CHAPTER 12
I Receive a Visitor and Bait a Hook
the Castle is situated, there lies a large tract of wood. It is rising
ground, and in the centre of the demesne, on the top of the hill, stands
a fine modern chateau, the property of a distant kinsman of Fritz's, the
Count Stanislas von Tarlenheim. Count Stanislas himself was a student
and a recluse. He seldom visited the house, and had, on Fritz's request,
very readily and courteously offered me its hospitality for myself and
my party. This, then, was our destination; chosen ostensibly for the
sake of the boar-hunting (for the wood was carefully preserved, and
boars, once common all over Ruritania, were still to be found there
in considerable numbers), really because it brought us within striking
distance of the Duke of Strelsau's more magnificent dwelling on the
other side of the town. A large party of servants, with horses and
luggage, started early in the morning; we followed at midday, travelling
by train for thirty miles, and then mounting our horses to ride the
remaining distance to the chateau.
We were a gallant party. Besides Sapt and Fritz, I was accompanied by
ten gentlemen: every one of them had been carefully chosen, and no less
carefully sounded, by my two friends, and all were devotedly attached to
the person of the King. They were told a part of the truth; the attempt
on my life in the summer-house was revealed to them, as a spur to their
loyalty and an incitement against Michael. They were also informed that
a friend of the King's was suspected to be forcibly confined within the
Castle of Zenda. His rescue was one of the objects of the expedition;
but, it was added, the King's main desire was to carry into effect
certain steps against his treacherous brother, as to the precise nature
of which they could not at present be further enlightened. Enough that
the King commanded their services, and would rely on their devotion when
occasion arose to call for it. Young, well-bred, brave, and loyal, they
asked no more: they were ready to prove their dutiful obedience, and
prayed for a fight as the best and most exhilarating mode of showing it.
Thus the scene was shifted from Strelsau to the chateau of Tarlenheim
and Castle of Zenda, which frowned at us across the valley. I tried to
shift my thoughts also, to forget my love, and to bend all my energies
to the task before me. It was to get the King out of the Castle alive.
Force was useless: in some trick lay the chance; and I had already an
inkling of what we must do. But I was terribly hampered by the publicity
which attended my movements. Michael must know by now of my expedition;
and I knew Michael too well to suppose that his eyes would be blinded by
the feint of the boar-hunt. He would understand very well what the real
quarry was. That, however, must be risked--that and all it might mean;
for Sapt, no less than myself, recognized that the present state of
things had become unendurable. And there was one thing that I dared to
calculate on--not, as I now know, without warrant. It was this--that
Black Michael would not believe that I meant well by the King. He could
not appreciate--I will not say an honest man, for the thoughts of my
own heart have been revealed--but a man acting honestly. He saw
my opportunity as I had seen it, as Sapt had seen it; he knew the
princess--nay (and I declare that a sneaking sort of pity for him
invaded me), in his way he loved her; he would think that Sapt and Fritz
could be bribed, so the bribe was large enough. Thinking thus, would he
kill the King, my rival and my danger? Ay, verily, that he would, with
as little compunction as he would kill a rat. But he would kill Rudolf
Rassendyll first, if he could; and nothing but the certainty of being
utterly damned by the release of the King alive and his restoration to
the throne would drive him to throw away the trump card which he held in
reserve to baulk the supposed game of the impudent impostor Rassendyll.
Musing on all this as I rode along, I took courage.
Michael knew of my coming, sure enough. I had not been in the house an
hour, when an imposing Embassy arrived from him. He did not quite reach
the impudence of sending my would-be assassins, but he sent the other
three of his famous Six--the three Ruritanian gentlemen--Lauengram,
Krafstein, and Rupert Hentzau. A fine, strapping trio they were,
splendidly horsed and admirably equipped. Young Rupert, who looked
a dare-devil, and could not have been more than twenty-two or
twenty-three, took the lead, and made us the neatest speech, wherein
my devoted subject and loving brother Michael of Strelsau, prayed me to
pardon him for not paying his addresses in person, and, further, for not
putting his Castle at my disposal; the reason for both of these apparent
derelictions being that he and several of his servants lay sick of
scarlet fever, and were in a very sad, and also a very infectious state.
