“Did you obey my commands in reference to the parchment?” asked Judith.
“In my excessive haste,” answered Teresa, “I tore off the signature; but as this woman Agaphia approached I hurriedly concealed the parchment in the strong chest, of which I keep the golden key. It was Otakar’s own secret repository; and the key was taken from his body. It is all secure as the other documents; and I can produce them or not as may be necessary for safety.” The last ambiguous words in an undertone did not at the moment convey their full significance tothe queen. Judith little suspected that her trusted confidant was in reality her tyrant. Little also did Zawis and his young wife suspect of the dreadful plot thus fiendishly planned for his destruction.
Having dismissed her artful espion who had worked herself into the favor of the queen by touching those peculiar traits that Judith exhibited, and stimulating a tendency of fancy that Judith encouraged in her married days in continuance of the weird fictions related to her in her childhood, the queen requested that the duke Nicolas might be introduced.
“I know of no method, highness,” replied the duke of Troppau, “whereby his individual apprehension may be secured. His marriage alliance with the royal house of Hungary, his strength in fortresses and in allies, his numerous and attached adherents, and his personal caution, render any attempt at open assault extremely hazardous. I fear also that the grant of the fifty thousand marks from King Otakar
