"Not, perhaps, exactly betray you," replied the Countess, "for traitors are always despised even by those they serve; and he is too cunning for that. But, step by step, he will undermine you with the King, if he be not removed. He will first begin by opposing our marriage----" "If he do that, I will cut his throat," cried Rochester. "Perhaps he will not do so openly," continued the Countess, "but he will speak of me to James as he has to you, and will beseech him all the time not to betray his words. He will teach the King to think you weak, foolish, and intemperate, because you persevere in loving one who has devoted herself to you. Let this Overbury,--let him, if he can, or if he dare, make such sacrifices for you as I have made; and then I will believe he is your friend. As it is, he must be removed.--Yes, if you love me, if you would wed me, if you would be safe yourself, if you would consult my peace, he must be removed." "Not slain," said Rochester, in a low tone, "not slain--that I cannot consent to." "Nay," answered the Countess, with one of her bright and beaming smiles again, at seeing that his apprehension of her meaning had so far outrun the reality, that any minor act of vengeance or precaution would seem moderate, "I meant not to slay him. You men are so vehement and violent in all your passions, that the death of your adversary is the only thing you think of. I am not so bloodthirsty, nor do I speak from anger, Rochester. I could pardon him all that he has said of me, did it not show me that he is dangerous to you, and that, if he be not removed, his presence near the King will be the great stumbling-block which will throw down our hopes and wishes. He must be sent to the Tower, or into banishment." "But there must be some pretext," said Rochester. "He cannot be punished without a cause." "Oh! fear not," cried the Countess; "a reason will not be wanting. Shrewd must that man be, and virtuous beyond this earth, who, in the courts of kings, can walk so scrupulously as not to give, each day, pretexts for accusation. The wise and the good have fallen beneath the axe, and the best that ever lived was crucified; there is no fear that fair Sir Thomas Overbury has not abundance of such vices in his composition as may well move a monarch's indignation, with a good word to help." "No," said Rochester, who had been thinking deeply, and was not yet brought fully to that utter shamelessness at which his partner in evil had arrived--"No, a means may be devised for attaining our object, without bringing on my own head the charge of ingratitude. Let us give him the embassy to some foreign court, where he may wear out his days in peace and honour, neither obstructing our views, nor lost altogether to his own."