselle, you may understand that I have given you a lesson in patriotism."
"In words you are indeed a bold man," she said.
"My deeds speak for themselves. They have saved Montvilliers from Count Felix; with your help they should save the land from invasion and conquest. Will you ask me to explain all I came to say to you to-day?"
"Is it necessary?" she asked. "You are afraid of me, I want no explanation to understand that."
"You once said that for your country's good you would marry Count Felix. Were they words merely, or did you mean it?"