An attendant threw open the lid of the chest. It was filled with gold coins.
"This box contains one hundred thousand gavvos. There are in your halls nine boxes holding nine times as much as you see here. And there are nine times as much all told on the way. This is an evidence of my good faith. Here is the gold. Pay Bolaroz and owe Gabriel, the greatest happiness that could come to him."
There was a dead silence after this theatrical action.
"The interest on this loan is not all you ask, I understand," said Halfont, slowly, his black eyes glittering. "You ask something that Graustark cannot and will not barter--the hand of its Sovereign. If you are willing to make this loan, naming a fair rate of interest, withdrawing your proposal of marriage, we can come to an agreement."
Gabriel's eyes deadened with disappointment, his breast heaved and his fingers twitched.
"I have the happiness of your Sovereign at heart as much as my own," he said. "She shall never want for devotion, she shall never know a pain."
"You are determined, then, to adhere to your original proposition?" demanded the Count.
"She would have married Lorenz to save her land, to protect her people. Am I not as good as Lorenz? Why not give--" began Gabriel, viciously, but Yetive arose, and, with gleaming eyes and flushing cheeks, interrupted him.
"Go! I will not hear you--not one word!"
He passed from the room without another word. Her Court saw her standing straight and immovable, her white face transfigured.