"I mustn"t kiss your face," said he, "but your hands I may kiss," and he kissed her hands as they were pressed against her face.
"You wear my ring," she murmured through her fingers, "always?"
"Why, yes," he said, with a little laugh of wonder at her question.
"And there is--no one else?"
"My queen!" said he, laughing again.
"No, I knew really, Rudolf, I knew really," and now her hands flew out towards him, imploring his pardon. Then she began to speak quickly: "Rudolf, last night I had a dream about you, a strange dream. I seemed to be in Strelsau, and all the people were talking about the king. It was you they meant; you were the king. At last you were the king, and I was your queen. But I could see you only very dimly; you were somewhere, but I could not make out where; just sometimes your face came. Then I tried to tell you that you were king--yes, and Colonel Sapt and Fritz tried to tell you; the people, too, called out that you were king. What did it mean? But your face, when I saw it, was unmoved, and very pale, and you seemed not to hear what we said, not even what I said. It almost seemed as if you were dead, and yet king. Ah, you mustn"t die, even to be king," and she laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Sweetheart," said he gently, "in dreams desires and fears blend in strange visions, so I seemed to you to be both a king and a dead man; but I"m not a king, and I am a very healthy fellow. Yet a thousand thanks to my dearest queen for dreaming of me."
"No, but what could it mean?" she asked again.
"What does it mean when I dream always of you, except that I always love you?"
"Was it only that?" she said, still unconvinced.
What more pa.s.sed between them I do not know. I think that the queen told my wife more, but women will sometimes keep women"s secrets even from their husbands; though they love us, yet we are always in some sort the common enemy, against whom they join hands. Well, I would not look too far into such secrets, for to know must be, I suppose, to blame, and who is himself so blameless that in such a case he would be free with his censures?
Yet much cannot have pa.s.sed, for almost close on their talk about the dream came Colonel Sapt, saying that the guards were in line, and all the women streamed out to watch them, while the men followed, lest the gay uniforms should make them forgotten. Certainly a quiet fell over the old castle, that only the constable"s curt tones broke, as he bade Rudolf come by the back way to the stables and mount his horse.
"There"s no time to lose," said Sapt, and his eye seemed to grudge the queen even one more word with the man she loved.
But Rudolf was not to be hurried into leaving her in such a fashion. He clapped the constable on the shoulder, laughing, and bidding him think of what he would for a moment; then he went again to the queen and would have knelt before her, but that she would not suffer, and they stood with hands locked. Then suddenly she drew him to her and kissed his forehead, saying: "G.o.d go with you, Rudolf my knight."
Thus she turned away, letting him go. He walked towards the door; but a sound arrested his steps, and he waited in the middle of the room, his eyes on the door. Old Sapt flew to the threshold, his sword half-way out of its sheath. There was a step coming down the pa.s.sage, and the feet stopped outside the door.
"Is it the king?" whispered Rudolf.
"I don"t know," said Sapt.
"No, it"s not the king," came in unhesitating certainty from Queen Flavia.
They waited: a low knock sounded on the door. Still for a moment they waited. The knock was repeated urgently.
"We must open," said Sapt. "Behind the curtain with you, Rudolf."
The queen sat down, and Sapt piled a heap of papers before her, that it might seem as though he and she transacted business. But his precautions were interrupted by a hoa.r.s.e, eager, low cry from outside, "Quick! in G.o.d"s name, quick!"
They knew the voice for Bernenstein"s. The queen sprang up, Rudolf came out, Sapt turned the key. The lieutenant entered, hurried, breathless, pale.
"Well?" asked Sapt.
"He has got away?" cried Rudolf, guessing in a moment the misfortune that had brought Bernenstein back.
"Yes, he"s got away. Just as we left the town and reached the open road towards Tarlenheim, he said, "Are we going to walk all the way? I was not loath to go quicker, and we broke into a trot. But I--ah, what a pestilent fool I am!"
"Never mind that--go on."
"Why, I was thinking of him and my task, and having a bullet ready for him, and--"
"Of everything except your horse?" guessed Sapt, with a grim smile.
"Yes; and the horse pecked and stumbled, and I fell forward on his neck.
I put out my arm to recover myself, and--I jerked my revolver on to the ground."
"And he saw?"
"He saw, curse him. For a second he waited; then he smiled, and turned, and dug his spurs in and was off, straight across country towards Strelsau. Well, I was off my horse in a moment, and I fired three times after him."
"You hit?" asked Rudolf.
"I think so. He shifted the reins from one hand to the other and wrung his arm. I mounted and made after him, but his horse was better than mine and he gained ground. We began to meet people, too, and I didn"t dare to fire again. So I left him and rode here to tell you. Never employ me again, Constable, so long as you live," and the young man"s face was twisted with misery and shame, as, forgetting the queen"s presence, he sank despondently into a chair.
Sapt took no notice of his self-reproaches. But Rudolf went and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"It was an accident," he said. "No blame to you."
The queen rose and walked towards him; Bernenstein sprang to his feet.
"Sir," said she, "it is not success but effort that should gain thanks,"
and she held out her hand.
Well, he was young; I do not laugh at the sob that escaped his lips as he turned his head.
"Let me try something else!" he implored.
"Mr. Ra.s.sendyll," said the queen, "you"ll do my pleasure by employing this gentleman in my further service. I am already deep in his debt, and would be deeper." There was a moment"s silence.
"Well, but what"s to be done?" asked Colonel Sapt. "He"s gone to Strelsau."
"He"ll stop Rupert," mused Mr. Ra.s.sendyll. "He may or he mayn"t."
"It"s odds that he will."
"We must provide for both."
Sapt and Rudolf looked at one another.
"You must be here!" asked Rudolf of the constable. "Well, I"ll go to Strelsau." His smile broke out. "That is, if Bernenstein"ll lend me a hat."
The queen made no sound; but she came and laid her hand on his arm. He looked at her, smiling still.
"Yes, I"ll go to Strelsau," said he, "and I"ll find Rupert, ay, and Rischenheim too, if they"re in the city."
"Take me with you," cried Bernenstein eagerly.