Part 36 (2/2)

That is very likely true, but it is notan a!

So pretty Rose left us in dudgeon; and Burlesdon, lighting a cigarette, looked at aze

”That picture in the paper--” he said

”Well, what of it? It shows that the King of Ruritania and your humble servant are as like as two peas”

My brother shook his head

”I suppose so,” he said ”But I should know you froraph”

”And not froraph froraph, but--”

”Well?”

”It's ood man and true--so that, for all that he is a hty fond of his wife, he should know any secret of mine But this secret was not mine, and I could not tell it to hiraph,” said I boldly

”But, anyhow, Bob, I won't go to Strelsau”

”No, don't go to Strelsau, Rudolf,” said he

And whether he suspects anything, or has a glimmer of the truth, I do not know If he has, he keeps it to himself, and he and I never refer to it And we let Sir Jacob Borrodaile find another attache

Since all these events whose history I have set down happened I have lived a very quiet life at a small house which I have taken in the country The ordinary ambitions and aims of men in my position seem to me dull and unattractive I have little fancy for the whirl of society, and none for the jostle of politics Lady Burlesdon utterly despairs of hbours thinkman; and sometimes I have a fancy--the superstitious would call it a presentiether played; that, soreat affairs, I shall again spin policies in a busy brain, ht a good fight and strike stout blows

Such is the tissue of h the woods or by the side of the stream Whether the fancy will be fulfilled, I cannot tell--still less whether the scene that, led by memory, I lay for my new exploits will be the true one--for I love to see ain in the crowded streets of Strelsau, or beneath the frowning keep of the Castle of Zenda

Thus led, s leave the future, and turn back on the past

Shapes rise before , the rush with ht in the moat, the pursuit in the forest: my friends and my foes, the people who learnt to love and honour me, the desperate men who tried to kill me And, from amidst these last, coh where I know not, yet plans (as I do not doubt) wickedness, yet turns women's hearts to softness andRupert of Hentzau--the boy who ca rip and the blood h row stronger and more definite, and to whisper insistently inRupert; therefore I exercise our of youth must leave me

One break coo to Dresden, and there I am met by my dear friend and companion, Fritz von Tarlenheia ca baby with her And for a week Fritz and I are together, and I hear all of what falls out in Strelsau; and in the evenings, as alk and s, and often of young Rupert; and, as the hours grow small, at last we speak of Flavia For every year Fritz carries with him to Dresden a little box; in it lies a red rose, and round the stalk of the rose is a slip of paper with the words written: ”Rudolf--Flavia--always” And the like I send back by his, are all that now bind me and the Queen of Ruritania Far--nobler, as I hold her, for the act--she has follohere her duty to her country and her House led her, and is the wife of the King, uniting his subjects to hi peace and quiet days to thousands by her self-sacrifice

There are moments when I dare not think of it, but there are others when I rise in spirit to where she ever dwells; then I can thank God that I love the noblest lady in the world, thein h duty

Shall I see her face again--the pale face and the glorious hair? Of that I know nothing; Fate has no hint, my heart no presentiment I do not know In this world, perhaps--nay, it is likely--never And can it be that somewhere, in a manner whereof our flesh-bound ain, with nothing to co to forbid our love? That I know not, nor wiser heads than mine But if it be never--if I can never hold sweet converse again with her, or look upon her face, or know frorave, I will live as becomes the man whom she loves; and, for the other side, I must pray a dreamless sleep