CHAPTER 16
A Desperate Plan
Hentzau, of course all pretence of illness was at an end. I marked the
effect on the garrison of Zenda: they ceased to be seen abroad; and any
of my men who went near the Castle reported that the utmost vigilance
prevailed there. Touched as I was by Madame de Mauban's appeal, I seemed
as powerless to befriend her as I had proved to help the King. Michael
bade me defiance; and although he too had been seen outside the walls,
with more disregard for appearances than he had hitherto shown, he did
not take the trouble to send any excuse for his failure to wait on the
King. Time ran on in inactivity, when every moment was pressing; for
not only was I faced with the new danger which the stir about my
disappearance brought on me, but great murmurs had arisen in Strelsau at
my continued absence from the city. They had been greater, but for the
knowledge that Flavia was with me; and for this reason I suffered her to
stay, though I hated to have her where danger was, and though every
day of our present sweet intercourse strained my endurance almost to
breaking. As a final blow, nothing would content my advisers, Strakencz
and the Chancellor (who came out from Strelsau to make an urgent
representation to me), save that I should appoint a day for the public
solemnization of my betrothal, a ceremony which in Ruritania is well
nigh as binding and great a thing as the marriage itself. And this--with
Flavia sitting by me--I was forced to do, setting a date a fortnight
ahead, and appointing the Cathedral in Strelsau as the place. And this
formal act being published far and wide, caused great joy throughout the
kingdom, and was the talk of all tongues; so that I reckoned there were
but two men who chafed at it--I mean Black Michael and myself; and but
one who did not know of it--that one the man whose name I bore, the King
of Ruritania.
In truth, I heard something of the way the news was received in the
Castle; for after an interval of three days, the man Johann, greedy for
more 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's
face had grown blacker still, and he had sworn savagely; nor was he
better pleased when young Rupert took oath that I meant to do as I
said, 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 did
Rupert care; for he rallied the duke on having made a better King than
had reigned for years past in Ruritania. "And," said he, with a meaning
bow to his exasperated master, "the devil sends the princess a finer man
than heaven had marked out for her, by my soul, it does!" Then Michael
harshly bade him hold his tongue, and leave them; but Rupert must needs
first kiss madame's hand, which he did as though he loved her, while
Michael glared at him.
This was the lighter side of the fellow's news; but more serious came
behind, and it was plain that if time pressed at Tarlenheim, it pressed
none the less fiercely at Zenda. For the King was very sick: Johann had
seen him, and he was wasted and hardly able to move. "There could be no
thought of taking another for him now." So alarmed were they, that they
had sent for a physician from Strelsau; and the physician having been
introduced into the King's cell, had come forth pale and trembling, and
urgently prayed the duke to let him go back and meddle no more in the
affair; but the duke would not, and held him there a prisoner, telling
him his life was safe if the King lived while the duke desired and died
when the duke desired--not otherwise. And, persuaded by the physician,
they had allowed Madame de Mauban to visit the King and give him such
attendance as his state needed, and as only a woman can give. Yet his
life 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 the
depression of the rest, young Rupert went about Satan's work with a
smile in his eye and a song on his lip; and laughed "fit to burst" (said
Johann) because the duke always set Detchard to guard the King when
Madame de Mauban was in the cell--which precaution was, indeed, not
unwise in my careful brother. Thus Johann told his tale and seized his
crowns. 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 him
there, and, although I refused to constrain him, I prevailed on him by
increased rewards to go back and carry tidings to Madame de Mauban that
I was working for her, and that, if she could, she should speak one
word of comfort to the King. For while suspense is bad for the sick, yet
despair is worse still, and it might be that the King lay dying of mere
hopelessness, for I could learn of no definite disease that afflicted
him.
"And how do they guard the King now?" I asked, remembering that two of
the Six were dead, and Max Holf also.
"Detchard and Bersonin watch by night, Rupert Hentzau and De Gautet by
day, sir," he answered.
"Only two at a time?"
"Ay, sir; but the others rest in a room just above, and are within sound
of a cry or a whistle."
"A room just above? I didn't know of that. Is there any communication
between it and the room where they watch?"
"No, sir. You must go down a few stairs and through the door by the
drawbridge, 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 as
you go towards the drawbridge."
