CHAPTER X. THE KING IN STRELSAU
MR. RASSENDYLL reached Strelsau from Zenda without accident about nineo'clock in the evening of the same day as that which witnessed thetragedy of the hunting-lodge. He could have arrived sooner, but prudencedid not allow him to enter the populous suburbs of the town till thedarkness guarded him from notice. The gates of the city were no longershut at sunset, as they had used to be in the days when Duke Michaelwas governor, and Rudolf passed them without difficulty. Fortunately thenight, fine where we were, was wet and stormy at Strelsau; thus therewere few people in the streets, and he was able to gain the door of myhouse still unremarked. Here, of course, a danger presented itself.None of my servants were in the secret; only my wife, in whom the queenherself had confided, knew Rudolf, and she did not expect to see him,since she was ignorant of the recent course of events. Rudolf was quitealive to the peril, and regretted the absence of his faithful attendant,who could have cleared the way for him. The pouring rain gave him anexcuse for twisting a scarf about his face and pulling his coat-collarup to his ears, while the gusts of wind made the cramming of his hat lowdown over his eyes no more than a natural precaution against its loss.Thus masked from curious eyes, he drew rein before my door, and, havingdismounted, rang the bell. When the butler came a strange hoarse voice,half-stifled by folds of scarf, asked for the countess, alleging forpretext a message from myself. The man hesitated, as well he might, toleave the stranger alone with the door open and the contents of the hallat his mercy. Murmuring an apology in case his visitor should prove tobe a gentleman, he shut the door and went in search of his mistress. Hisdescription of the untimely caller at once roused my wife's quick wit;she had heard from me how Rudolf had ridden once from Strelsau to thehunting-lodge with muffled face; a very tall man with his face wrappedin a scarf and his hat over his eyes, who came with a private message,suggested to her at least a possibility of Mr. Rassendyll's arrival.Helga will never admit that she is clever, yet I find she discovers fromme what she wants to know, and I suspect hides successfully the smallmatters of which she in her wifely discretion deems I had best remainignorant. Being able thus to manage me, she was equal to coping with thebutler. She laid aside her embroidery most composedly.
"Ah, yes," she said, "I know the gentleman. Surely you haven't left himout in the rain?" She was anxious lest Rudolf's features should havebeen exposed too long to the light of the hall-lamps.
The butler stammered an apology, explaining his fears for our goods andthe impossibility of distinguishing social rank on a dark night. Helgacut him short with an impatient gesture, crying, "How stupid of you!"and herself ran quickly down and opened the door--a little way only,though. The first sight of Mr. Rassendyll confirmed her suspicions; in amoment, she said, she knew his eyes.
"It is you, then?" she cried. "And my foolish servant has left you inthe rain! Pray come in. Oh, but your horse!" She turned to the penitentbutler, who had followed her downstairs. "Take the baron's horse roundto the stables," she said.
"I will send some one at once, my lady."
"No, no, take it yourself--take it at once. I'll look after the baron."
Reluctantly and ruefully the fat fellow stepped out into the storm.Rudolf drew back and let him pass, then he entered quickly, to findhimself alone with Helga in the hall. With a finger on her lips, she ledhim swiftly into a small sitting-room on the ground floor, which I usedas a sort of office or place of business. It looked out on the street,and the rain could be heard driving against the broad panes of thewindow. Rudolf turned to her with a smile, and, bowing, kissed her hand.
"The baron what, my dear countess?" he inquired.
"He won't ask," said she with a shrug. "Do tell me what brings you here,and what has happened."
He told her very briefly all he knew. She hid bravely her alarm athearing that I might perhaps meet Rupert at the lodge, and at oncelistened to what Rudolf wanted of her.
"Can I get out of the house, and, if need be, back again unnoticed?" heasked.
"The door is locked at night, and only Fritz and the butler have keys."
Mr. Rassendyll's eye traveled to the window of the room.
"I haven't grown so fat that I can't get through there," said he. "Sowe'd better not trouble the butler. He'd talk, you know."
"I will sit here all night and keep everybody from the room."
"I may come back pursued if I bungle my work and an alarm is raised."
"Your work?" she asked, shrinking back a little.
"Yes," said he. "Don't ask what it is, Countess. It is in the queen'sservice."
