"To the lodge. I must meet Sapt and arrange matters with him."
I did not understand what plan he had in his head, or what scheme he could contrive. But at the moment my mind was not directed to such matters; it was set on the sight before my eyes.
"And the queen?" I whispered in answer to him.
Low as my voice was, she heard it. She turned to us with a sudden, startled movement, still holding Helga"s hand. Her eyes searched our faces, and she knew in an instant of what we had been speaking. A little longer still she stood, gazing at us. Then she suddenly sprang forward and threw herself on her knees before Rudolf, her hands uplifted and resting on his shoulders. She forgot our presence, and everything in the world, save her great dread of losing him again.
"Not again, Rudolf, my darling! Not again! Rudolf, I can"t bear it again."
Then she dropped her head on his knees and sobbed.
He raised his hand and gently stroked the gleaming hair. But he did not look at her. He gazed out at the garden, which grew dark and dreary in the gathering gloom. His lips were tight set and his face pale and drawn.
I watched him for a moment, then I drew my wife away, and we sat down at a table some way off. From outside still came the cheers and tumult of the joyful, excited crowd. Within there was no sound but the queen"s stifled sobbing. Rudolf caressed her shining hair and gazed into the night with sad, set eyes. She raised her head and looked into his face.
"You"ll break my heart," she said.
CHAPTER XIX. FOR OUR LOVE AND HER HONOR
RUPERT of Hentzau was dead! That was the thought which, among all our perplexities, came back to me, carrying with it a wonderful relief.
To those who have not learnt in fighting against him the height of his audacity and the reach of his designs, it may well seem incredible that his death should breed comfort at a moment when the future was still so dark and uncertain. Yet to me it was so great a thing that I could hardly bring myself to the conviction that we had done with him. True, he was dead; but could he not strike a blow at us even from beyond the gulf?
Such were the half-superst.i.tious thoughts that forced their way into my mind as I stood looking out on the crowd which obstinately encircled the front of the palace. I was alone; Rudolf was with the queen, my wife was resting, Bernenstein had sat down to a meal for which I could find no appet.i.te. By an effort I freed myself from my fancies and tried to concentrate my brain on the facts of our position. We were ringed round with difficulties. To solve them was beyond my power; but I knew where my wish and longing lay. I had no desire to find means by which Rudolf Ra.s.sendyll should escape unknown from Strelsau; the king, although dead, be again in death the king, and the queen be left desolate on her mournful and solitary throne. It might be that a brain more astute than mine could bring all this to pa.s.s. My imagination would have none of it, but dwelt lovingly on the reign of him who was now king in Strelsau, declaring that to give the kingdom such a ruler would be a splendid fraud, and prove a stroke so bold as to defy detection. Against it stood only the suspicions of Mother Holf--fear or money would close her lips--and the knowledge of Bauer; Bauer"s mouth also could be shut, ay, and should be before we were many days older. My reverie led me far; I saw the future years unroll before me in the fair record of a great king"s sovereignty. It seemed to me that by the violence and bloodshed we had pa.s.sed through, fate, for once penitent, was but righting the mistake made when Rudolf was not born a king.
For a long while I stood thus, musing and dreaming; I was roused by the sound of the door opening and closing; turning, I saw the queen. She was alone, and came towards me with timid steps. She looked out for a moment on the square and the people, but drew back suddenly in apparent fear lest they should see her. Then she sat down and turned her face towards mine. I read in her eyes something of the conflict of emotions which possessed her; she seemed at once to deprecate my disapproval and to ask my sympathy; she prayed me to be gentle to her fault and kind to her happiness; self-reproach shadowed her joy, but the golden gleam of it strayed through. I looked eagerly at her; this would not have been her bearing had she come from a last farewell; for the radiance was there, however much dimmed by sorrow and by fearfulness.
"Fritz," she began softly, "I am wicked--so wicked. Won"t G.o.d punish me for my gladness?"
I fear I paid little heed to her trouble, though I can understand it well enough now.
"Gladness?" I cried in a low voice. "Then you"ve persuaded him?"
She smiled at me for an instant.
"I mean, you"ve agreed?" I stammered.
