"Ah, the play-actor!" said he, with a gleam of his teeth and a toss of his curls, while his second hand, like Mr. Ra.s.sendyll"s, rested in the pocket of his coat.
Mr. Ra.s.sendyll himself has confessed that in old days it went against the grain with him when Rupert called him a play-actor. He was a little older now, and his temper more difficult to stir.
"Yes, the play-actor," he answered, smiling. "With a shorter part this time, though."
"What part to-day? Isn"t it the old one, the king with a pasteboard crown?" asked Rupert, sitting down on the table. "Faith, we shall do handsomely in Ruritania: you have a pasteboard crown, and I (humble man though I am) have given the other one a heavenly crown. What a brave show! But perhaps I tell you news?"
"No, I know what you"ve done."
"I take no credit. It was more the dog"s doing than mine," said Rupert carelessly. "However, there it is, and dead he is, and there"s an end of it. What"s your business, play-actor?"
At the repet.i.tion of this last word, to her so mysterious, the girl outside pressed her eyes more eagerly to the c.h.i.n.k and strained her ears to listen more sedulously. And what did the count mean by the "other one" and "a heavenly crown"?
"Why not call me king?" asked Rudolf.
"They call you that in Strelsau?"
"Those that know I"m here."
"And they are--?"
"Some few score."
"And thus," said Rupert, waving an arm towards the window, "the town is quiet and the flags fly?"
"You"ve been waiting to see them lowered?"
"A man likes to have some notice taken of what he has done," Rupert complained. "However, I can get them lowered when I will."
"By telling your news? Would that be good for yourself?"
"Forgive me--not that way. Since the king has two lives, it is but in nature that he should have two deaths."
"And when he has undergone the second?"
"I shall live at peace, my friend, on a certain source of income that I possess." He tapped his breast-pocket with a slight, defiant laugh. "In these days," said he, "even queens must be careful about their letters.
We live in moral times."
"You don"t share the responsibility for it," said Rudolf, smiling.
"I make my little protest. But what"s your business, play-actor? For I think you"re rather tiresome."
Rudolf grew grave. He advanced towards the table, and spoke in low, serious tones.
"My lord, you"re alone in this matter now. Rischenheim is a prisoner; your rogue Bauer I encountered last night and broke his head."
"Ah, you did?"
"You have what you know of in your hands. If you yield, on my honor I will save your life."
"You don"t desire my blood, then, most forgiving play-actor?"
"So much, that I daren"t fail to offer you life," answered Rudolf Ra.s.sendyll. "Come, sir, your plan has failed: give up the letter."
Rupert looked at him thoughtfully.
"You"ll see me safe off if I give it you?" he asked.
"I"ll prevent your death. Yes, and I"ll see you safe."
"Where to?"
"To a fortress, where a trustworthy gentleman will guard you."
"For how long, my dear friend?"
"I hope for many years, my dear Count."
"In fact, I suppose, as long as--?"
"Heaven leaves you to the world, Count. It"s impossible to set you free."
"That"s the offer, then?"
"The extreme limit of indulgence," answered Rudolf. Rupert burst into a laugh, half of defiance, yet touched with the ring of true amus.e.m.e.nt.
Then he lit a cigarette and sat puffing and smiling.
"I should wrong you by straining your kindness so far," said he; and in wanton insolence, seeking again to show Mr. Ra.s.sendyll the mean esteem in which he held him, and the weariness his presence was, he raised his arms and stretched them above his head, as a man does in the fatigue of tedium. "Heigho!" he yawned.
But he had overshot the mark this time. With a sudden swift bound Rudolf was upon him; his hands gripped Rupert"s wrists, and with his greater strength he bent back the count"s pliant body till trunk and head lay flat on the table. Neither man spoke; their eyes met; each heard the other"s breathing and felt the vapor of it on his face. The girl outside had seen the movement of Rudolf"s figure, but her cranny did not serve her to show her the two where they were now; she knelt on her knees in ignorant suspense. Slowly and with a patient force Rudolf began to work his enemy"s arms towards one another. Rupert had read his design in his eyes and resisted with tense muscles. It seemed as though his arms must crack; but at last they moved. Inch by inch they were driven closer; now the elbows almost touched; now the wrists joined in reluctant contact.
The sweat broke out on the count"s brow, and stood in large drops on Rudolf"s. Now the wrists were side by side, and slowly the long sinewy fingers of Rudolf"s right hand, that held one wrist already in their vise, began to creep round the other. The grip seemed to have half numbed Rupert"s arms, and his struggles grew fainter. Round both wrists the sinewy fingers climbed and coiled; gradually and timidly the grasp of the other hand was relaxed and withdrawn. Would the one hold both?
With a great spasm of effort Rupert put it to the proof.
The smile that bent Mr. Ra.s.sendyll"s lips gave the answer. He could hold both, with one hand he could hold both: not for long, no, but for an instant. And then, in the instant, his left hand, free at last, shot to the breast of the count"s coat. It was the same that he had worn at the hunting-lodge, and was ragged and torn from the boar-hound"s teeth.
Rudolf tore it further open, and his hand dashed in.
"G.o.d"s curse on you!" snarled Rupert of Hentzau.
But Mr. Ra.s.sendyll still smiled. Then he drew out a letter. A glance at it showed him the queen"s seal. As he glanced Rupert made another effort. The one hand, wearied out, gave way, and Mr. Ra.s.sendyll had no more than time to spring away, holding his prize. The next moment he had his revolver in his hand--none too soon, for Rupert of Hentzau"s barrel faced him, and they stood thus, opposite to one another, with no more than three or four feet between the mouths of their weapons.
There is, indeed, much that may be said against Rupert of Hentzau, the truth about him well-nigh forbidding that charity of judgment which we are taught to observe towards all men. But neither I nor any man who knew him ever found in him a shrinking from danger or a fear of death.
It was no feeling such as these, but rather a cool calculation of chances, that now stayed his hand. Even if he were victorious in the duel, and both did not die, yet the noise of the firearms would greatly decrease his chances of escape. Moreover, he was a noted swordsman, and conceived that he was Mr. Ra.s.sendyll"s superior in that exercise. The steel offered him at once a better prospect for victory and more hope of a safe fight. So he did not pull his trigger, but, maintaining his aim the while, said:
"I"m not a street bully, and I don"t excel in a rough-and-tumble. Will you fight now like a gentleman? There"s a pair of blades in the case yonder."
Mr. Ra.s.sendyll, in his turn, was keenly alive to the peril that still hung over the queen. To kill Rupert would not save her if he himself also were shot and left dead, or so helpless that he could not destroy the letter; and while Rupert"s revolver was at his heart he could not tear it up nor reach the fire that burnt on the other side of the room. Nor did he fear the result of a trial with steel, for he had kept himself in practice and improved his skill since the days when he came first to Strelsau.
"As you will," said he. "Provided we settle the matter here and now, the manner is the same to me."