So declared young Rupert with an insolent smile on his curling upper lip
and a toss of his thick hair--he was a handsome villain, and the gossip
ran that many a lady had troubled her heart for him already.
"If my brother has scarlet fever," said I, "he is nearer my complexion
than he is wont to be, my lord. I trust he does not suffer?"
"He is able to attend to his affairs, sire."
"I hope all beneath your roof are not sick. What of my good friends, De
Gautet, Bersonin, and Detchard? I heard the last had suffered a hurt."
Lauengram and Krafstein looked glum and uneasy, but young Rupert's smile
grew broader.
"He hopes soon to find a medicine for it, sire," he answered.
And I burst out laughing, for I knew what medicine Detchard longed
for--it is called Revenge.
"You will dine with us, gentlemen?" I asked.
Young Rupert was profuse in apologies. They had urgent duties at the
Castle.
"Then," said I, with a wave of my hand, "to our next meeting, gentlemen.
May it make us better acquainted."
"We will pray your Majesty for an early opportunity," quoth Rupert
airily; and he strode past Sapt with such jeering scorn on his face that
I saw the old fellow clench his fist and scowl black as night.
For my part, if a man must needs be a knave, I would have him a debonair
knave, and I liked Rupert Hentzau better than his long-faced, close-eyed
companions. It makes your sin no worse, as I conceive, to do it a la
mode and stylishly.
Now it was a curious thing that on this first night, instead of eating
the excellent dinner my cooks had prepared for me, I must needs leave my
gentlemen to eat it alone, under Sapt's presiding care, and ride myself
with Fritz to the town of Zenda and a certain little inn that I knew
of. There was little danger in the excursion; the evenings were long and
light, and the road this side of Zenda well frequented. So off we rode,
with a groom behind us. I muffled myself up in a big cloak.
"Fritz," said I, as we entered the town, "there's an uncommonly pretty
girl at this inn."
"How do you know?" he asked.
"Because I've been there," said I.
"Since--?" he began.
"No. Before," said I.
"But they'll recognize you?"
"Well, of course they will. Now, don't argue, my good fellow, but listen
to me. We're two gentlemen of the King's household, and one of us has a
toothache. The other will order a private room and dinner, and, further,
a bottle of the best wine for the sufferer. And if he be as clever a
fellow as I take him for, the pretty girl and no other will wait on us."
"What if she won't?" objected Fritz.
"My dear Fritz," said I, "if she won't for you, she will for me."
We were at the inn. Nothing of me but my eyes was visible as I walked
in. The landlady received us; two minutes later, my little friend (ever,
I fear me, on the look-out for such guests as might prove amusing) made
her appearance. Dinner and the wine were ordered. I sat down in the
private room. A minute later Fritz came in.
"She's coming," he said.
"If she were not, I should have to doubt the Countess Helga's taste."
She came in. I gave her time to set the wine down--I didn't want it
dropped. Fritz poured out a glass and gave it to me.
"Is the gentleman in great pain?" the girl asked, sympathetically.
"The gentleman is no worse than when he saw you last," said I, throwing
away my cloak.
She started, with a little shriek. Then she cried:
"It was the King, then! I told mother so the moment I saw his picture.
Oh, sir, forgive me!"
"Faith, you gave me nothing that hurt much," said I.
"But the things we said!"
"I forgive them for the thing you did."
"I must go and tell mother."
"Stop," said I, assuming a graver air. "We are not here for sport
tonight. Go and bring dinner, and not a word of the King being here."
She came back in a few minutes, looking grave, yet very curious.
"Well, how is Johann?" I asked, beginning my dinner.
"Oh, that fellow, sir--my lord King, I mean!"
"'Sir' will do, please. How is he?"
"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.
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