Part 24 (1/2)
”Then you're a very lucky h which see in his palace was not so fortunate Helsing was io and tell his wife how entirely the king trusted to her honor and silence
There was nothing that Rudolf more desired than to be relieved of the excellent old fellow's presence; but, well aware of the supreood temper, he would not hear of his departure for a few minutes
”At any rate, the ladies won't talk till after breakfast, and since they got home only at five o'clock they won't breakfast yet awhile,” said he
So hesit down, and talked to him Rudolf had not failed to notice that the Count of Luzau-Rischenheim had been a little surprised at the sound of his voice; in this conversation he studiously kept his tones low, affecting a certain weakness and huskiness such as he had detected in the king's utterances, as he listened behind the curtain in Sapt's room at the castle The part was played as coauntlet of every eye in Strelsau Yet if he had not taken such pains to conciliate old Helsing, but had let hireater and even ether alone My wife had been prevailed on by Rudolf to lie down in her roo first given strict orders that no member of the household should enter the roo suspicion, she and Rudolf had agreed that it was better to rely on these injunctions than to lock the door again as they had the night before
But while these things passed at my house, the queen and Bernenstein were on their way to Strelsau Perhaps, had Sapt been at Zenda, his powerful influence ht have availed to check the impulsive expedition; Bernenstein had no such authority, and could only obey the queen's peremptory orders and pathetic prayers Ever since Rudolf Rassendyll left her, three years before, she had lived in stern self-repression, never her true self, never for a ed on her How are these things done? I doubt if a man lives who could do the, and the train of stirring events that accoer and hers, his words and her enjoyether to shatter her self-control; and the strange drea the emotion which was its own cause, left her with no conscious desire save to be near Mr Rassendyll, and scarcely with a fear except for his safety As they journeyed her talk was all of his peril, never of the disaster which threatened herself, and which ere all striving with ht and main to avert fro rid of the lady who attended her by so her as speedily as ht be to Mr Rassendyll I cannot find much blame for her Rudolf stood for all the joy in her life, and Rudolf had gone to fight with the Count of Hentzau What wonder that she saw him, as it were, dead? Yet still she would have it that, in his see Well, it was her love that crowned hirewin her bearing must rouse suspicion Yet she was none the less resolved to seek Mr Rassendyll at once In truth, she feared even then to find hi was the hold of her dream on her; until she knew that he was alive she could not rest
Bernenstein, fearful that the strain would kill her, or rob her of reason, pro; and declared, with a confidence which he did not feel, that beyond doubt Mr Rassendyll was alive and well
”But where--where?” she cried eagerly, with clasped hands
”We're most likely, madam, to find him at Fritz von Tarlenheim's,”
answered the lieutenant ”He would wait there till the ti is over, he will have returned there”
”Then let us drive there at once,” she urged
Bernenstein, however, persuaded her to go to the palace first and let it be known there that she was going to pay a visit to ht o'clock, took a cup of chocolate, and then ordered her carriage Bernenstein alone accompanied her when she set out for itated than the queen herself
In her entire preoccupation with Mr Rassendyll, she gave little thought to what e; but Bernenstein drew gloouries from the failure of Sapt and myself to return at the proper time Either evil had befallen us, or the letter had reached the king before we arrived at the lodge; the probabilities seemed to him to be confined to these alternatives Yet when he spoke in this strain to the queen, he could get fro except, ”If we can find Mr
Rassendyll, he will tell us what to do”
Thus, then, a little after nine in the e drove up to my door The ladies of the chancellor's faht's rest, for their heads ca out ofthe moment the wheels were heard; many people were about now, and the crown on the panels attracted the usual save his hand to the queen With a hasty slight bow to the onlookers, she hastened up the two or three steps of the porch, and with her own hand rang the bell Inside, the carriage had just been observed My wife's waiting- on her bed; she rose at once, and after a few moments of necessary preparations (or such preparations as seereat the need of haste may be) hurried downstairs to receive her Majesty--and to warn her Majesty She was too late The door was already open The butler and the footman both had run to it, and thrown it open for the queen As Helga reached the foot of the stairs, her Majesty was just entering the roo her, and Bernenstein standing behind, his helmet in his hand
Rudolf and the chancellor had been continuing their conversation To avoid the observations of passers-by (for the interior of the room is easy to see from the street), the blind had been dran, and the room was in deep shadow They had heard the wheels, but neither of them dreamt that the visitor could be the queen It was an utter surprise to the open The chancellor, slow of movement, and not, if I may say it, over-quick of brain, sat in his corner for half a minute or more before he rose to his feet On the other hand, Rudolf Rassendyll was the best part of the way across the rooa was at the door now, and she thrust her head round young Bernenstein's broad shoulders Thus she sahat happened The queen, forgetting the servants, and not observing Helsing--see, but to have her thoughts and heart filled with the sight of the e of his safety--a, or Bernenstein, or Rudolf himself, could stay her or conceive what she was about to do, caught both his hands in hers with an intense grasp, crying:
”Rudolf, you're safe! Thank God, oh, thank God!” and she carried his hands to her lips and kissed them passionately
A moment of absolute silence followed, dictated in the servants by decorua and Bernenstein by utter consternation Rudolf himself also was silent, but whether fro to hers, I know not Either it ht well be The stillness struck her She looked up in his eyes; she looked round the roo profoundly frohtened jerk, and glanced at my motionless deferential servants Then it caasp for breath, and her face, always pale, hite as e stiffness, and suddenly she reeled where she stood, and fell forward Only Rudolf's hand bore her up Thus for a moment, too short to reckon, they stood
Then he, a s on his lips, drew her to hi his ar still, he looked down on her, and said in a low tone, yet distinct enough for all to hear:
”All is well, dearest”
My wife gripped Bernenstein's ar lips and shi+ning eyes But the eyes had a ent one, for him He read it; he knew that it bade him second what Rudolf Rassendyll had done He came forward and approached Rudolf; then he fell on one knee, and kissed Rudolf's left hand that was extended to hilad to see you, Lieutenant von Bernenstein,” said Rudolf Rassendyll
For awas done, ruin averted, and safety secured
Everything had been at stake; that there was such a ht have been disclosed; that he had once filled the king's throne was a high secret which they were prepared to trust to Helsing under stress of necessity; but there re which must be hidden at all costs, and which the queen's passionate exclamation had threatened to expose There was a Rudolf Rassendyll, and he had been king; but, more than all this, the queen loved him and he the queen
That could be told to none, not even to Helsing; for Helsing, though he would not gossip to the toould yet hold hi So Rudolf chose to take any future difficulties rather than that present and certain disaster Sooner than entail it on her he loved, he clai And she, clutching at the only chance that her act left, was content to have it so It may be that for an instant her weary, tortured brain found sweet rest in the dim dream that so it was, for she let her head lie there on his breast and her eyes closed, her face looking very peaceful, and a soft little sigh escaping in pleasure from her lips