"For the queen I will do anything and everything, as Fritz would."
He took her hand and pressed it in a friendly, encouraging way.
"Then I may issue my orders?" he asked, smiling.
"They shall be obeyed."
"Then a dry cloak, a little supper, and this room to myself, except foryou."
As he spoke the butler turned the handle of the door. My wife flewacross the room, opened the door, and, while Rudolf turned his back,directed the man to bring some cold meat, or whatever could be readywith as little delay as possible.
"Now come with me," she said to Rudolf, directly the servant was gone.
She took him to my dressing-room, where he got dry clothes; then she sawthe supper laid, ordered a bedroom to be prepared, told the butler thatshe had business with the baron and that he need not sit up if she werelater than eleven, dismissed him, and went to tell Rudolf that thecoast was clear for his return to the sitting-room. He came, expressingadmiration for her courage and address; I take leave to think thatshe deserved his compliments. He made a hasty supper; then they talkedtogether, Rudolf smoking his cigar. Eleven came and went. It was notyet time. My wife opened the door and looked out. The hall was dark, thedoor locked and its key in the hands of the butler. She closed the dooragain and softly locked it. As the clock struck twelve Rudolf rose andturned the lamp very low. Then he unfastened the shutters noiselessly,raised the window and looked out.
"Shut them again when I'm gone," he whispered. "If I come back, I'llknock like this, and you'll open for me."
"For heaven's sake, be careful," she murmured, catching at his hand.
He nodded reassuringly, and crossing his leg over the windowsill, satthere for a moment listening. The storm was as fierce as ever, and thestreet was deserted. He let himself down on to the pavement, his faceagain wrapped up. She watched his tall figure stride quickly alongtill a turn of the road hid it. Then, having closed the window and theshutters again, she sat down to keep her watch, praying for him, for me,and for her dear mistress the queen. For she knew that perilous workwas afoot that night, and did not know whom it might threaten or whomdestroy.
From the moment that Mr. Rassendyll thus left my house at midnight onhis search for Rupert of Hentzau, every hour and almost every momentbrought its incident in the swiftly moving drama which decided theissues of our fortune. What we were doing has been told; by now Ruperthimself was on his way back to the city, and the queen was meditating,in her restless vigil, on the resolve that in a few hours was to bringher also to Strelsau. Even in the dead of night both sides were active.For, plan cautiously and skillfully as he might, Rudolf fought with anantagonist who lost no chances, and who had found an apt and useful toolin that same Bauer, a rascal, and a cunning rascal, if ever one werebred in the world. From the beginning even to the end our error lay intaking too little count of this fellow, and dear was the price we paid.
Both to my wife and to Rudolf himself the street had seemed empty ofevery living being when she watched and he set out. Yet everything hadbeen seen, from his first arrival to the moment when she closed thewindow after him. At either end of my house there runs out a projection,formed by the bay windows of the principal drawing-room and of thedining room respectively. These projecting walls form shadows, and inthe shade of one of them--of which I do not know, nor is it of moment--aman watched all that passed; had he been anywhere else, Rudolf must haveseen hi
m. If we had not been too engrossed in playing our own hands,it would doubtless have struck us as probable that Rupert would directRischenheim and Bauer to keep an eye on my house during his absence;for it was there that any of us who found our way to the city wouldnaturally resort in the first instance. As a fact, he had not omittedthis precaution. The night was so dark that the spy, who had seenthe king but once and never Mr. Rassendyll, did not recognize who thevisitor was, but he rightly conceived that he should serve his employerby tracking the steps of the tall man who made so mysterious an arrivaland so surreptitious a departure from the suspected house. Accordingly,as Rudolf turned the corner and Helena closed the window, a short,thickset figure started cautiously out of the projecting shadow, andfollowed in Rudolf's wake through the storm. The pair, tracker andtracked, met nobody, save here and there a police constable keepinga most unwilling beat. Even such were few, and for the most part moreintent on sheltering in the lee of a friendly wall and thereby keeping adry stitch or two on them than on taking note of passers-by. On the pairwent. Now Rudolf turned into the Konigstrasse. As he did so, Bauer, whomust have been nearly a hundred yards behind (for he could not starttill the shutters were closed) quickened his pace and reduced theinterval between them to about seventy yards. This he might well havethought a safe distance on a night so wild, when the rush of wind andthe pelt of the rain joined to hide the sound of footsteps.
