The scheming Abbé Gorieux, thinking to complete the alienation which he had successfully commenced between Maugis and Yolande, conceived the idea that if Yolande could witness the proceedings of the council she would herself be convinced of the perfidy of Maugis, and seeing his discomfiture and downfall would wholly dismiss him from her heart, and thus pave the way anew for the suit of his nephew, Ganelon. The crafty priest knew that the princess possessed great riches. It was a stake well worth striving for. He easily obtained the consent of the princess to this plan, for much as she had doubted him, and much as she had heard to his prejudice, down in her heart she still loved Maugis and still believed him innocent of the charges. Accordingly, from behind the hangings of the council chamber, unseen by any one, Yolande had witnessed the events related in the preceding chapter, and when the meeting broke up she fled along the corridors to her chamber with light foot and light heart. “He is true to his God,” she said to herself. “I knew it and I love him.” Then the thought of her cold and unkind treatment and avoidance of him presented itself to her mind, and, seized with doubt as to whether he would longer love her, she, in a revulsion of feeling, threw herself on a couch and wept bitterly. At last the work of the treacherous priest had been overthrown and defeated. In the meantime the king had counseled with his advisers and Maugis had been summoned to again appear before him. The king was visibly embarrassed when he thus addressed him: “Brave knight!” said he, “inasmuch as you have expressed your willingness to take any means to reassure those of my court who seem to profess doubt, I have two conditions to impose—take note of my desire that you will gladly accept them. One is that thou shalt make oath of thy fealty to God and the saints and forever promise to abandon occult things; the other: you well know that my sister Yolande is beautiful and that she will bring great dower to him whom she weds. You know well how gladly each one here would possess her. Accept her then as your wife. I am already under deep obligations to you, and to make sure our friendship I seek thus to ally thee to our family. Become my brother, and I suppose then those of my subjects who have manifested fears will be not only completely reassured, but more so than ever, in that thou wilt possess such a precious gage of happiness and security.” This decision fell like a thunderbolt on the conspirators, who had hoped the downfall of Maugis. The priest Gorieux paled and clinched his hands until the nails penetrated the flesh. Why had he permitted Yolande to witness the scene, he asked himself; but for that there might yet be hope. It was a fatal error.