"And Madame de Mauban?"
"Just opposite, on the left. But her door is locked after she has
entered."
"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, the
duke holds the key, so that it cannot be run across the moat without
application 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 them
with 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 from
the other side.
"I have promised you twenty thousand crowns," said I. "You shall have
fifty 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 open
the 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 what
you 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 this
note 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 and
to what he had of honesty. I dared not wait, for I feared that the King
would die.
When the fellow was gone, I called Sapt and Fritz to me, and unfolded
the 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 to 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 of
those of us who are left?"
"They will serve Queen Flavia," said I, "and I would to God I could be
one of them."
A pause followed. Old Sapt broke it by saying sadly, yet with an unmeant
drollery 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 of
another, but I will not be one for my own; and if the King is not alive
and on his throne before the day of betrothal comes, I will tell the
truth, come what may."
"You shall go, lad," said Sapt.
Here is the plan I had made. A strong party under Sapt's command was
to steal up to the door of the chateau. If discovered prematurely, they
were to kill anyone who found them--with their swords, for I wanted no
noise of firing. If all went well, they would be at the door when Johann
opened it. They were to rush in and secure the servants if their mere
presence and the use of the King's name were not enough. At the same
moment--and on this hinged the plan--a woman's cry was to ring out loud
and shrill from Antoinette de Mauban's chamber. Again and again she was
to cry: "Help, help! Michael, help!" and then to utter the name of young
Rupert Hentzau. Then, as we hoped, Michael, in fury, would rush out of
his apartments opposite, and fall alive into the hands of Sapt. Still
the cries would go on; and my men would let down the drawbridge; and it
would be strange if Rupert, hearing his name thus taken in vain, did not
descend from where he slept and seek to cross. De Gautet might or might
not come with him: that must be left to chance.
And when Rupert set his foot on the drawbridge? There was my part: for I
was 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 could
rest my arms in the water--and my feet when I left it. I would rear it
against the wall just by the bridge; and when the bridge was across, I
would stealthily creep on to it--and then if Rupert or De Gautet crossed
in safety, it would be my misfortune, not my fault. They dead, two men
only would remain; and for them we must trust to the confusion we had
created and to a sudden rush. We should have the keys of the door that
led to the all-important rooms. Perhaps they would rush out. If they
stood by their orders, then the King's life hung on the swiftness with
which we could force the outer door; and I thanked God that not Rupert
Hentzau watched, but Detchard. For though Detchard was a cool man,
relentless, and no coward, he had neither the dash nor the recklessness
of 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 rush
across the bridge to take part in the affray on the other side.
So I planned--desperately. And, that our enemy might be the better
lulled to security, I gave orders that our residence should be
brilliantly lighted from top to bottom, as though we were engaged in
revelry; and should so be kept all night, with music playing and people
moving to and fro. Strakencz would be there, and he was to conceal our
departure, if he could, from Flavia. And if we came not again by the
morning, he was to march, openly and in force to the Castle, and demand
the person of the King; if Black Michael were not there, as I did not
think he would be, the Marshal would take Flavia with him, as swiftly as
he could, to Strelsau, and there proclaim Black Michael's treachery and
the probable death of the King, and rally all that there was honest and
true round the banner of the princess. And, to say truth, this was what
I thought most likely to happen. For I had great doubts whether either
the King or Black Michael or I had more than a day to live. Well, if
Black Michael died, and if I, the play-actor, slew Rupert Hentzau with
my own hand, and then died myself, it might be that Fate would deal
as lightly with Ruritania as could be hoped, notwithstanding that she
demanded the life of the King--and to her dealing thus with me, I was in
no temper to make objection.
It was late when we rose from conference, and I betook me to the
princess's apartments. She was pensive that evening; yet, when I left
her, she flung her arms about me and grew, for an instant, bashfully
radiant as she slipped a ring on my finger. I was wearing the King's
ring; but I had also on my little finger a plain band of gold engraved
with the motto of our family: "_Nil Quae Feci_." This I took off and put
on her, and signed to her to let me go. And she, understanding, stood
away and watched me with dimmed eyes.
"Wear that ring, even though you wear another when you are queen," I
said.
"Whatever else I wear, this I will wear till I die and after," said she,
as she kissed the ring.
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