nize any such authority, as I see it attempted by one who stands in the same position towards legitimate functions here as he does toward a legal and recognized status in the king’s household.”
“The entire course of your proceedings,” answered Nicolas, frowning, “from the day when you aspired to the hand of Queen Kunigunde, whom I cannot recognize as lawful queen, although she bore the name as being my father’s married consort, to the criminal hour when you purloined fifty thousand marks from the public treasury; and further to the ambitious attempts to engage the King of Hungary in your criminal projects against the crown, has been marked by deceit, treason, and open combination with other conspirators against the king’s authority.”
“All of this insolent falsification,” replied Zawis scornfully, “only means that as Queen Margaret could not hope for an heir, you expected to impose yourself on the estates as king of Bohemia; or threaten civil dissensions to which you had, and you have now formed a party.
“Your traitor’s soul thus denies to your king the right to reign as being illegitimate, according to your treasonable assertions. Your wrath directed against me in alliance with other traitors whose purpose you are too stupid to perceive and too treacherous to oppose if you did perceive them, is based on a bitter disappointment of your criminal designs thus flagrantly avowed. You are base enough to combine with any enemy in order to further your own illegitimate ambition; and your present associates are dis-