But Bauer reasoned as a townsman, and Rudolf Rassendyll had the quickear of a man bred in the country and trained to the woodland. All atonce there was a jerk of his head; I know so well the motion whichmarked awakened attention in him. He did not pause nor break his stride:to do either would have been to betray his suspicions to his follower;but he crossed the road to the opposite side to that where No. 19 wassituated, and slackened his pace a little, so that there was a longerinterval between his own footfalls. The steps behind him grew slower,even as his did; their sound came no nearer: the follower would notovertake. Now, a man who loiters on such a night, just because anotherhead of him is fool enough to loiter, has a reason for his action otherthan what can at first sight be detected. So thought Rudolf Rassendyll,and his brain was busied with finding it out.
Then an idea seized him, and, forgetting the precautions that hadhitherto served so well, he came to a sudden stop on the pavement,engrossed in deep thought. Was the man who dogged his steps Ruperthimself? It would be like Rupert to track him, like Rupert to conceivesuch an attack, like Rupert to be ready either for a fearless assaultfrom the front or a shameless shot from behind, and indifferent utterlywhich chance offered, so it threw him one of them. Mr. Rassendyll askedno better than to meet his enemy thus in the open. They could fight afair fight, and if he fell the lamp would be caught up and carried on bySapt's hand or mine; if he got the better of Rupert, the letter wouldbe his; a moment would destroy it and give safety to the queen. I do notsuppose that he spent time in thinking how he should escape arrest atthe hands of the police whom the fracas would probably rouse; if he did,he may well have reckoned on declaring plainly who he was, of laughingat their surprise over a chance likeness to the king, and of trusting tous to smuggle him beyond the arm of the law. What mattered all that, sothat there was a moment in which to destroy the letter? At any rate heturned full round and began to walk straight towards Bauer, his handresting on the revolver in the pocket of his coat.
Bauer saw him coming, and must have known that he was suspected ordetected. At once the cunning fellow slouched his head between hisshoulders, and set out along the street at a quick shuffle, whistling ashe went. Rudolf stood still now in the middle of the road, wonderingwho the man was: whether Rupert, purposely disguising his gait, ora confederate, or, after all, some person innocent of our secretand indifferent to our schemes. On came Bauer, softly, whistling andslushing his feet carelessly through the liquid mud. Now he was nearlyopposite where Mr. Rassendyll stood. Rudolf was well-nigh convinced thatthe man had been on his track: he would make certainty surer. The boldgame was always his choice and his delight; this trait he sharedwith Rupert of Hentzau, and hence arose, I think, the strange secretinclination he had for his unscrupulous opponent. Now he walked suddenlyacross to Bauer, and spoke to him in his natural voice, at the same timeremoving the scarf partly, but not altogether, from his face.
"You're out late, my friend, for a night like this."
Bauer, startled though he was by the unexpected challenge, had his witsabout him. Whether he identified Rudolf at once, I do not know; I thinkthat he must at least have suspected the truth.
"A lad that has no home to go to must needs be out both late and early,sir," said he, arresting his shuffling steps, and looking up with thathonest stolid air which had made a fool of me.
I had described him very minutely to Mr. Rassendyll; if Bauer knew orguessed who his challenger was, Mr. Rassendyll was as well equipped forthe encounter.
"No home to go to!" cried Rudolf in a pitying tone. "How's that? Butanyhow, Heaven forbid that you or any man should walk the streets anight like this. Come, I'll give you a bed. Come with me, and I'll findyou good shelter, my boy."
Bauer shrank away. He did not see the meaning of this stroke, andhis eye, traveling up the street, showed that his thoughts had turnedtowards flight. Rudolf gave no time for putting any such notion intoeffect. Maintaining his air of genial compassion, he passed his left armthrough Bauer's right, saying:
"I'm a Christian man, and a bed you shall have this night, my lad, assure as I'm alive. Come along with me. The devil, it's not weather forstanding still!"
