Part 1 (1/2)
Rupert of Hentzau
by Anthony Hope
CHAPTER I THE QUEEN'S GOOD-BY
A h in itself perhaps light and insignificant, may become the source of consequences that spread far and wide, and flow for years or centuries, could scarcely feel secure in reckoning that with the death of the Duke of Strelsau and the restoration of King Rudolf to liberty and his throne, there would end, for good and all, the troubles born of Black Michael's daring conspiracy The stakes had been high, the struggle keen; the edge of passion had been sharpened, and the seeds of en struck for the crown, had paid for the bloith his life: should there not then be an end? Michael was dead, the Princess her cousin's wife, the story in safe keeping, and Mr
Rassendyll's face seen no more in Ruritania Should there not then be an end? So said I to my friend the Constable of Zenda, as we talked by the bedside of Marshal Strakencz The oldthe death that soon after robbed us of his aid and counsel, bowed his head in assent: in the aged and ailing the love of peace breeds hope of it But Colonel Sapt tugged at his gray , ”You're very sanguine, friend Fritz But is Rupert of Hentzau dead? I had not heard it”
Well said, and like old Sapt! Yet the man is little without the opportunity, and Rupert by himself could hardly have troubled our repose Hadoood luck he had escaped, but wandered to and fro over Europe,to his resources by gallantries for which he did not refuse substantial recompense But he kept himself constantly before our eyes, and never ceased to contrive how he ain permission to return and enjoy the estates to which his uncle's death had entitled hih who was his relative, the Count of Luzau-Rischenheireat wealth as devoted to Rupert The count fulfilled hisRupert's heavy offences, he put forward in his behalf the pleas of youth and of the predominant influence which Duke Michael had exercised over his adherent, and pronificant as to betray Rupert's own dictation, a future fidelity no less discreet than hearty ”Give ue,”
seeh his cousin's deferential lips Asand those who advised hi too well the ive ear to his ambassador's prayer We kept firood watch as we could on his movements; for ere most firmly deterht have obtained his extradition and hanged hiue who deserves no better than to be strung up to the nearest tree must have what they call a fair trial; and we feared that, if Rupert were handed over to our police and arraigned before the courts at Strelsau, the secret which we guarded so sedulously would becoossip of all the city, ay, and of all Europe So Rupert went unpunished except by banish of his rents
Yet Sapt was in the right about him Helpless as he seemed, he did not for an instant abandon the contest He lived in the faith that his chance would co He scheainst us as we schemed to protect ourselves from him; if atched him, he kept his eye on us His ascendency over Luzau-Rischenheireater after a visit which his cousin paid to hian to supply hiathered instrue that carried to his ears all our actions and the whole position of affairs at court He knew, far more accurately than anyone else outside the royal circle, the dom and the considerations that dictated the royal policy More than this, he possessed hih the utmost reticence was observed on this subject Had his discoveries stopped there, they would have been vexatious and disquieting, but perhaps of little serious harm They went further Set on the track by his acquaintance hat had passed during Mr Rassendyll's tenure of the throne, he penetrated the secret which had been kept successfully froe of it he found the opportunity for which he had waited; in its bold use he discerned his chance I cannot say whether he were influenced ly by his desire to reestablish his position in the kingdoainst Mr Rassendyll He loved power and e also No doubt both ether, and he was rejoiced to find that the weapon put into his hand had a double edge; with one he hoped to cut his own path clear; with the other, to wound the h the woman whom thatthe feeling that existed between the queen and Rudolf Rassendyll, set his spies to work, and was rewarded by discovering the object of s with Mr
Rassendyll At least he conjectured the nature of h for hie to account; scruples of the heart never stood in Rupert's way
The e which had set all Ruritania on fire with joy and formed in the people's eyes the visible triumph over Black Michael and his fellow-conspirators was now three years old For three years the Princess Flavia had been queen I ae when a man should look out on life with an eye undi days are over; yet there is nothing for which I aift of my wife's love In storm it has been my anchor, and in clear skies my star But we common folk are free to follow our hearts; a that he is a fool who follows anything else? Our liberty is not for princes We need wait for no future world to balance the luck of hly placed a price is exacted for their state, their wealth, and their honors, as heavy as these are great; to the poor, what is to us mean and of no sweetness ht Well, if it were not so, who could sleep at nights? The burden laid on Queen Flavia I knew, and know, so well as a man can know it I think it needs a woman to know it fully; for even noife's eyes fill with tears e speak of it Yet she bore it, and if she failed in anything, I wonder that it was in so little For it was not only that she had never loved the king and had loved another with all her heart The king's health, shattered by the horror and rigors of his imprisonment in the castle of Zenda, soon broke utterly
