He thought of the excesses to which he knew no decent man would stoop and how, from all that he had heard, the Prince revelled in the filth of the gutter and was vicious to the point of sadism.
The more he thought of it, the more it seemed to him unspeakable that the Soginos could agree to the match between Florencia and Vincente di Gorizia.
At the same time he could understand that for Prince di Sogino to be accused of disloyalty to the King, to be treated as a common criminal and perhaps shot, would be a disgrace and humiliation to everybody who bore his name.
‘I must save her! I must save her!’ Lord Mere told himself.
Because his heart as well as his mind cried out that it was imperative, he felt for the first time in his life not entirely confident that he would succeed.
He rose f
