Part 45 (1/2)
I went back to the ; but I could not prevail further than to get all save one sent into an adjoining room; he who remained seated hiain; old Sapt, who had not once spoken since the shot was fired, raised a haggard face to mine
”We'd better fetch her to him,” he said hoarsely I nodded my head
Sapt hile I stayed by him Bernenstein ca felloho had borne hihout the affair, was quite un down his face I could have been ht, but I would not before Mr Rassendyll He smiled at Bernenstein Then he said to , sire,” I answered
He noticed the style of uid eyes
”Well, for an hour, then,” he murmured, and lay back on his pillows
She came, dry-eyed, calm, and queenly We all drew back, and she knelt down by his bed, holding his hand in her two hands Presently the hand stirred; she let it go; then, knohat he wanted, she raised it herself and placed it on her head, while she bowed her face to the bed
His hand wandered for the last ti hair that he had loved so well She rose, passed her arm about his shoulders, and kissed his lips Her face rested close to his, and he seemed to speak to her, but we could not have heard the words even if ould So they re while
The doctor ca afterwards with close-shut lips We drew a little nearer, for we knew that he would not be long with us now Suddenly strength seemed to come upon him He raised himself in his bed, and spoke in distinct tones
”God has decided,” he said ”I've tried to do the right thing through it all Sapt, and Bernenstein, and you, old Fritz, shake my hand No, don't kiss it We've done with pretence now”
We shook his hand as he bade us Then he took the queen's hand Again she knew his mind, and moved it to his lips ”In life and in death, my sweet queen,” he murmured And thus he fell asleep
CHAPTER XXI THE COMING OF THE DREAM
THERE IS little need, and I have little heart, to dwell on what followed the death of Mr Rassendyll The plans we had laid to secure his tenure of the throne, in case he had accepted it, served well in the event of his death Bauer's lips were for ever sealed; the old woossips of the suspicions she entertained Rischenheiiven to the queen The ashes of the hunting-lodge held their secret fast, and none suspected when the charred body which was called Rudolf Rassendyll's was laid to quiet rest in the graveyard of the town of Zenda, hard by the tomb of Herbert the forester For we had fro's body to Strelsau and setting it in the place of Mr Rassendyll's The difficulties of such an undertaking were almost insuperable; in our hearts we did not desire to conquer the let hi he lay in his palace at Strelsau, while the news of his murder at the hands of a confederate of Rupert of Hentzau went forth to startle and appall the world At a ht have doubted the living, none questioned the dead; suspicions which ate of a vault The king was dead Who would ask if it were in truth the king who lay in state in the great hall of the palace, or whether the hu? In the silence of the grave all hout the day people had been passing and repassing through the great hall There, on a stately bier sur folds of the royal banner, lay Rudolf Rassendyll The highest officer guarded him; in the cathedral the archbishop said aof the third had come, and early on the allery in the hall, that looks down on the spot where the bier stood; here was I on this evening, and with etherbeneath us the calm face of the dead man He was clad in the white uniform in which he had been crowned; the ribbon of the Red Rose was across his breast His hand held a true red rose, fresh and fragrant; Flavia herself had set it there, that even in death he ht not miss the chosen token of her love I had not spoken to her, nor she to me, since we came there We watched the po a wreath for hi at the bier's foot She rose and went away sobbing, leaving a little circlet of flowers It was Rosa Holf I sao, and men bite their lips as they passed by Rischenheim came, pale-faced and troubled; and while all came and went, there, immovable, with draord, in military stiffness, old Sapt stood at the head of the bier, his eyes set steadily in front of hih the long day
A distant faint hum of voices reached us The queen laid her hand on my arm
”It is the drea; they speak in low voices and with grief, but they call hi It's what I saw in the dream But he does not hear nor heed No, he can't hear nor heed even when I call hi”
A sudden i:
”What had he decided, ?” She started a little