Michael must know by now of my expedition; and I knew Michael too well to suppose that his eyes would be blinded by the feint of the boar-hunt.

He would understand very well what the real quarry was.

That, however, must be risked--that and all it might mean; for Sapt, no less than myself, recognized that the present state of things had become unendurable.

And there was one thing that I dared to calculate on--not, as I now know, without warrant.

It was this--that Black Michael would not believe that I meant well by the King.