Part 35 (2/2)
Rapidly I walked down to the bridge Sapt and Fritz aiting for edmy face, as I had done more than once before, I mounted with theht and on to the breaking day, and found ourselves at a little roadside station just over the border of Ruritania The train was not quite due, and I walked with them in a meadow by a little brook while aited for it They promised to send me all news; they overwhelentleness, while Fritz was half unmanned I listened in a kind of drea in my ears--a burden of sorrow and of love At last they saw that I could not heed them, and alked up and down in silence, till Fritz touched me on the arm, and I saw, a mile or more away, the blue smoke of the train Then I held out a hand to each of the,” said I, s ”But we have been ood course between us”
”We have defeated traitors and set the King firm on his throne,” said Sapt
Then Fritz von Tarlenheim suddenly, before I could discern his purpose or stay him, uncovered his head and bent as he used to do, and kissedto laugh:
”Heaven doesn't always s!”
Old Sapt twisted hiss,” said he
The people at the station looked curiously at the tall lances I stood with my two friends and waited till the train ca; and both this tie--bared their heads, and so stood still till the train bore reat man travelled privately for his pleasure fro; whereas, in truth it was only I, Rudolf Rassendyll, an English gentleood house, but a man of no wealth nor position, nor of much rank They would have been disappointed to know that Yet had they known all they would have looked ht now, I had been for threeto be proud of, is at least an experience to have undergone
Doubtless I should have thought h the air, fro far away, into my ears and into my heart the cry of a woman's love--”Rudolf! Rudolf!
Rudolf!”
Hark! I hear it now!
CHAPTER 22
Present, Past--and Future?
The details of ht to the Tyrol and spent a quiet fortnight--mostly on my back, for a severe chill developed itself; and I was also the victim of a nervous reaction, which made me weak as a baby As soon as I had reached my quarters, I sent an apparently careless postcard to ood health and prospective return That would serve to satisfy the inquiries as tothe Prefect of the Police of Strelsau I let ain; and as hair coh not luxuriant, by the tie Featherly My intervieith hi but necessary falsehoods that I told; and I rallied him unmercifully when he told one in the track of Madame de Mauban to Strelsau The lady, it appeared, was back in Paris, but was living in great seclusion--a fact for which gossip found no difficulty in accounting Did not all the world know of the treachery and death of Duke Michael? Nevertheless, George bade Bertraood cheer, ”for,” said he flippantly, ”a live poet is better than a dead duke” Then he turned onto youra sly air, ”ato alter his appearance But it's coain”
”What? Then I wasn't so far out! If not the fair Antoinette, there was a charmer?”
”There is always a chare would not be satisfied till he had worenuity) an absolutely iinary love-affair, attended with the proper soupcon of scandal, which had kept ions of the Tyrol In return for this narrative, George regaled reat deal of what he called ”inside information” (known only to diplomatists), as to the true course of events in Ruritania, the plots and counterplots In his opinion, he told nificant nod, there was more to be said for Black Michael than the public supposed; and he hinted at a well-founded suspicion that the ood raphs had appeared, was not a man at all, but (here I had uised as aand his brother for this iinary lady's favour was at the bottom of their quarrel
”Perhaps it was Madae decisively, ”Antoinette de Mauban was jealous of her, and betrayed the duke to the King for that reason And, to confirm what I say, it's well known that the Princess Flavia is now extre been ed the subject, and escaped froe's ”inspired” delusions But if diploout in this instance, they appear to me to be somewhat expensive luxuries
While in Paris I wrote to Antoinette, though I did not venture to call upon her I received in return a very affecting letter, in which she assured enerosity and kindness, no less than her regard for me, bound her conscience to absolute secrecy She expressed the intention of settling in the country, and withdrawing herself entirely frons, I have never heard; but as I have not met her, or heard news of her up to this time, it is probable that she did There is no doubt that she was deeply attached to the Duke of Strelsau; and her conduct at the tie of the ard for hiht--a battle that would, I knew, be severe, and was bound to end in my co made any study of its inhabitants, institutions, scenery, fauna, flora, or other features? Had I not si way? That was the aspect of the ed to adainst a verdict based on such evidence, I had really no defence to offer It may be supposed, then, that I presented myself in Park Lane in a shamefaced, sheepish fashi+on On the whole,as I had feared It turned out that I had done, not what Rose wished, but--the next best thing--what she prophesied She had declared that I should ather no h to th animated me
When I returned e over Burlesdon that she let reater part of her reproaches to my failure to advertise my friends ofto find you,” she said