CHAPTER 20
The Prisoner and the King
In order to a full understanding of what had occurred in the Castle ofZenda, it is necessary to supplement my account of what I myself sawand did on that night by relating briefly what I afterwards learntfrom Fritz and Madame de Mauban. The story told by the latter explainedclearly how it happened that the cry which I had arranged as a stratagemand a sham had come, in dreadful reality, before its time, and had thus,as it seemed at the moment, ruined our hopes, while in the end ithad favoured them. The unhappy woman, fired, I believe by a genuineattachment to the Duke of Strelsau, no less than by the dazzlingprospects which a dominion over him opened before her eyes, had followedhim at his request from Paris to Ruritania. He was a man of strongpassions, but of stronger will, and his cool head ruled both. He wascontent to take all and give nothing. When she arrived, she was notlong in finding that she had a rival in the Princess Flavia; rendereddesperate, she stood at nothing which might give, or keep for her, herpower over the duke. As I say, he took and gave not. Simultaneously,Antoinette found herself entangled in his audacious schemes. Unwillingto abandon him, bound to him by the chains of shame and hope, yet shewould not be a decoy, nor, at his bidding, lure me to death. Hence theletters of warning she had written. Whether the lines she sent to Flaviawere inspired by good or bad feeling, by jealousy or by pity, I do notknow; but here also she served us well. When the duke went to Zenda, sheaccompanied him; and here for the first time she learnt the full measureof his cruelty, and was touched with compassion for the unfortunateKing. From this time she was with us; yet, from what she told me, I knowthat she still (as women will) loved Michael, and trusted to gainhis life, if not his pardon, from the King, as the reward for herassistance. His triumph she did not desire, for she loathed his crime,and loathed yet more fiercely what would be the prize of it--hismarriage with his cousin, Princess Flavia.
At Zenda new forces came into play--the lust and daring of young Rupert.He was caught by her beauty, perhaps; perhaps it was enough for him thatshe belonged to another man, and that she hated him. For many days therehad been quarrels and ill will between him and the duke, and the scenewhich I had witnessed in the duke's room was but one of many. Rupert'sproposals to me, of which she had, of course, been ignorant, in noway surprised her when I related them; she had herself warned Michaelagainst Rupert, even when she was calling on me to deliver her from bothof them. On this night, then, Rupert had determined to have his will.When she had gone to her room, he, having furnished himself with a keyto it, had made his entrance. Her cries had brought the duke, and therein the dark room, while she screamed, the men had fought; and Rupert,having wounded his master with a mortal blow, had, on the servantsrushing in, escaped through the window as I have described. The duke'sblood, spurting out, had stained his opponent's shirt; but Rupert, notknowing that he had dealt Michael his death, was eager to finish theencounter. How he meant to deal with the other three of the band, I knownot. I dare say he did not think, for the killing of Michael was notpremeditated. Antoinette, left alone with the duke, had tried to stanchhis wound, and thus was she busied till he died; and then, hearingRupert's taunts, she had come forth to avenge him. Me she had not seen,nor did she till I darted out of my ambush, and leapt after Rupert intothe moat.
The same moment found my friends on the scene. They had reached thechateau in due time, and waited ready by the door. But Johann, sweptwith the rest to the rescue of the duke, did not open it; nay, he tooka part against Rupert, putting himself forward more bravely than anyin his anxiety to avert suspicion; and he had received a wound, in theembrasure of the window. Till nearly half-past two Sapt waited; then,following my orders, he had sent Fritz to search the banks of the moat.I was not there. Hastening back, Fritz told Sapt; and Sapt was forfollowing orders still, and riding at full speed back to Tarlenheim;while Fritz would not hear of abandoning me, let me have ordered what Iwould. On this they disputed some few minutes; then Sapt, persuaded byFritz, detached a party under Bernenstein to gallop back to Tarlenheimand bring up the marshal, while the rest fell to on the great doorof the chateau. For several minutes it resisted them; then, just asAntoinette de Mauban fired at Rupert of Hentzau on the bridge, theybroke in, eight of them in all: and the first door they came to was thedoor of Michael's room; and Michael lay dead across the threshold, witha sword-thrust through his breast. Sapt cried out at his death, as Ihad heard, and they rushed on the servants; but these, in fear, droppedtheir weapons, and Antoinette flung herself weeping at Sapt's feet. Andall she cried was that I had been at the end of the bridge and leaptoff. "What of the prisoner?" asked Sapt; but she shook her head. ThenSapt and Fritz, with the gentlemen behind them, crossed the bridge,slowly, warily, and without noise; and Fritz stumbled over the body ofDe Gautet in the way of the door. They felt him and found him dead.
