“We hardly see him now, sir.”
“And why not?”
“I told him he came too often, sir,” said she, tossing her head.
“So he sulks and stays away?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But you could bring him back?” I suggested with a smile.
“Perhaps I could,” said she.
“I know your powers, you see,” said I, and she blushed with pleasure.
“It’s not only that, sir, that keeps him away. He’s very busy at the Castle.”
“But there’s no shooting on now.”
“No, sir; but he’s in charge of the house.”
“Johann turned housemaid?”
The little girl was brimming over with gossip.
“Well, there are no others,” said she. “There’s not a woman there—not as a servant, I mean. They do say—but perhaps it’s false, sir.”
“Let’s have it for what it’s worth,” said I.
“Indeed, I’m ashamed to tell you, sir.”
“Oh, see, I’m looking at the ceiling.”
“They do say there is a lady there, sir; but, except for her, there’s not a woman in the place. And Johann has to wait on the gentlemen.”
“Poor Johann! He must be overworked. Yet I’m sure he could find half an hour to come and see you.”
“It would depend on the time, sir, perhaps.”
“Do you love him?” I asked.
“Not I, sir.”
“And you wish to serve the King?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then tell him to meet you at the second milestone out of Zenda tomorrow evening at ten o’clock. Say you’ll be there and will walk home with him.”
“Do you mean him harm, sir?”
“Not if he will do as I bid him. But I think I’ve told you enough, my pretty maid. See that you do as I bid you. And, mind, no one is to know that the King has been here.”
I spoke a little sternly, for there is seldom harm in infusing a little fear into a woman’s liking for you, and I softened the effect by giving her a handsome present. Then we dined, and, wrapping my cloak about my face, with Fritz leading the way, we went downstairs to our horses again.
It was but half-past eight, and hardly yet dark; the streets were full for such a quiet little place, and I could see that gossip was all agog. With the King on one side and the duke on the other, Zenda felt itself the centre of all Ruritania. We jogged gently through the town, but set our horses to a sharper pace when we reached the open country.
“You want to catch this fellow Johann?” asked Fritz.
“Ay, and I fancy I’ve baited the hook right. Our little Delilah will bring our Samson. It is not enough, Fritz, to have no women in a house, though brother Michael shows some wisdom there. If you want safety, you must have none within fifty miles.”
“None nearer than Strelsau, for instance,” said poor Fritz, with a lovelorn sigh.
We reached the avenue of the chateau, and were soon at the house. As the hoofs of our horses sounded on the gravel, Sapt rushed out to meet us.
“Thank God, you’re safe!” he cried. “Have you seen anything of them?”
“Of whom?” I asked, dismounting.
He drew us aside, that the grooms might not hear.
“Lad,” he said to me, “you must not ride about here, unless with half a dozen of us. You know among our men a tall young fellow, Bernenstein by name?”
I knew him. He was a fine strapping young man, almost of my height, and of light complexion.
“He lies in his room upstairs, with a bullet through his arm.”
“The deuce he does!”
“After dinner he strolled out alone, and went a mile or so into the wood; and as he walked, he thought he saw three men among the trees; and one levelled a gun at him. He had no weapon, and he started at a run back towards the house. But one of them fired, and he was hit, and had much ado to reach here before he fainted. By good luck, they feared to pursue him nearer the house.”
He paused and added:
“Lad, the bullet was meant for you.”
“It is very likely,” said I, “and it’s first blood to brother Michael.”
“I wonder which three it was,” said Fritz.
“Well, Sapt,” I said, “I went out tonight for no idle purpose, as you shall hear. But there’s one thing in my mind.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Why this,” I answered. “That I shall ill requite the very great honours Ruritania has done me if I depart from it leaving one of those Six alive—neither with the help of God, will I.”
And Sapt shook my hand on that.
CHAPTER 13
AN IMPROVEMENT ON JACOB’S Ladder
––––––––
IN THE MORNING OF THE day after that on which I swore my oath against the Six, I gave certain orders, and then rested in greater contentment than I had known for some time. I was at work; and work, though it cannot cure love, is yet a narcotic to it; so that Sapt, who grew feverish, marvelled to see me sprawling in an armchair in the sunshine, listening to one of my friends who sang me amorous songs in a mellow voice and induced in me a pleasing melancholy. Thus was I engaged when young Rupert Hentzau, who feared neither man nor devil, and rode through the demesne—where every tree might hide a marksman, for all he knew—as though it had been the park at Strelsau, cantered up to where I lay, bowing with burlesque deference, and craving private speech with me in order to deliver a message from the Duke of Strelsau. I made all withdraw, and then he said, seating himself by me:
“The King is in love, it seems?”
“Not with life, my lord,” said I, smiling.
“It is well,” he rejoined. “Come, we are alone, Rassendyll—”
I rose to a sitting posture.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I was about to call one of my gentlemen to bring your horse, my lord. If you do not know how to address the King, my brother must find another messenger.”
“Why keep up the farce?” he asked, negligently dusting his boot with his glove.
“Because it is not finished yet; and meanwhile I’ll choose my own name.”
“Oh, so be it! Yet I spoke in love for you; for indeed you are a man after my own heart.”
“Saving my poor honesty,” said I, “maybe I am. But that I keep faith with men, and honour with women, maybe I am, my lord.”
He darted a glance at me—a glance of anger.
“Is your mother dead?” said I.
“Ay, she’s dead.”
“She may thank God,” said I, and