CHAPTER 16
A Desperate Plan
As I had ridden publicly in Zenda, and had talked there with RupertHentzau, of course all pretence of illness was at an end. I marked theeffect on the garrison of Zenda: they ceased to be seen abroad; and anyof my men who went near the Castle reported that the utmost vigilanceprevailed there. Touched as I was by Madame de Mauban's appeal, I seemedas powerless to befriend her as I had proved to help the King. Michaelbade me defiance; and although he too had been seen outside the walls,with more disregard for appearances than he had hitherto shown, he didnot take the trouble to send any excuse for his failure to wait on theKing. Time ran on in inactivity, when every moment was pressing; fornot only was I faced with the new danger which the stir about mydisappearance brought on me, but great murmurs had arisen in Strelsau atmy continued absence from the city. They had been greater, but for theknowledge that Flavia was with me; and for this reason I suffered her tostay, though I hated to have her where danger was, and though everyday of our present sweet intercourse strained my endurance almost tobreaking. As a final blow, nothing would content my advisers, Strakenczand the Chancellor (who came out from Strelsau to make an urgentrepresentation to me), save that I should appoint a day for the publicsolemnization of my betrothal, a ceremony which in Ruritania is wellnigh as binding and great a thing as the marriage itself. And this--withFlavia sitting by me--I was forced to do, setting a date a fortnightahead, and appointing the Cathedral in Strelsau as the place. And thisformal act being published far and wide, caused great joy throughout thekingdom, and was the talk of all tongues; so that I reckoned there werebut two men who chafed at it--I mean Black Michael and myself; and butone who did not know of it--that one the man whose name I bore, the Kingof Ruritania.
In truth, I heard something of the way the news was received in theCastle; for after an interval of three days, the man Johann, greedy formore money, though fearful for his life, again found means to visit us.He had been waiting on the duke when the tidings came. Black Michael'sface had grown blacker still, and he had sworn savagely; nor was hebetter pleased when young Rupert took oath that I meant to do as Isaid, and turning to Madame de Mauban, wished her joy on a rival gone.Michael's hand stole towards his sword (said Johann), but not a bit didRupert care; for he rallied the duke on having made a better King thanhad reigned for years past in Ruritania. "And," said he, with a meaningbow to his exasperated master, "the devil sends the princess a finer manthan heaven had marked out for her, by my soul, it does!" Then Michaelharshly bade him hold his tongue, and leave them; but Rupert must needsfirst kiss madame's hand, which he did as though he loved her, whileMichael glared at him.
This was the lighter side of the fellow's news; but more serious camebehind, and it was plain that if time pressed at Tarlenheim, it pressednone the less fiercely at Zenda. For the King was very sick: Johann hadseen him, and he was wasted and hardly able to move. "There could be nothought of taking another for him now." So alarmed were they, that theyhad sent for a physician from Strelsau; and the physician having beenintroduced into the King's cell, had come forth pale and trembling, andurgently prayed the duke to let him go back and meddle no more in theaffair; but the duke would not, and held him there a prisoner, tellinghim his life was safe if the King lived while the duke desired and diedwhen the duke desired--not otherwise. And, persuaded by the physician,they had allowed Madame de Mauban to visit the King and give him suchattendance as his state needed, and as only a woman can give. Yet hislife hung in the balance; and I was still strong and whole and free.Wherefore great gloom reigned at Zenda; and save when they quarrelled,to which they were very prone, they hardly spoke. But the deeper thedepression of the rest, young Rupert went about Satan's work with asmile in his eye and a song on his lip; and laughed "fit to burst" (saidJohann) because the duke always set Detchard to guard the King whenMadame de Mauban was in the cell--which precaution was, indeed, notunwise in my careful brother. Thus Johann told his tale and seized hiscrowns. Yet he besought us to allow him to stay with us in Tarlenheim,and not venture his head again in the lion's den; but we had need of himthere, and, although I refused to constrain him, I prevailed on him byincreased rewards to go back and carry tidings to Madame de Mauban thatI was working for her, and that, if she could, she should speak oneword of comfort to the King. For while suspense is bad for the sick, yetdespair is worse still, and it might be that the King lay dying of merehopelessness, for I could learn of no definite disease that afflictedhim.
"And how do they guard the King now?" I asked, remembering that two ofthe Six were dead, and Max Holf also.
"Detchard and Bersonin watch by night, Rupert Hentzau and De Gautet byday, sir," he answered.
"Only two at a time?"
"Ay, sir; but the others rest in a room just above, and are within soundof a cry or a whistle."
"A room just above? I didn't know of that. Is there any communicationbetween it and the room where they watch?"
"No, sir. You must go down a few stairs and through the door by thedrawbridge, and so to where the King is lodged."
"And that door is locked?"
"Only the four lords have keys, sir."
I drew nearer to him.
"And have they keys of the grating?" I asked in a low whisper.
"I think, sir, only Detchard and Rupert."
"Where does the duke lodge?"
"In the chateau, on the first floor. His apartments are on the right asyou go towards the drawbridge."
"And Madame de Mauban?"
"Just opposite, on the left. But her door is locked after she hasentered."
"To keep her in?"
"Doubtless, sir."
"Perhaps for another reason?"
"It is possible."
"And the duke, I suppose, has the key?"
"Yes. And the drawbridge is drawn back at night, and of that, too, theduke holds the key, so that it cannot be run across the moat withoutapplication to him."
"And where do you sleep?"
"In the entrance hall of the chateau, with five servants."
"Armed?"
"They have pikes, sir, but no firearms. The duke will not trust themwith firearms."
Then at last I took the matter boldly in my hands. I had failed once at"Jacob's Ladder;" I should fail again there. I must make the attack fromthe other side.
