Part 47 (1/2)
There was a hint of discretion in the man's tone.
”Ah, yes,” said the King, ”to be sure--yes. Tell him to stop at the park gates.”
The inspector, saluting, gave the required direction, and the cab drove off. Arriving a few minutes later at his destination, the King got out, and pa.s.sed in through the gates.
The palace was now shrouded in gloom; only in the guard-room, within the high-railed quadrangle, a light still burned. Dimly through the night a sentry could be seen pacing up and down.
By a subconscious instinct the King was returning along the same route that he had come. Only as he approached the postern in the wall did it occur to him that it would almost certainly be locked; and yet for no other door had he a key. Attended constantly by servants, and leading a scrupulously regular life, requiring neither secret pa.s.sages nor late hours, he had never possessed a latch-key of his own.
How, then, was he to get in now without attracting attention?
Having come so far, however, he went forward on chance and tested the door. The attendant policeman was no longer there, the road-lamp had been turned low, giving only a glimmer.
He tried the handle, but found that it would not respond. A figure glided forward and inserted a key. ”Allow me, sir,” came the inspector's voice.
”You?” exclaimed the King, surprised.
”It was my duty to see your Majesty safe home.”
”Very kind of you, I'm sure.” He pa.s.sed in, and the inspector followed.
”Pardon me for asking, sir. Was this the way your Majesty came out?”
”Yes.”
”Ah, that accounts for it! We never thought of your Majesty coming this way, and the man put here was only on beat, not on point duty.”
”He was here when I came out,” said the King.
”He did not report, sir.”
”Are they all bound to?”
”Oh, yes, sir, of course we have to know.”
The King smiled. ”I suppose he did not recognize me. Remember, I was not quite myself.”
”All the same, sir, he should have known. It's what he is trained for.”
The King's surprise grew. ”I never guessed that I had to be guarded like this.”
”Of course, sir, we try to keep it out of sight as much as possible. It isn't pleasant always to feel yourself watched.”
”I make you my compliments,” said the King; ”I had not the remotest idea. Whereabouts are we now?”
The walls of the palace loomed black above them; the night was dark.
”Small stair entrance on the north side, sir. If your Majesty is without a key----”
”I have no key at all.”