"Is the slave mad, that he dares intrude in this our highest council-chamber?" said the Emperor. "The life of the slave is in the hands of his master, yet must he perform his duty. Treason is within the very walls, O my sovereign." At the word treason the blood of Tait-sou became weak as water, for the royal face became livid with fear. He grasped his sabre, saying, "What says the slave?" "Two boys, O dread sovereign, have been found within the prohibited wall; one even within the sacred precincts of the imperial gardens." At the words two boys there was a half-suppressed titter, probably at the little cause the Emperor had had to fear; but at the mention of the garden of the inner palace, the aged Woo said, "Surely, O great sovereign, the worthy eunuch has overstepped his duty; these young slaves should have been handed over to the police tribunals." "The noble Woo is right," replied the Emperor. "What has the dog of a eunuch to say for intruding in our presence with such matters?" "The will of the Emperor is the life-blood of the meanest of his slaves, and but little else is that of the princess in whose presence one of the dogs was found, and at whose command he is brought hither," replied the trembling eunuch. "The profane slave!" muttered the surrounding mandarins, clutching the hilts of their swords. "The will of our beloved daughter is law; let the audacious slave be brought before us," said the Emperor. CHAPTER XXIII. AUDIENCE WITH THE SON OF HEAVEN.--NICHOLAS ACCUSES A GREAT PRINCE OF TREASON. Nicholas was led into the hall between two inferior mandarins, and had no sooner prostrated himself at the foot of the throne, than the Prince Li-Kong said, "Surely the eyes of the Emperor of the earth are too holy to be darkened by such mean dogs as this. Let the common executioner deal with him, for there can be no doubt of his guilt." "Stop not the fountain of justice at its very source, O my sovereign, for when was it that a good king refused to listen to the meanest of his slaves?" said Woo; but before the Emperor could reply, one of the great officers of the palace ran up to the steps of the throne, performed the prostrations, and being commanded to speak, "The great and beautiful princess, thy daughter, begs an audience of her illustrious father," said the officer. The Emperor having signified his assent, the princess, accompanied by the Lady Candida, and both veiled, knelt before the Emperor, who, lifting her from her kneeling position, said affectionately, "Truly my daughter must have matter of weighty import upon her lips, thus to break through the delicacy of her sex and rank." "Pardon, great prince, if thy daughter has forgotten what is due either to her parent or her sex, but it is a common saying, 'that those who forget favors conferred upon them are unfit to live,' and therefore thy daughter would protect the life of one who saved her from a cruel death," said the princess.