"I have promised you twenty thousand crowns," said I. "You shall havefifty thousand if you will do what I ask of you tomorrow night. But,first, do those servants know who your prisoner is?"
"No, sir. They believe him to be some private enemy of the duke's."
"And they would not doubt that I am the King?"
"How should they?" he asked.
"Look to this, then. Tomorrow, at two in the morning exactly, fling openthe front door of the chateau. Don't fail by an instant."
"Shall you be there, sir?"
"Ask no questions. Do what I tell you. Say the hall is close, or whatyou will. That is all I ask of you."
"And may I escape by the door, sir, when I have opened it?"
"Yes, as quick as your legs will carry you. One thing more. Carry thisnote to madame--oh, it's in French, you can't read it--and charge her,for the sake of all our lives, not to fail in what it orders."
The man was trembling but I had to trust to what he had of courage andto what he had of honesty. I dared not wait, for I feared that the Kingwould die.
When the fellow was gone, I called Sapt and Fritz to me, and unfoldedthe plan that I had formed. Sapt shook his head over it.
"Why can't you wait?" he asked.
"The King may die."
"Michael will be forced to act before that."
"Then," said I, "the King may live."
"Well, and if he does?"
"For a fortnight?" I asked simply.
And Sapt bit his moustache.
Suddenly Fritz von Tarlenheim laid his hand on my shoulder.
"Let us go and make the attempt," said he.
"I mean you t
o go--don't be afraid," said I.
"Ay, but do you stay here, and take care of the princess."
A gleam came into old Sapt's eye.
"We should have Michael one way or the other then," he chuckled;"whereas if you go and are killed with the King, what will become ofthose of us who are left?"
"They will serve Queen Flavia," said I, "and I would to God I could beone of them."
A pause followed. Old Sapt broke it by saying sadly, yet with an unmeantdrollery that set Fritz and me laughing:
"Why didn't old Rudolf the Third marry your--great-grandmother, was it?"
"Come," said I, "it is the King we are thinking about."
"It is true," said Fritz.
"Moreover," I went on, "I have been an impostor for the profit ofanother, but I will not be one for my own; and if the King is not aliveand on his throne before the day of betrothal comes, I will tell thetruth, come what may."
"You shall go, lad," said Sapt.
Here is the plan I had made. A strong party under Sapt's command wasto steal up to the door of the chateau. If discovered prematurely, theywere to kill anyone who found them--with their swords, for I wanted nonoise of firing. If all went well, they would be at the door when Johannopened it. They were to rush in and secure the servants if their merepresence and the use of the King's name were not enough. At the samemoment--and on this hinged the plan--a woman's cry was to ring out loudand shrill from Antoinette de Mauban's chamber. Again and again she wasto cry: "Help, help! Michael, help!" and then to utter the name of youngRupert Hentzau. Then, as we hoped, Michael, in fury, would rush out ofhis apartments opposite, and fall alive into the hands of Sapt. Stillthe cries would go on; and my men would let down the drawbridge; and itwould be strange if Rupert, hearing his name thus taken in vain, did notdescend from where he slept and seek to cross. De Gautet might or mightnot come with him: that must be left to chance.
And when Rupert set his foot on the drawbridge? There was my part: for Iwas minded for another swim in the moat; and, lest I should grow weary,I had resolved to take with me a small wooden ladder, on which I couldrest my arms in the water--and my feet when I left it. I would rear itagainst the wall just by the bridge; and when the bridge was across, Iwould stealthily creep on to it--and then if Rupert or De Gautet crossedin safety, it would be my misfortune, not my fault. They dead, two menonly would remain; and for them we must trust to the confusion we hadcreated and to a sudden rush. We should have the keys of the door thatled to the all-important rooms. Perhaps they would rush out. If theystood by their orders, then the King's life hung on the swiftness withwhich we could force the outer door; and I thanked God that not RupertHentzau watched, but Detchard. For though Detchard was a cool man,relentless, and no coward, he had neither the dash nor the recklessnessof Rupert. Moreover, he, if any one of them, really loved Black Michael,and it might be that he would leave Bersonin to guard the King, and rushacross the bridge to take part in the affray on the other side.
So I planned--desperately. And, that our enemy might be the betterlulled to security, I gave orders that our residence should bebrilliantly lighted from top to bottom, as though we were engaged inrevelry; and should so be kept all night, with music playing and peoplemoving to and fro. Strakencz would be there, and he was to conceal ourdeparture, if he could, from Flavia. And if we came not again by themorning, he was to march, openly and in force to the Castle, and demandthe person of the King; if Black Michael were not there, as I did notthink he would be, the Marshal would take Flavia with him, as swiftly ashe could, to Strelsau, and there proclaim Black Michael's treachery andthe probable death of the King, and rally all that there was honest andtrue round the banner of the princess. And, to say truth, this was whatI thought most likely to happen. For I had great doubts whether eitherthe King or Black Michael or I had more than a day to live. Well, ifBlack Michael died, and if I, the play-actor, slew Rupert Hentzau withmy own hand, and then died myself, it might be that Fate would dealas lightly with Ruritania as could be hoped, notwithstanding that shedemanded the life of the King--and to her dealing thus with me, I was inno temper to make objection.
It was late when we rose from conference, and I betook me to theprincess's apartments. She was pensive that evening; yet, when I lefther, she flung her arms about me and grew, for an instant, bashfullyradiant as she slipped a ring on my finger. I was wearing the King'sring; but I had also on my little finger a plain band of gold engravedwith the motto of our family: "_Nil Quae Feci_." This I took off and puton her, and signed to her to let me go. And she, understanding, stoodaway and watched me with dimmed eyes.
"Wear that ring, even though you wear another when you are queen," Isaid.
"Whatever else I wear, this I will wear till I die and after," said she,as she kissed the ring.