The carrying of arms in Strelsau was forbidden. Bauer had no wish to getinto trouble with the police, and, moreover, he had intended nothingbut a reconnaissance; he was therefore without any weapon, and he was achild in Rudolf's grasp. He had no alternative but to obey thesuasion of Mr. Rassendyll's arm, and they two began to walk down theKonigstrasse. Bauer's whistle had died away, not to return; but fromtime to time Rudolf hummed softly a cheerful tune, his fingers beatingtime on Bauer's captive arm. Presently they crossed the road. Bauer'slagging steps indicated that he took no pleasure in the change of side,but he could not resist.
"Ay, you shall go where I am going, my lad," said Rudolf encouragingly;and he laughed a little as he looked down at the fellow's face.
Along they went; soon they came to the small numbers at the station endof the Konigstrasse. Rudolf began to peer up at the shop fronts.
"It's cursed dark," said he. "Pray, lad, can you make out which isnineteen?"
The moment he had spoken the smile broadened on his face. The shot hadgone home. Bauer was a clever scoundrel, but his nerves were not underperfect control, and his arm had quivered under Rudolf's.
"Nineteen, sir?" he stammered.
"Ay, nineteen. That's where we're bound for, you and I. There I hope weshall find--what we want."
Bauer seemed bewildered: no doubt he was at a loss how either tounderstand or to parry the bold attack.
"Ah, this looks like it," said Rudolf, in a tone of great satisfaction,as they came to old Mother Holf's little shop. "Isn't that a one anda nine over the door, my lad? Ah, and Holf! Yes, that's the name. Prayring the bell. My hands are occupied."
Rudolf's hands were indeed occupied; one held Bauer's arm, now no longerwith a friendly pressure, but with a grip of iron; in the other thecaptive saw the revolver that had till now lain hidden.
"You see?" asked Rudolf pleasantly. "You must ring for me, mustn't you?It would startle them if I roused them with a shot." A motion of thebarrel told Bauer the direction which the shot would take.
"There's no bell," said Bauer sullenly.
"Ah, then you knock?"
"I suppose so."
"In any particular way, my friend?"
"I don't know," growled Bauer.
"Nor I. Can't you guess?"
"No, I know nothing of it."
"Well, we must try. You knock, and--Listen, my lad. You must guessright. You understand?"
"How can I guess?" asked Bauer, i
n an attempt at bluster.
"Indeed, I don't know," smiled Rudolf. "But I hate waiting, and if thedoor is not open in two minutes, I shall arouse the good folk with ashot. You see? You quite see, don't you?" Again the barrel's motionpointed and explained Mr. Rassendyll's meaning.
Under this powerful persuasion Bauer yielded. He lifted his hand andknocked on the door with his knuckles, first loudly, then very softly,the gentler stroke being repeated five times in rapid succession.Clearly he was expected, for without any sound of approaching feet thechain was unfastened with a subdued rattle. Then came the noise of thebolt being cautiously worked back into its socket. As it shot home achink of the door opened. At the same moment Rudolf's hand slipped fromBauer's arm. With a swift movement he caught the fellow by the nape ofthe neck and flung him violently forward into the roadway, where, losinghis footing, he fell sprawling face downwards in the mud. Rudolf threwhimself against the door: it yielded, he was inside, and in an instanthe had shut the door and driven the bolt home again, leaving Bauer inthe gutter outside. Then he turned, with his hand on the butt of hisrevolver. I know that he hoped to find Rupert of Hentzau's face within afoot of his.
Neither Rupert nor Rischenheim, nor even the old woman fronted him: atall, handsome, dark girl faced him, holding an oil-lamp in her hand.He did not know her, but I could have told him that she was old MotherHolf's youngest child, Rosa, for I had often seen her as I rode throughthe town of Zenda with the king, before the old lady moved her dwellingto Strelsau. Indeed the girl had seemed to haunt the king's foot-steps,and he had himself joked on her obvious efforts to attract hisattention, and the languishing glances of her great black eyes. But itis the lot of prominent personages to inspire these strange passions,and the king had spent as little thought on her as on any of theromantic girls who found a naughty delight in half-fanciful devotion tohim--devotion starting, in many cases, by an irony of which the kingwas happily unconscious, from the brave figure that he made at hiscoronation and his picturesque daring in the affair of Black Michael.The worshipers never came near enough to perceive the alteration intheir idol.