Then they consulted, listening eagerly for any sound from the cellsbelow; but there came none, and they were greatly afraid that the King'sguards had killed him, and having pushed his body through the greatpipe, had escaped the same way themselves. Yet, because I had been seenhere, they had still some hope (thus indeed Fritz, in his friendship,told me); and going back to Michael's body, pushing aside Antoinette,who prayed by it, they found a key to the door which I had locked, andopened the door. The staircase was dark, and they would not use a torchat first, lest they should be more exposed to fire. But soon Fritzcried: "The door down there is open! See, there is light!" So they wenton boldly, and found none to oppose them. And when they came to theouter room and saw the Belgian, Bersonin, lying dead, they thanked God,Sapt saying: "Ay, he has been here." Then rushing into the King's cell,they found Detchard lying dead across the dead physician, and the Kingon his back with his chair by him. And Fritz cried: "He's dead!" andSapt drove all out of the room except Fritz, and knelt down by the King;and, having learnt more of wounds and the sign of death than I, he soonknew that the King was not dead, nor, if properly attended, would die.And they covered his face and carried him to Duke Michael's room, andlaid him there; and Antoinette rose from praying by the body of the dukeand went to bathe the King's head and dress his wounds, till a doctorcame. And Sapt, seeing I had been there, and having heard Antoinette'sstory, sent Fritz to search the moat and then the forest. He dared sendno one else. And Fritz found my horse, and feared the worst. Then, as Ihave told, he found me, guided by the shout with which I had called onRupert to stop and face me. And I think a man has never been more gladto find his own brother alive than was Fritz to come on me; so that, inlove and anxiety for me, he thought nothing of a thing so great as wouldhave been the death of Rupert Hentzau. Yet, had Fritz killed him, Ishould have grudged it.
The enterprise of the King's rescue being thus prosperously concluded,it lay on Colonel Sapt to secure secrecy as to the King ever havingbeen in need of rescue. Antoinette de Mauban and Johann the keeper (who,indeed, was too much hurt to be wagging his tongue just now) were swornto reveal nothing; and Fritz went forth to find--not the King, but theunnamed friend of the King, who had lain in Zenda and flashed fora moment before the dazed eyes of Duke Michael's servants on thedrawbridge. The metamorphosis had happened; and the King, wounded almostto death by the attacks of the gaolers who guarded his friend, hadat last overcome them, and rested now, wounded but alive, in BlackMichael's own room in the Castle. There he had been carried, his facecovered with a cloak, from the cell; and thence orders issued, that ifhis friend were found, he should be brought directly and privately tothe King, and that meanwhile messengers should ride at full speed toTarlenheim, to tell Marshall Strakencz to assure the princess of theKing's safety and to come himself with all speed to greet the King.The princess was enjoined to remain at Tarlenheim, and there await hercousin's coming or his further injunctions. Thus the King would cometo his own again, having wrought brave deeds, and escaped, almost by amiracle, the treacherous assault of his unnatural brother.
This ingenious arrangement of my long-headed old friend prospered inevery way, save where it enco
untered a force that often defeats the mostcunning schemes. I mean nothing else than the pleasure of a woman. For,let her cousin and sovereign send what command he chose (or ColonelSapt chose for him), and let Marshal Strakencz insist as he would, thePrincess Flavia was in no way minded to rest at Tarlenheim while herlover lay wounded at Zenda; and when the Marshal, with a small suite,rode forth from Tarlenheim on the way to Zenda, the princess's carriagefollowed immediately behind, and in this order they passed through thetown, where the report was already rife that the King, going the nightbefore to remonstrate with his brother, in all friendliness, for thathe held one of the King's friends in confinement in the Castle, had beenmost traitorously set upon; that there had been a desperate conflict;that the duke was slain with several of his gentlemen; and that theKing, wounded as he was, had seized and held the Castle of Zenda. All ofwhich talk made, as may be supposed, a mighty excitement: and the wireswere set in motion, and the tidings came to Strelsau only just afterorders had been sent thither to parade the troops and overawe thedissatisfied quarters of the town with a display of force.
