Part 26 (1/2)
There was no answer
I sprang to the horse's head It was Rupert Hentzau
”At last!” I cried
For we seemed to have him He had only his sword in his hand Myup I had outstripped theh to fire, he must die or surrender
”At last!” I cried
”It's the play-actor!” cried he, slashi+ng atdiscretion better than death, I ducked my head and (I blush to tell it) scampered for my life The devil was in Rupert Hentzau; for he put spurs to his horse, and I, turning to look, saw hie of the moat and leap in, while the shots of our party fell thick round hiht we should have riddled him with balls; but, in the darkness, he won to the corner of the Castle, and vanished frorinned Sapt
”It's a pity,” said I, ”that he's a villain Whoraer possible, we flung theether in a compact body, rode off down the hill And, in our entlemen Thus we travelled home, heavy at heart for the death of our friends, sore uneasy concerning the King, and cut to the quick that young Rupert had played yet another winning hand with us
For ry that I had killed no ht, but only stabbed a knave in his sleep And I did not love to hear Rupert call me a play-actor
CHAPTER 15
I Talk with a Teland, or the quarrel between Duke Michael and one on, with the extraordinary incidents whichdirected to it Duels were frequent areatto their friends and dependents
Nevertheless, after the affray which I have just related, such reports began to circulate that I felt it necessary to be on entlemen involved could not be hidden fro that duelling had attained unprecedented licence (the Chancellor drew up the docu it save in the gravest cases I sent a public and stately apology to Michael, and he returned a deferential and courteous reply to me; for our one point of union was--and it underlay all our differences and induced an unwilling harmony between our actions--that we could neither of us afford to throw our cards on the table He, as well as I, was a ”play-actor”, and, hating one another, we combined to dupe public opinion Unfortunately, however, the necessity for concealht die in his prison, or even be spirited off somewhere else; it could not be helped For a little while I was compelled to observe a truce, and my only consolation was that Flavia , and, when I expressed delight at having won her favour, prayed me, if her favour were any ether
”Wait till we are
Not the least peculiar result of the truce and of the secrecy which dictated it was that the town of Zenda became in the day-tiht--a sort of neutral zone, where both parties could safely go; and I, riding down one day with Flavia and Sapt, had an encounter with an acquaintance, which presented a ludicrous side, but was at the sanified looking person driving in a two-horsed carriage He stopped his horses, got out, and approached nized the Head of the Strelsau Police
”Your Majesty's ordinance as to duelling is receiving our best attention,” he assured me
If the best attention involved his presence in Zenda, I deters you to Zenda, Prefect?” I asked
”Why no, sire; I ae the British A _dans cette galere_?” said I, carelessly
”A young country
His friends have not heard from him for two months, and there is reason to believe that he was last seen in Zenda”
Flavia was paying little attention I dared not look at Sapt
”What reason?”
”A friend of his in Paris--a certain M Featherly--has given us information which makes it possible that he came here, and the officials of the railway recollect his nae”