Surely no ambassador can ever have blundered more than Orloff! He was evidently better qualified to bully a regiment or to preside at a knouting than to conduct diplomatic negotiations. Thick-skinned as he was, he felt the sting of Barbara's remarks, and his great face reddened. He had thought to gain an easy victory over a young girl, whereas it was now clear that in this contest of the tongue, the princess was decidedly his superior. Zabern smiled grimly, much regretting that Katina was not present to be a witness of her enemy's humiliation. "In using the terms 'Princess' and 'Charter,'" said Orloff, "be it understood that my language was provisional." "And so," said Barbara, with sovereign disdain curving her lips, "it would seem that for fifty years Czernova has been enjoying its freedom by virtue of false statements. Marvellous that during all this time Russia has never once raised her voice in protest! Truly it says but little for the wisdom of her statesmen in thus permitting themselves to be duped for a period of half a century! But we would draw the Czar's attention to a decree of the Congress of Vienna, and worded thus: 'The principality of Czernova shall be governed according to the Charter granted by Catherine the Second; and Russia, Austria, and Prussia are herewith empowered to uphold the provisions of the same.' That Congress must have had reason for believing in the existence of the Charter, else how could they have spoken thus? In the face of that decree is the Czar so ill-counselled as to deny the existence of the historic Czernovese Charter?" "That is his attitude, and nothing but its production in my presence will set his doubts at rest." "Marshal Zabern is the Warden of the Charter. He can quickly prove that there is such a document preserved in the Eagle Tower." "Pardon me, your Highness, not in the Eagle Tower," observed Zabern. "When your Highness appointed me Warden of the Charter, I had the document removed to--to--well, for obvious reasons I prefer to keep its place of deposit a secret. The document you refer to in the iron coffer of the Eagle Tower is a copy merely." The natural unaffected way in which Zabern spoke almost imposed upon Paul himself. It certainly imposed upon Orloff. Never did human countenance change so quickly as did that of the envoy at this moment,--the moment of his anticipated triumph. The Charter in the Eagle Tower a transcript merely, and not the great original! Then his plot had resulted only in the destruction of a worthless document. Czernova stood as firm as ever! Orloff's mortification found a reflection in the face of Bora. Paul marked them both, and never did falsehood give him such pleasure as the falsehood told by Zabern. "After such testimony on the part of the marshal," observed Barbara, "you will no longer doubt." "Then I am to understand," said Orloff, "that you refuse to permit the Czar's envoy to inspect the Charter?"