Thus the Princess Flavia came to Zenda. And as she drove up the hill,with the Marshal riding by the wheel and still imploring her to returnin obedience to the King's orders, Fritz von Tarlenheim, with theprisoner of Zenda, came to the edge of the forest. I had revived frommy swoon, and walked, resting on Fritz's arm; and looking out from thecover of the trees, I saw the princess. Suddenly understanding from aglance at my companion's face that we must not meet her, I sank on myknees behind a clump of bushes. But there was one whom we had forgotten,but who followed us, and was not disposed to let slip the chance ofearning a smile and maybe a crown or two; and, while we lay hidden,the little farm-girl came by us and ran to the princess, curtseying andcrying:
"Madame, the King is here--in the bushes! May I guide you to him,madame?"
"Nonsense, child!" said old Strakencz; "the King lies wounded in theCastle."
"Yes, sir, he's wounded, I know; but he's there--with Count Fritz--andnot at the Castle," she persisted.
"Is he in two places, or are there two Kings?" asked Flavia, bewildered."And how should he be there?"
"He pursued a gentleman, madame, and they fought till Count Fritz came;and the other gentleman took my father's horse from me and rode away;but the King is here with Count Fritz. Why, madame, is there another manin Ruritania like the King?"
"No, my child," said Flavia softly (I was told it afterwards), and shesmiled and gave the girl money. "I will go and see this gentleman," andshe rose to alight from the carriage.
But at this moment Sapt came riding from the Castle, and, seeing theprincess, made the best of a bad job, and cried to her that the King waswell tended and in no danger.
"In the Castle?" she asked.
"Where else, madame?" said he, bowing.
"But this girl says he is yonder--with Count Fritz."
Sapt turned his eyes on the child with an incredulous smile.
"Every fine gentleman is a King to such," said he.
"Why, he's as like the King as one pea to another, madame!" cried thegirl, a little shaken but still obstinate.
Sapt started round. The old Marshal's face asked unspoken questions.Flavia's glance was no less eloquent. Suspicion spread quick.
"I'll ride myself and see this man," said Sapt hastily.
"Nay, I'll come myself," said the princess.
"Then come alone," he whispered.
And she, obedient to the strange hinting in his face, prayed the Marshaland the rest to wait; and she and Sapt came on foot towards where welay, Sapt waving to the farm-girl to keep at a distance. And when I sawthem coming, I sat in a sad heap on the ground, and buried my face in myhands. I could not look at her. Fritz knelt by me, laying his hand on myshoulder.
"Speak low, whatever you say," I heard Sapt whisper as they came up; andthe next thing I heard was a low cry--half of joy, half of fear--fromthe princess:
"It is he! Are you hurt?"
And she fell on the ground by me, and gently pulled my hands away; but Ikept my eyes to the ground.
"It is the King!" she said. "Pray, Colonel Sapt, tell me where lay thewit of the joke you played on me?"
We answered none of us; we three were silent before her. Regardless ofthem, she threw her arms round my neck and kissed me. Then Sapt spoke ina low hoarse whisper:
"It is not the King. Don't kiss him; he's not the King."
She drew back for a moment; then, with an arm still round my neck, sheasked, in superb indignation:
"Do I not know my love? Rudolf my love!"
"It is not the King," said old Sapt again; and a sudden sob broke fromtender-hearted Fritz.
It was the sob that told her no comedy was afoot.
"He is the King!" she cried. "It is the King's face--the King's ring--myring! It is my love!"
"Your love, madame," said old Sapt, "but not the King. The King is therein the Castle. This gentleman--"
"Look at me, Rudolf! look at me!" she cried, taking my face between herhands. "Why do you let them torment me? Tell me what it means!"
Then I spoke, gazing into her eyes.
"God forgive me, madame!" I said. "I am not the King!"
I felt her hands clutch my cheeks. She gazed at me as never man's facewas scanned yet. And I, silent again, saw wonder born, and doubt grow,and terror spring to life as she looked. And very gradually the grasp ofher hands slackened; she turned to Sapt, to Fritz, and back to me: thensuddenly she reeled forward and fell in my arms; and with a great cry ofpain I gathered her to me and kissed her lips. Sapt laid his hand on myarm. I looked up in his face. And I laid her softly on the ground, andstood up, looking on her, cursing heaven that young Rupert's sword hadspared me for this sharper pang.