Then Nyleptha answered calmly and with dignity: 'Ill would it become my place and dignity, oh sister, so to speak as thou hast spoken and so to threat as thou hast threatened.
Yet if thou wilt make war, then will I strive to bear up against thee, for if my hand seem soft, yet shalt thou find it of iron when it grips thine armies by the throat.

Sorais, I fear thee not.

I weep for that which thou wilt bring upon our people and on thyself, but for myself I say -- I fear thee not.

Yet thou, who but yesterday didst strive to win my lover and my lord from me, whom today thou dost call a "foreign wolf", to be _thy_ lover and _thy_ lord' (here there was an immense sensation in the hall), 'thou who but last night, as I have learnt but since thou didst enter here, didst creep like a snake into my sleeping-place -- ay, even by a secret way, and wouldst have foully murdered me, thy sister, as I lay asleep -- ' 'It is false, it is false!' rang out Agon's and a score of other voices.
'It is _not_ false,' said I, producing the broken point of the dagger and holding it up.

'Where is the haft from which this flew, oh Sorais ?' 'It is not false,' cried Good, determined at last to act like a loyal man.