Page:The Prisoner of Zenda.djvu/166

148 I could quite appreciate the remark, but I said:

"There's something besides love, marshal. Love's for the heart; is there nothing my brother might like for his head?"

"I pray that you wrong him, sire."

"Marshal, I'm leaving Strelsau for a few days. Every evening I will send a courier to you. If for three days none comes you will publish an order which I will give you, depriving Duke Michael of the governorship of Strelsau and appointing you in his place. You will declare a state of siege. Then you will send word to Michael that you demand an audience of the king—— You follow me?"

"Aye, sire."

"In twenty-four hours. If he does not produce the king"—I laid my hand on his knee—"then the king is dead, and you will proclaim the next heir. You know who that is? "

"The Princess Flavia."

"And swear to me, on your faith and honor, and by the fear of the living God, that you will