The half then, at least, of Rosa's attachment was justly due to the manwho now stood opposite to her, looking at her with surprise by the murkylight of the strong-smelling oil-lamp. The lamp shook and almost fellfrom her hand when she saw him; for the scarf had slid away, and hisfeatures were exposed to full view. Fright, delight, and excitement viedwith one another in her eyes.
"The king!" she whispered in amazement. "No, but--" And she searched hisface wonderingly.
"Is it the beard you miss?" asked Rudolf, fingering his chin. "Mayn'tkings shave when they please, as well as other men?" Her face stillexpressed bewilderment, and still a lingering doubt. He bent towardsher, whispering:
"Perhaps I wasn't over-anxious to be known at once."
She flushed with pleasure at the confidence he seemed to put in her.
"I should know you anywhere," she whispered, with a glance of the greatblack eyes. "Anywhere, your Majesty."
"Then you'll help me, perhaps?"
"With my life."
"No, no, my dear young lady, merely with a little information. Whosehome is this?"
"My mother's."
"Ah! She takes lodgers?"
The girl appeared vexed at his cautious approaches. "Tell me what youwant to know," she said simply.
"Then who's here?"
"My lord the Count of Luzau-Rischenheim."
"And what's he doing?"
"He's lying on the bed moaning and swearing, because his wounded armgives him pain."
"And is nobody else here?"
She looked round warily, and sank her voice to a whisper as sheanswered:
"No, not now--nobody else."
"I was seeking a friend of mine," said Rudolf. "I want to see him alone.It's not easy for a king to see people alone."
"You mean--?"
"Well, you know whom I mean."
"Yes. No, he's gone; but he's gone to find you."
"To find me! Plague take it! How do you know that, my pretty lady?"
"Bauer told me."
"Ah, Bauer! And who's Bauer?"
"The man who knocked. Why did you shut him out?"
"To be alone with you, to be sure. So Bauer tells you his master'ssecrets?"
She acknowledged his raillery with a coquettish laugh. It was not amissfor the king to see that she had her admirers.
"Well, and where has this foolish count gone to meet me?" asked Rudolflightly.
"You haven't seen him?"
"No; I came straight from the Castle of Zenda."
"But," she cried, "he expected to find you at the hunting lodge. Ah, butnow I recollect! The Count of Rischenheim was greatly vexed to find, onhis return, that his cousin was gone."
"Ah, he was gone! Now I see! Rischenheim brought a message from me toCount Rupert."
"And they missed one another, your Majesty?"
"Exactly, my dear young lady. Very vexatious it is, upon my word!" Inthis remark, at least, Rudolf spoke no more and no other than he felt."But when do you expect the Count of Hentzau?" he pursued.
"Early in the morning, your Majesty--at seven or eight."
Rudolf came nearer to her, and took a couple of gold coins from hispocket.
"I don't want money, your Majesty," she murmured.
"Oh, make a hole in them and hang them round your neck."
"Ah, yes: yes, give them to me," she cried, holding out her handeagerly.
"You'll earn them?" he asked, playfully holding them out of her reach.
"How?"
"By being ready to open to me when I come at eleven and knock as Bauerknocked."
"Yes, I'll be there."
"And by telling nobody that I've been here to-night. Will you promise methat?"
"Not my mother?"
"No."
"Nor the Count of Luzau-Rischenheim?"
"Him least of all. You must tell nobody. My business is very private,and Rischenheim doesn't know it."
"I'll do all you tell me. But--but Bauer knows."
"True," said Rudolf. "Bauer knows. Well, we'll see about Bauer."
As he spoke he turned towards the door. Suddenly the girl bent, snatchedat his hand and kissed it.
"I would die for you," she murmured.
"Poor child!" said he gently. I believe he was loath to make profit,even in the queen's service, of her poor foolish love. He laid his handon the door, but paused a moment to say:
"If Bauer comes, you have told me nothing. Mind, nothing! I threatenedyou, but you told me nothing."
"He'll tell them you have been here."
"That can't be helped; at least they won't know when I shall arriveagain. Good-night."
Rudolf opened the door and slipped through, closing it hastily behindhim. If Bauer got back to the house, his visit must be known; but ifhe could intercept Bauer, the girl's silence was assured. He stood justoutside, listening intently and searching the darkness with eager eyes.