Part 27 (1/2)
”Where's Bauer?” asked Rupert suddenly ”Where the plague can Bauer be?
He wason”
”I don't knohere he is So must have happened to him”
”Of course, an to pace up and down the rooreat pace Rischenhei his head on his hand He earied out by strain and excitereatly, and he was full of horror and reht before
”I wish I was quit of it,” he moaned at last Rupert stopped before him
”You repent of your misdeeds?” he asked ”Well, then, you shall be allowed to repent Nay, you shall go and tell the king that you repent
Rischenheio and ask an audience of the king”
”But the king is--”
”We shall know that better when you've asked for your audience See here”
Rupert sat down by his cousin and instructed him in his task This was no other than to discover whether there were a king in Strelsau, or whether the only king lay dead in the hunting lodge If there were no atte's death, Rupert's plan was to seek safety in flight He did not abandon his designs: fron soil he would hold the queen's letter over her head, and by the threat of publishi+ng it insure at once immunity for himself and almost any further terms which he chose to exact from her If, on the other hand, the Count of Luzau-Rischenhei in Strelsau, if the royal standards continued to wave at the su of the dead e, then Rupert had laid his hand on another secret; for he kneho the king in Strelsaufrom this point, his audacious mind darted forward to new and bolder scheain to Rudolf Rassendyll what he had offered once before, three years ago--a partnershi+p in crime and the profits of crime--or if this advance were refused, then he declared that he would himself descend openly into the streets of Strelsau and proclai from the steps of the cathedral
”Who can tell,” he cried, springing up, enraptured and merry with the inspiration of his plan, ”who can tell whether Sapt or I ca alive, Sapt or I? Who left hi hiht to make him aware of what touched his honor, or Sapt, as and is hand and glove with the man that now robs him of his name and usurps his place while his body is still warm? Ah, they haven't done with Rupert of Hentzau yet!”
He stopped, looking down on his coers still twitched nervously and his cheeks were pale But now his face was alight with interest and eagerness Again the fascination of Rupert's audacity and the infection of his courage caught on his kinsman's weaker nature, and inspired him to a temporary emulation of the will that dominated him
”You see,” pursued Rupert, ”it's not likely that they'll do you any harentleman! At the worst they'll only keep you a prisoner
Well, if you're not back in a couple of hours, I shall drawin Strelsau”
”But where shall I look for the king?”
”Why, first in the palace, and secondly at Fritz von Tarlenheih”
”Shall I go there first, then?”
”No That would be see to know too much”
”You'll wait here?”
”Certainly, cousin--unless I see cause to move, you know”
”And I shall find you on my return?”
”Me, or directions froa full pocket I wonder what the devil does without a breeches-pocket?”
Rischenheih he remembered the whimsical air hich Rupert delivered it He was now on fire to be gone, his ill-balanced brain leaping from the depths of despondency to the certainty of brilliant success, and not heeding the gulf of danger that it surpassed in buoyant fancy