Her eyes again sought mine, and she said in a whisper: "Some day, not now. Oh, not now. Now would be too much. But some day, Fritz, if G.o.d will not deal too hardly with me, I--I shall be his, Fritz."
I was intent on my vision, not on hers. I wanted him king; she did not care what he was, so that he was hers, so that he should not leave her.
"He"ll take the throne," I cried triumphantly.
"No, no, no. Not the throne. He"s going away."
"Going away!" I could not keep the dismay out of my voice.
"Yes, now. But not--not for ever. It will be long--oh, so long--but I can bear it, if I know that at last!" She stopped, still looking up at me with eyes that implored pardon and sympathy.
"I don"t understand," said I, bluntly, and, I fear, gruffly, also.
"You were right," she said: "I did persuade him. He wanted to go away again as he went before. Ought I to have let him? Yes, yes! But I couldn"t. Fritz, hadn"t I done enough? You don"t know what I"ve endured.
And I must endure more still. For he will go now, and the time will be very long. But, at last, we shall be together. There is pity in G.o.d; we shall be together at last."
"If he goes now, how can he come back?"
"He will not come back; I shall go to him. I shall give up the throne and go to him, some day, when I can be spared from here, when I"ve done my--my work."
I was aghast at this shattering of my vision, yet I could not be hard to her. I said nothing, but took her hand and pressed it.
"You wanted him to be king?" she whispered.
"With all my heart, madam," said I.
"He wouldn"t, Fritz. No, and I shouldn"t dare to do that, either."
I fell back on the practical difficulties. "But how can he go?" I asked.
"I don"t know. But he knows; he has a plan."
We fell again into silence; her eyes grew more calm, and seemed to look forward in patient hope to the time when her happiness should come to her. I felt like a man suddenly robbed of the exaltation of wine and sunk to dull apathy. "I don"t see how he can go," I said sullenly.
She did not answer me. A moment later the door again opened. Rudolf came in, followed by Bernenstein. Both wore riding boots and cloaks. I saw on Bernenstein"s face just such a look of disappointment as I knew must be on mine. Rudolf seemed calm and even happy. He walked straight up to the queen.
"The horses will be ready in a few minutes," he said gently. Then, turning to me, he asked, "You know what we"re going to do, Fritz?"
"Not I, sire," I answered, sulkily.
"Not I, sire!" he repeated, in a half-merry, half-sad mockery. Then he came between Bernenstein and me and pa.s.sed his arms through ours. "You two villains!" he said. "You two unscrupulous villains! Here you are, as rough as bears, because I won"t be a thief! Why have I killed young Rupert and left you rogues alive?"
I felt the friendly pressure of his hand on my arm. I could not answer him. With every word from his lips and every moment of his presence my sorrow grew keener that he would not stay. Bernenstein looked across at me and shrugged his shoulders despairingly. Rudolf gave a little laugh.
"You won"t forgive me for not being as great a rogue, won"t you?" he asked.
Well, I found nothing to say, but I took my arm out of his and clasped his hand. He gripped mine hard.
"That"s old Fritz!" he said; and he caught hold of Bernenstein"s hand, which the lieutenant yielded with some reluctance. "Now for the plan," said he. "Bernenstein and I set out at once for the lodge--yes, publicly, as publicly as we can. I shall ride right through the people there, showing myself to as many as will look at me, and letting it be known to everybody where I"m going. We shall get there quite early to-morrow, before it"s light. There we shall find what you know. We shall find Sapt, too, and he"ll put the finishing touches to our plan for us. Hullo, what"s that?"
There was a sudden fresh shouting from the large crowd that still lingered outside the palace. I ran to the window, and saw a commotion in the midst of them. I flung the sash up. Then I heard a well-known, loud, strident voice: "Make way, you rascals, make way."
I turned round again, full of excitement.
"It"s Sapt himself!" I said. "He"s riding like mad through the crowd, and your servant"s just behind him."
"My G.o.d, what"s happened? Why have they left the lodge?" cried Bernenstein.
The queen looked up in startled alarm, and, rising to her feet, came and pa.s.sed her arm through Rudolf"s. Thus we all stood, listening to the people good-naturedly cheering Sapt, whom they had recognized, and bantering James, whom they took for a servant of the constable"s.