“I am very glad I have not failed you,” she said eventually. “It was not a very difficult part to play, but it was on such a truly magnificent stage.”
“Is that how it felt to you?” he questioned. “To be honest I was very nervous of what the King might admit to me and have been wondering all day how I could explain that there is actually very little that we can do.”
He saw Amina look surprised and he added,
“We have to be practical and realise that it is very important for us now to be friendly with France. Although we have fought and beaten her so often in the past, we have no wish to do so again.”
Amina hesitated for a moment.
Then she asked,
“You are certain that France is determined if at all possible to take over Khmer.”
“I should be most surprised if they fail to do so,” Lord T
