Part 38 (2/2)

The steel jangled The girl's pale face was at the crevice of the hinge

She heard the blades cross again and again Then one would run up the other with a sharp, grating slither At tie or rapid ithdrawal Her brain was al Rupert, she could not conceive that he tried to kill the king Yet the words she had caught sounded like the words of entle now; but she heard their hard breathing and thefeet on the bare boards of the floor Then a cry rang out, clear and merry with the fierce hope of triumph: ”Nearly! nearly!”

She knew the voice for Rupert of Hentzau's, and it was the king who answered calain she listened They seemed to have paused for aand deep-drawn pants of men who rest an instant in the ain the clash and the slitherings; and one of theure and she saw the red hair: it was the king Backward step by step he see nearer and nearer to the door At last there was no more than a foot between hi out her hand to touch hi out in rich exultation, ”I have you now! Say your prayers, King Rudolf!”

”Say your prayers!” Then they fought It was earnest, not play And it was the king--her king--her dear king, as in great peril of his life For an instant she knelt, still watching Then with a low cry of terror she turned and ran headlong down the steep stairs Her mind could not tell what to do, but her heart cried out that she round floor, she ran ide-open eyes into the kitchen The steas on the hob, the old woman still held the spoon, but she had ceased to stir and fallen into a chair

”He's killing the king! He's killing the king!” cried Rosa, seizing herthe king!”

The old wo s here”

”Yes, yes He's upstairs in the count's roo, he and the Count of Hentzau Mother, Count Rupert will kill--”

”Let theain

For an instant Rosa stood looking down on her in helpless despair Then a light flashed into her eyes

”I must call for help,” she cried

The old woht her daughter by the shoulder

”No, no,” she whispered in quick accents ”You--you don't know Let them alone, you fool! It's not our business Let theo! Mother, I o,” said Mother Holf

But Rosa was young and strong; her heart was fired with terror for the king's danger

”I rasp off from her so that the old woman was thrown back into her chair, and the spoon fell from her hand and clattered on the tiles But Rosa turned and fled down the passage and through the shop The bolts delayed her tre the door wide A new aer crowd before the house

Then her eyes fell on me where I stood between the lieutenant and Rischenhei!”

With one bound I was by her side and in the house, while Bernenstein cried, ”Quicker!” from behind

CHAPTER XVIII THE TRIUMPH OF THE KING

THE things that es, presentiments, and so forth, are, to s: sometimes it is only that probable events cast before them a natural shadohich superstitious fancy twists into a Heaven sent warning; oftener the saives conception works fulfilment, and the dreamer sees in the result of his own act and will a mysterious accomplishment independent of his effort Yet when I observe thus calood sense on the matter to the Constable of Zenda, he shakes his head and answers, ”But Rudolf Rassendyll knew froe young Rupert point to point Else why did he practise with the foils so as to be a better swordsman the second ti that Fritz von Tarlenheioes off gru

Well, be it inspiration, or be it delusion--and the difference stands often on a hair's breadth--I arows rusty, it is everything short of iain Mr Rassendyll had strength, will, coolness, and, of course, courage None would have availed had not his eye been in perfect familiarity with its work, and his hand obeyed it as readily as the bolt slips in a well-oiled groove As the thing stood, the lithe agility and un too irl Rosa ran down to bring him aid His practised skill was able to ht to do no more, but endured Rupert's fiery attack and wily feints in an alht turns of wrist that see, and served here to keep his skin whole and his life in him

There was an instant--Rudolf saw it in his eyes and dwelt on it when he lightly painted the scene for e that he could not break down his ene like it, seemed blended in his look

He could not ht and checked in every effort, nable in rest His quick brain grasped the lesson in an instant If his skill were not the greater, the victory would not be his, for his endurance was the less

He was younger, and his frame was not so closely knit; pleasure had taken its tithe fro Even while he alainst the panel of the door, he seemed to know that his measure of success was full But what the hand could not coy he began to give pause in his attack, nay, he retreated a step or two No scruples hampered his devices, no code of honor li before his opponent, he seemed to Rudolf to be faint-hearted; he was baffled, but seeue Rudolf advanced, pressing and attacking, only to meet a defence as perfect as his own They were in the h he had eyes in the back of his head, skirted round, avoiding it by a narrow inch His breathing was quick and distressed, gasp tuasp, but still his eye was alert and his hand unerring He had but a few h if he could reach his goal and perpetrate the trick on which his mind, fertile in every base device, was set For it was towards theforced, in truth so deliberate, led him There was the letter, there lay the revolvers The tile over what honor allowed or forbade had never come to Rupert of Hentzau If he could not win by force and skill, he would win by guile and by treachery, to the test that he had himself invited The revolvers lay on the ain an instant in which to snatch it

The device that he adopted was nicely chosen It was too late to call a rest or ask breathing space: Mr Rassendyll was not blind to the advantage he had won, and chivalry would have turned to folly had it allowed such indulgence Rupert was hard by thefrom his face, and his breast seeh strength for his purpose He must have slackened his hold on his weapon, for when Rudolf's blade next struck it, it flew fro the floor Rupert stood disarmed, and Rudolf motionless