terrace in
front of the chateau. The place commanded a view of the road by which
the king would ride back, and we found the queen walking restlessly up
and down, considerably disquieted by the lateness of his return. In such
a position as ours, every unusual or unforeseen incident magnifies its
possible meaning, and invests itself with a sinister importance which
would at ordinary times seem absurd. We three shared the queen's
feelings, and forgetting the many chances of the chase, any one of which
would amply account for the king's delay, fell to speculating on remote
possibilities of disaster. He might have met Rischenheim--though
they had ridden in opposite directions; Rupert might have intercepted
him--though no means could have brought Rupert to the forest so early.
Our fears defeated common sense, and our conjectures outran possibility.
Sapt was the first to recover from this foolish mood, and he rated us
soundly, not sparing even the queen herself. With a laugh we regained
some of our equanimity, and felt rather ashamed of our weakness.

"Still it's strange that he doesn't come," murmured the queen, shading
her eyes with her hand, and looking along the road to where the dark
masses of the forest trees bounded our view. It was already dusk, but
not so dark but that we could have seen the king's party as soon as it
came into the open.

If the king's delay seemed strange at six, it was stranger at seven, and
by eight most strange. We had long since ceased to talk lightly; by now
we had lapsed into silence. Sapt's scoldings had died away. The queen,
wrapped in her furs (for it was very cold), sat sometimes on a seat, but
oftener paced restlessly to and fro. Evening had fallen. We did not know
what to do, nor even whether we ought to do anything. Sapt would not own
to sharing our worst apprehensions, but his gloomy silence in face of
our surmises witnessed that he was in his heart as disturbed as we were.
For my part I had come to the end of my endurance, and I cried, "For
God's sake, let's act! Shall I go and seek him?"

"A needle in a bundle of hay," said Sapt with a shrug.

But at this instant my ear caught the sound of horses cantering on the
road from the forest; at the same moment Bernenstein cried, "Here they
come!" The queen paused, and we gathered round her. The horse-hoofs came
nearer. Now we made out the figures of three men: they were the king's
huntsmen, and they rode along merrily, singing a hunting