"You mean inside the city walls?" asked Yetive.
"Yes, your highness, and as far as possible from the fortress."
"I think it is a wise precaution. Don't be angry, Beverly," the princess
said gently. "It is for his own sake, you see. I am acting on the
presumption that he is wholly innocent of any desire to betray us."
"It would be easy for someone high in position to accuse and convict
him," said Dangloss meaningly.
"And it would be just like someone, too," agreed Beverly, her thoughts,
with the others', going toward none but one man "high in power."
Later in the day she called Baldos to her side as they were riding in
the castle avenue. She was determined to try a little experiment of her
own.
"Baldos, what do you think of the fortress?" she "I could overthrow it after half an hour's bombardment, your highness,"
he answered, without thinking. She started violently.
"Is it possible? Are there so many weak points?" she went on, catching
her breath.
"There are three vital points of weakness, your highness. The magazine
can be reached from the outside if one knows the lay of the land; the
parade-ground exposes the ammunition building to certain disadvantages,
and the big guns could be silenced in an hour if an enemy had the sense
first to bombard from the elevation northeast of the city."
"Good heavens!" gasped poor Beverly. "Have you studied all this out?"
"I was once a real soldier, your highness," he said, simply. "It was
impossible for me not to see the defects in your fort."
"You--you haven't told anyone of this, have you?" she cried, white-faced
and anxious.
"No one but your highness. You do not employ me as a tale-bearer, I
trust."
"I did not mean to question your honor," she said. "Would you mind going
before the heads of the war department and tell them just what you have
told me? I mean about the weak spots."
"If it is your command, your highness," he said quietly, but he was
surprised.
"You may expect to be summoned then, so hold yourself in readiness. And,
Baldos--"
"Yes, your highness?"
"You need say nothing to them of our having talked the matter over
beforehand--unless they pin you down to it, you know."