He lived, indeed; nay, he shot and hunted, and kept in his hand soovernment But always from the day of his release he was a fretful invalid, different utterly froht in the shooting lodge There orse than this As tiratitude and admiration that he had felt towards Mr Rassendyll died away He came to brood more and more on what had passed while he was a prisoner; he was possessed not only by a haunting dread of Rupert of Hentzau, at whose hands he had suffered so greatly, but also by a morbid, half mad jealousy of Mr Rassendyll Rudolf had played the hero while he lay helpless Rudolf's were the exploits for which his own people cheered him in his own capital Rudolf's were the laurels that crowned his ih nobility to resent his borrowed credit, without the fortitude to endure it manfully And the hateful comparison struck him nearer home Sapt would tell him bluntly that Rudolf did this or that, set this precedent or that, laid down this or the other policy, and that the king could do no better than follow in Rudolf's steps Mr
Rassendyll's name seldom passed his wife's lips, but when she spoke of hi all the living by the shadow of his na discerned that truth which his wife spent her days in hiding from him; yet he was uneasy if Rudolf's name were mentioned by Sapt or myself, and from the queen's mouth he could not bear it I have seen him fall into fits of passion on the mere sound of it; for he lost control of hiht provocation
Moved by this disquieting jealousy, he sought continually to exact from the queen proofs of love and care beyond what ood their right to, always asking of her what in his heart he feared was not hers to give Much she did in pity and in duty; but in soh teht rebuff or involuntary coldness was reat offence or studied insult, and nothing that she could do would atone for it Thus they, who had never in truth coether, drifted yet further apart; he was alone in his sickness and suspicion, she in her sorrows and her ulf between therew aler to him So he seemed to will that it should be
Thus, worse than ed, she lived for three years; and once only in each year she sent three words to the man she loved, and received froth failed her A pitiful scene had occurred in which the king peevishly upbraided her in regard to so to her before others words that even alone she could not have listened to with dignity I was there, and Sapt; the colonel's ser ”I should like to shut his 's ardness had well-nigh worn out even his devotion The thing, of which I will say no more, happened a day or two before I was to set out to meet Mr Rassendyll I was to seek hinized the year before at Dresden; and Wintenberg, being a smaller place and less in the way of chance visitors, was deemed safer I remember well how she hen she calledShe stood by the table; the box was on it, and I kneell that the red rose and the e ithin But there was more to-day Without preface she broke into the subject of my errand
”I must write to him,” she said ”I can't bear it, I must write My dear friend Fritz, you will carry it safely forthat safely, won't you? Ah, Fritz, I know I', but I'm starved, starved, starved! And it's for the last ti, I must send ood-by to hih my life This once, then, Fritz, do it for me”
The tears rolled down her cheeks, which to-day were flushed out of their paleness to a stormy red; her eyes defied me even while they pleaded I bent my head and kissed her hand
”With God's help I'll carry it safely and bring his safely, my queen,”
said I
”And tell me how he looks Look at hi Oh, andthat smile to his lips, Fritz, and the merry twinkle to his eyes When you speak of me, see if he--if he looks as if he still loved , ”But don't tell hirieved if I doubted his love I don't doubt it; I don't, indeed; but still tell me how he looks when you speak ofit froave it to me Then she added a thousand cautions, hoas to carry her letter, hoas to go and how return, and hoas to run no danger, because a loved me as well as she would have loved her husband had Heaven been kinder ”At least, almost as I should, Fritz,” she said, noeen smiles and tears She would not believe that any woman could love as she loved
I left the queen and went to prepare for my journey I used to take only one servant with me, and I had chosen a different man each year None of them had known that I ed on the private business which IThis time I had determined to take with me a Swiss youth who had entered my service only a feeeks before
His name was Bauer; he seemed a stolid, soing
He had coe him I chose hiner and therefore less likely to gossip with the other servants e returned I do not pretend to much cleverness, but I confess that it vexesyouth made a fool of me For Rupert knew that I had met Mr Rassendyll the year before at Dresden; Rupert was keeping a watchful eye on all that passed in Strelsau; Rupert had procured the fellow his fine testimonials and sent hi of advantage to his e may have been hoped for, but could scarcely have been counted on; it was the added luck that waits so often on the plans of a clever sche, I found him huddled over the fire
The day was not cold, but the daeon seemed to have penetrated to the very core of his bones He was annoyed at , and questioned me peevishly about the business that occasioned my journey I parried his curiosity as I best could, but did not succeed in appeasing his ill-humor Half ashamed of his recent outburst, half-anxious to justify it to himself, he cried fretfully: