"The King has spoken," Perion replied. "I too have spoken."
There was a pause of horror upon the part of King Theodoret. He was at first in a mere whirl. Theodoret said: "You ask, in earnest, for the life of this Demetrios, this arch-foe of our Redeemer, this spawn of Satan, who has sacked more of my towns than I have fingers on this wasted hand! Now, now that God has singularly favoured me--!" Theodoret snarled and gibbered like a frenzied ape, and had no longer the ability to articulate.
"Beau sire, I fought the man because he infamously held Dame Melicent, whom I serve in this world without any reservation, and trust to serve in Paradise. His person, and this alone, will ransom Melicent."
"You plan to loose this fiend!" the old King cried. "To stir up all this butchery again!"
"Sire, pray recall how long I have loved Melicent. Reflect that if you slay Demetrios, Dame Melicent will be left destitute in heathenry. Remember that she will be murdered through the hatred of this man's other wives whom her inestimable beauty has supplanted." Thus Perion entreated.
All this while the cardinal and the proconsul had been appraising each other. It was as though they two had been the only persons in the dimly-lit apartment. They had not met before. "Here is my match," thought each of these two; "here, if the world affords it, is my peer in cunning and bravery."
And each lusted for a contest, and with something of mutual comprehension.
In consequence they stinted pity for Theodoret, who unfeignedly believed that whether he kept or broke his recent oath damnation was inevitable. "You have been ill-advised--" he stammered. "I do not dare release Demetrios--My soul would answer that enormity--But it was sworn upon the Cross--Oh, ruin either way! Come now, my gallant captain," the King barked. "I have gold, lands, and jewels--"
"Beau sire, I have loved this my dearest lady since the time when both of us were little more than children, and each day of the year my love for her has been doubled. What would it avail me to live in however lofty estate when I cannot daily see the treasure of my life?"
Now the Cardinal de Montors interrupted, and his voice was to the ear as silk is to the fingers.
"Beau sire," said Ayrart de Montors, "I speak in all appropriate respect. But you have sworn an oath which no man living may presume to violate."